This is in response to a post on “The Entrepreneur’s Quest for Balance” by @laurenbacon, who I had the chance to meet at WordCamp Vancouver earlier this month. I saw the ‘Quest for Balance’ and thought ‘self care’ is the wrong word for this. ‘Keeping your sense of humor’ is exactly the right word. (For the record, I think we all struggle about what to call it. ‘I know it when I don’t have it’ doesn’t quite work either.)
So these are some of my guidelines or stories or things I do to keep that sense of humor.
Ask yourself one question:
As the owner of a startup, my job is to be the calmest person in the room. I have to work on this. Ask yourself the question of ‘What can I do to remain the calmest person in the room?’ And then do it. Even if it’s going to be beer-o-clock for the whole meeting.
Think about your environment:
One thing that seriously helped me keep my sense of humor about the ups and downs of business is getting an office cat. (I also gave up a separate office, have a home office, and work with clients on-site.) He’s about the friendliest cat ever, and whenever I start to lose my sense of humor, I get up and do something with him. It’s about 10 times better than getting up, taking a walk, because sometimes, you have to make a quick decision, and you can’t go wander around the block. (I’m also not allergic to cats, so there you are then.)
Balance calls and emails.
Calls are where you talk about what you’re doing, what you did, and what you want to do. It’s thinking time. It’s communicating time. But give yourself 10 minutes after the calls to be able to write down your promises, and even more importantly, other people’s promises. Email it. Let yourself be on top of it.
Make Rules for yourself:
I have a lot of rules. I can break them when I want to, which makes them more like guidelines than rules. But my rules are: Don’t answer any business call afters: 7pm. Don’t start before 8am local time. (As I’m on the West Coast, this is sometimes more challenging than not. A 9:30am call for them is a 6:30am call for me, which is less ideal.)
Speaking Engagement Rules (Or one massage per talk):
Every time I have a speaking engagement somewhere, I make sure that I book a massage either in the city that I’ve travelled to or when I get back. It reminds me that my shoulders do not have to be so tight, that I can get a chance to think somewhere offline, and that I get out in the real world more than just being there for the conference. I really try to schedule an extra day after the conference just for that kind of time. It’s time to sleep, time to remind myself that I’m not always on deck, that I am dispensible from my own business, and that I am the better for it.
Keep Eating:
You can work as much as you want, sleep as little as you can, party as much as you want, workout as much as you have time for, but if you stop eating, the train ends. I’ve fallen in love with these Oskri bars, they’re just coconut and rice syrup, they fit in a purse, and they get me out of the 2pm ‘I am really unreasonable’ feeling if I don’t have breakfast. So remember to eat. You want to keep your sense of humor and not lash out.