better business blog

Tips and stories to add value to you and your organisation

Taking Care

30 June 2019

Last week I talked about Beach Business…inviting us all to sit on the sand, or have a paddle….and thanks to the sunny weather I have been able to do just that.

In fact I’m writing this on the sand at Cromer, with gently crashing waves and the sound of happy people having fun. If you’ve never been to Cromer then, not a problem, you just haven’t been yet. Plan a trip. Fab fish and chips here. Come and say hi to the seals at Blakeney too.

Taking care can, of course, mean using the beach as an impromptu office. Great views! Free sand!

We use the phrase ‘take care’ every day and often it has replaced the more traditional ‘goodbye’ …we can’t often let people go without offering them a kindness.

No problem there, but do we really mean what we are saying, or is it another lovely phrase turned to stone by social convention?

Do the people invited to take care actually do so? Do we ever stop to think about what it means to take care?

Stress

Sleep

Diet

Health

Exercise

Workplace satisfaction

Financial planning

Love and friendship

…If we can get all of these lined up nicely for ourselves then we are really taking care. A bit of stress can increase our performance, for example. Too little and we can become complacent and never push ourselves. Too much and we suffer for it.

We all know where we are failing to take care and where we are constantly postponing a decision until tomorrow. I could easily have found something productive to do at home and said we’d hit the beach next weekend.

However, taking care today means going to the beach. Getting some sun and sand and a lot of smiles.

Taking care for me also means tweaking my diet a bit. I love orange juice and it’s too easy to gurgle down a bottle without thinking about the sugar or calories in it. So, I’ve been drinking more water and less juice (about 90% less if I’m honest). I feel better for it and, no surprises, my weight is now on a gentle decline, which is great too.

What’s your equivalent of my orange juice? Where can you make a small adjustment to your life, in order to take more care of it?

And the next time someone says to you ‘take care’ thank them and regale them with all the little ways you will be doing that. I’m sure they’d love to hear them!

Next week: The Value Of A PA