Jessica Rosario, Executive Coach: 0:02

Hello and welcome to the Maximize your Day podcast, a place for entrepreneurs who are building their business in pursuit of freedom and flexibility to do the things they love. I'm your host, jessica Rosario. I'm a New Yorker turned Floridian who knows a thing or two on how to effectively manage your time while juggling multiple priorities. I'm an ex-corporate leader who walked away from my nine to five-ish to launch and grow my business. In this podcast, I share insights on mindset, business, productivity, habits and strategies to help you take control of your to-do list and maximize your day, which will help you feel more confident and less overwhelmed and getting more done in less time. I'm so excited you're here. Go ahead, listen in. I'm so excited you're here, go ahead, listen in. Hey you guys, jessica here In today's episode, we are going to debunk that self-care and productivity are mutually exclusive.

Jessica Rosario, Executive Coach: 0:59

Spoiler alert they are not. In fact, self-care is one of the most important areas that help you enhance productivity, and any self-care expert out there will know this, which is why it's so important that inside of my Maximize your Day membership, I have a mindset coach that talks all about self-care and the impact on productivity that helps them truly hone into their skills, feel like they're in control and run their business like a boss, and so I personally have experienced this firsthand. I used to think that really pushing harder and working longer hours was truly the answer to being productive, and throughout the years, I realized I had reached a point where I was completely burnt out. Completely burnt out, I was still in corporate trying to manage. Burnt out, completely burnt out, I was still in corporate trying to manage a business multiple businesses, may I add. Raise a family, do all the things, be a wife, be a dog, mom, right, do all the things. And so I realized I wasn't taking care of myself, and so I was giving my corporate role the best of me and everything else got what was left of me. And so I committed to intentional self-care, and I started to see an incredible boost in my focus, understanding my creativity and also my most productive times. I actually realized at that point that my most productive times are in the morning. If you want me to be really creative and really strategic, don't give me something in the afternoon, because I'm not even going to look at it.

Jessica Rosario, Executive Coach: 2:26

And so I want to share with you how you can balance self-care and productivity without feeling like you have to sacrifice either one, and so let's just start with the hard truth that ignoring our self-care leads to burnout, and burnout can absolutely wreck your productivity, make you feel depressed, anxiety starts to kick in, and then all of that is just because you decided to ignore self-care, and so many times when someone is experiencing burnout, they start to feel like I shouldn't focus on self-care because it's selfish. But the reality is that, in order for you to help someone else with their oxygen mask, you have to fix yours first, and so burnout starts to happen when you're just mentally, emotionally and physically absolutely drained and exhausted. It's not just about feeling tired. It really impacts your ability to think, to stay focused on your goals or even to be able to give the people that you love the best of you. Did you know that burnout can reduce workplace productivity by up to 40%? And also, according to research, 77% of employees have experienced burnout at their current jobs? That's absolutely insane, and so the World Health Organization has even recognized burnout as an occupational phenomenon because it's so common. I've seen it happen with clients who try to power through without taking care of themselves, incorporating any time for self-care, and this slows them down in ways that you would not even imagine, in areas that they didn't even think that it could.

Jessica Rosario, Executive Coach: 4:15

Another thing is that self-care. A lot of people automatically assume that self-care is getting your nails done or getting a massage. Self-care is so much more than that, and it was funny because I had a conversation recently with my mindset coach and she said to me when I go get my nails done, I have a hard time because I cannot touch my phone and respond to people that are reaching out to me. It is stressful for me. That was a perfect example because I have felt that way too. Sometimes my hands are both in a glove and I can't really touch my phone. Even when I go sit at a nail salon and my hands are wrapped, I have a hard time changing the volume or answering a call or trying to text somebody back or changing the book that I'm listening to, and so it does tend to create a little bit of stress. But in that time, the moment she shared that with me for a moment, I was like, wait a minute, I'm not going to do that.

Jessica Rosario, Executive Coach: 5:08

If I truly want to make that self-care, then I need to completely disconnect, and for me, disconnecting is a really great way to take care of myself and my mental health. Now, one of the things that I've done recently is I've started to tell my closest people that I just need 30 minutes. Just give me 30 minutes because I need to decompress, and so they know that I just need to walk away. I need to decompress, and so they know that you know I just need to walk away, I need to disconnect, I need to, you know, just kind of recenter myself for a moment before I go right back at it. But that has also helped me not only set boundaries around my time to protect my time, but it's also self-care. So when you look at self-care as a risk, we start to understand that if we don't take care of ourselves, that is truly the biggest risk.

Jessica Rosario, Executive Coach: 5:59

And so how do you take self-care as a tool to help you enhance your productivity? Well, it looks different to different people. You can either take regular breaks, you can practice mindfulness, you can go for a walk. One of my mindset coaches always says go outside and hug a tree. There's something about nature and grounding yourself that really helps you restore and reset your mindset. And when you come back to things, you come back feeling more focused, more creative, and studies have even shown that taking these short breaks during the workday, it really helps increase your focus and productivity. So it's like it's almost like you know, like when your computer is super slow and you have to reboot it. Well, think about it like you're rebooting your own system. You're rebooting your own self, your soul, and so it's an opportunity for you to reset.

Jessica Rosario, Executive Coach: 6:56

Another form of self-care, as I shared earlier, is setting boundaries, not only around work, but also life. The people around you will learn from it and they will also respect you for setting boundaries to protect your time. But now let's be respectful. Make sure you respect other people's boundaries too. We want to give and we also want to get. When it comes to setting boundaries of our time, it's not just saying no, it's perhaps not at this moment, or figuring out some type of compromise where you guys can still work together. Part of setting boundaries is really understanding. Also, what are some practical tips that you can have for your own day, starting out with setting your own intention. What is your intention for the day? So, whether that's a quick meditation, it's a journaling prompt or having a few minutes for breathing exercises, there's actual breathing exercises, guided breathing, podcasts, even where you can just sit for a moment, perhaps one to three minutes, and just practice some mindfulness in the mornings, blocking time also for non-negotiable self-care.

