Sharpen Your Saw With Self-Love and Self-Care

A few ideas for practices that will help you raise your self-love KPIs

Have you heard the story of the two woodcutters? Two woodcutters were challenged to a competition to see who could cut down the most wood in a day. They were matched in skill, and fitness, and were considered experts in their craft. On competition day, they started chopping wood at the same time. One woodcutter stopped every hour. The other woodcutter heard the silence, which inspired thoughts of an opponent who was quitting and tiring out. Victory seemed unquestionable. At the end of the day, when the judges measured the amount of wood for each competitor, the woodcutter who stopped every hour had significantly more wood stacked and perfectly cut. As it turns out, the woodcutter who stopped every hour took the time to sharpen their saw.

So, how exactly do we sharpen our saw as leaders?

More likely than not, your business skills are exceptional. You are skilled in your craft and were selected to lead because of your expertise and knowledge. While excellence and performance are a main part of your leadership role, they are also limited resources dependent on fuel and inspiration. Fueling your resources to maintain high standards of leadership requires an investment in self-love and self-care practices that nourish you from the inside out. In other words, as a leader, sharpening your saw means taking the time to pause, rest and restore so you can show up as the excellent leader you aim to be for your team.

What is Self-Love?

Self-love is the fuel for emotional intelligence. It is your wellspring for creativity and connection, and the main resource from which you gain authenticity. The good news is that training your self-love skillset can be quite simple. The bad news is that there isn’t a crash course in self-love. You won’t be able to go to a daylong training and leave with a perfect score. Self-love doesn’t work that way. Instead, self-love requires consistency and practice. Similar to your job performance, you can also measure your self-love performance using KPIs.

What percentage of the time would you say the following statements are true?
•    I sleep well and wake up feeling rested.
•    I look forward to working with my team members.
•    I am rarely sick.
•    I am able to handle transitions and change.
•    I am resilient in situations that bring conflict and stress.
•    I am able to communicate with my team and create healthy working relationships.
•    I feel emotionally stable.
•    I bring empathy and compassion to my team.
•    I feel connected and engaged with my team.
•    My team members rarely complain and perform at their optimal level.

As a leader, you likely want your KPIs to be as high as possible. As a human being, it’s important to investigate ways to gain clarity around the source of low KPIs, so you can grow and improve your numbers.

Here are a few ideas for practices that will help you raise your Self-Love KPIs:

Mindfulness Meditation

A Harvard study by Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert reveals that the mind wanders 47% of the time.

Mindfulness Meditation teaches your brain how to focus and come back to the present moment. With practice, you gain the ability to be right here, right now, regardless of conditions. The benefit of being in the present moment is that we find ourselves more at ease and less reactive. These tools allow us to be patient in handling situations that might be more stressful without mindfulness.

Breathing

The breath is a tool we can use to inspire mindfulness. When your mind is connected to the breath, thoughts subside allowing you to feel more focused and less distracted. In stressful situations, simply taking three deep breaths can regulate your nervous system so you feel less overwhelmed and more able to manage the situation.

Yoga

Yoga is a movement practice that creates a union between mind, body, and spirit. It offers an opportunity to release physical tension, and in turn, helps us manage stress. With practice, we feel better in our bodies and our mood is elevated, allowing us to be more open and available to listen and offer support for others.

Pilates

Pilates, a movement practice created by Joseph Pilates, focuses on improving a person’s physical fitness using six principles: centering, concentration, control, precision, breathing, and flowing movement. The six Pilates principles, when practiced regularly, can transform your relationship with others. By bringing the Pilates principles into your leadership role, you will find that you lead with more energy and are more resilient to challenges brought to you by team members.

So How Do I Begin to Practice Self Love?

Now that you have an understanding of Self Love, you may be wondering where to begin. While it may seem a bit daunting, I assure you it can be quite simple by using self-care practices that you enjoy.

Self-care practices harmonize your body, mind, and spirit so that you feel better, sleep better, and perform at the level you desire. The key to self-care is in choosing the practices that work for you. When you find things you enjoy and things that work, link two or more together to create a routine and plug it into your day. The consistency of practicing the same routine over time will help regulate your nervous system so you become more at ease and feel good. When you feel good, you will lead from a place where your talents and skills shine through.

Need help finding self-care practices that might work for you? Here are a few simple practices to try out:

• Take a Zen Break - A Zen Break is a short, guided Mindfulness Meditation designed to rejuvenate your focus and energy.
• Get Outside - Time in nature calms the nervous system through exposure to natural light, vitamin D, and fresh air.
• Plug White Space into Your Calendar - A cluttered calendar is like working with a dull saw. Sharpen your saw by scheduling personal downtime for at least five minutes a few times a day to improve your productivity.
• Practice Gratitude - Negative thoughts prevent you from leading with purpose. Your team members will feel your stress. Try shifting your mindset in stressful times by focusing on gratitude for each team member and the contribution they bring to productivity.
• Stand Up Each Hour - When your body is sedentary, your energy will drop. As Joseph Pilates often said, “movement heals.” Get up and walk or stand each hour to revitalize your energy.

Now it’s time to practice. When you take out your calendar to schedule your next meeting, try adding one self-care practice to your schedule. Give yourself at least a week to practice and see how it works for you. When you find a tool that works, keep it then add another. Find your formula and build your routine so you can lead with the sharpest tool in your toolbox. After four weeks, go back and measure those KPIs then share the process with your team.

Author Bio

Peaceful living expert, Roberta Hughes is the Founder and lead instructor at PeaceFull Living, a boutique hybrid studio that conveys delicate and personalized instruction through customized Pilates, Meditation, and Yoga classes. PeaceFull Living grants clients a way to filter out life’s pressures through a delicate and highly personalized approach through its live streams and on-demand classes.