Jessica Rosario, Executive Coach: 8:07

There are clients that I've worked with who normally they're like oh well, I can't block self-care every single day. Okay, well, what are some of the most intense days for you? Are Mondays, the most difficult days. Are Thursdays the most difficult days? Well, can you at least start there? Can you start blocking time, perhaps once or twice a week to help you separate time for that non-negotiable self-care, start to journal and debrief your day to help you understand what exactly worked that day compared to the days that you don't practice self-care.

Jessica Rosario, Executive Coach: 8:47

I always tell my clients if it's not on your calendar, it doesn't exist, right, and so a non-negotiable self-care time block has to be on your calendar. People need to see that if somebody is going to book a meeting, they need to see that you're not available. Not only does it help keep you accountable for your own self-care, but it also helps protect your time from other people who might have access to your calendar as well. Just incorporate some small steps throughout the day. You don't have to do this big, elaborate thing. Self-care, like I said, is not going all the time for a manicure or a pedicure or getting a massage, you can just walk away, stretch, put on some motivational music, take a short walk I don't know, walk your dog. That actually tends to work really well for me. When I'm working from home, I usually need to stop and let me just take my dog and go out for a little bit and go for a walk, do some guided deep breathing exercise in between your meetings, and so it doesn't have to be this huge elaborate thing.

Jessica Rosario, Executive Coach: 9:51

The most important thing is maintaining consistency, because when we're not consistent, that's where we're starting to feel, where everything is chaotic. You can't just practice self-care once a month and expect long-term results. It's like anything else that we do. Right, you need to develop a routine, a habit, to make it sustainable and, most importantly, to make it part of your life. Whether it's personal or business, it's part of your life. It's a new habit that you need to create. There's some great tools out there and apps that will help you stay consistent as well. For example, headspace is an app for mindfulness, and there's so many other apps that are available to you that will help you with incorporating self-care in your daily routine but, most importantly, staying accountable. Setting those reminders on your phone will also help you stay accountable to the things that you said you're going to do.

Jessica Rosario, Executive Coach: 10:48

One thing that has worked really well for me has been not messing with my phone at night. Usually, when I'm going to bed, I'm going to bed. There were times that I was just scrolling, scrolling on social media not that I don't do it from time to time, let me tell you. I just did it the other day. I'm just on tiktok, just laughing at stuff, I think, jumped on for one second to show my husband something that I had seen, and all of a sudden I found myself 1520 minutes and just scrolling on TikTok and laughing. But I realized that when I was doing that at night, I wasn't sleeping. Well, I wasn't. I didn't have a deep sleep. I felt sometimes like I was tired in the morning, and so what I started to do was no longer using my phone before going to bed, and so the last thing that I do is I check, you know, make sure that my kids are okay.

Jessica Rosario, Executive Coach: 11:34

We're empty nesters, and so I always like to see if my kids text me or if everything is okay or if they need anything, before I put my phone to charge on my nightstand and it automatically goes into do not disturb after a certain point. And so in the morning, first thing grabbing my phone, making sure nobody needed me, there's no emergencies, everything is good. I put my phone right, making sure nobody needed me. There's no emergencies, everything is good. I put my phone right back on the nightstand and I walk away to have my coffee, to have my reading, to go into my morning routine reading my Bible, journaling or whatever other practices that you may have, because it looks different for different people, but those are some of the routines that have stuck with me.

Jessica Rosario, Executive Coach: 12:10

I love to see when some of my clients have integrated self-care in their daily lives, because it really helps them be more effective, not only in their lives or around their family, but also in their careers and in their business. And so the most important part is listen. Self-care is not a luxury. It's truly a necessity for anyone who's looking to maximize their productivity and avoid burnout. Many people just automatically assume that self-care is a luxury and they start to feel guilt around it because they feel like they're being selfish. But the reality is that by taking care of yourself mentally, physically and emotionally, you're truly setting yourself up to perform at the best in everything that you do, in all areas of your life, including your business. So here's your action step for today Schedule at least 10 minutes of self-care into your calendar.

Jessica Rosario, Executive Coach: 13:08

Do this tomorrow. When you schedule it and the time arrives, put your timer on on your phone and go for a quick walk or do a short meditation, or just step away, listen to some music, go walk your dog, do something that you're not feeling like you're bogged down or locked into your desk. The reality is that you want to feel that in that 10 minutes, you did something that completely had to do just with you, and it completely separated you from the daily tasks and the never ending to-do list. This will help you, as a leader, as a business owner, create sustainable systems to help you grow, because now you're incorporating self-care so that you can reset and refocus. And so that's it, folks.

Jessica Rosario, Executive Coach: 13:59

I cannot wait to hear how you have been able to incorporate self-care into your daily routine and, of course, share any aha moments and any feedback that you have. I can't wait to hear how this episode has helped you reincorporate self-care into your daily lives. Until next time, I'll talk to you soon, as always. Thank you so much for listening in. Don't forget to subscribe to the show to be notified the second a new episode is released and share with your friends who believe could benefit from listening. Or, even better, just post a screenshot of the episode in your stories and tag me on Instagram or Facebook. I would love to hear your feedback, answer questions and I'm always open to your topic suggestions, so you never know if your topic will be next. So then, until next time, go ahead, maximize your day and own it.