As a clinician you can spend so much time caring for everybody else, caring for clients, team, friends, families, you often neglect yourself. And that can cause problems, because if you don’t prioritise your own self-care and value yourself, you don’t have anything left to contribute to others.

Whilst it’s is a cliche, that you must put your own oxygen mask on first it is true because if you don’t look after yourself, you’re not going to be in a position to look after your patients. And, perhaps it is also hypocritical because you’re not walking your talk if you’re suggesting to your patients that they get better sleep or they have a better diet or they move better, and you’re not doing that yourself.

And it’s, it’s some, sometimes it’s such obvious stuff, for example for most Physical Therapists, physical activity is really important supports their wellbeing and creates balance and space away from the chaos of life. Exercise is a keystone habit that often really keeps you focused together and energized. Yet for many clinic owners, it can slip by the wayside. Perhaps you think “I’ll just skip my run and extend my clinical hours”. If you are working round the clock but not taking care of yourself one day you will implode.

We all make stupid mistakes when we’re tired

If you were going to ride a motorbike or go in a fast car or do some sky diving, whatever you were going to do, there’s high risk if you’re not alert and on it, you risk your life and you risk the lives of others.  It is the same as running a business, if you’re not well-rested alert you start making stupid mistakes and things go crash and bang, and that is not sustainable and not okay.

Clinicians often listen to what, goes on in their clients’ lives and give advice on rest, exercise, and work-life habits. But neglect to apply the same principles to themselves. It’s really important that you do value yourselves and take care of yourselves so that you have the resources and the energy to continue to contribute to clients, to team, and the health of the practice.

Tricks and habits

It’s just so easy to neglect ourselves. For example to put a run on hold because of a huge todo list. And it’s very easy to let exercise, a healthy diet and sleep go first because you think I don’t have time to go for a run and I don’t have time to go for a walk or to cook. I’ll just crack on with my emails. And actually, if you stop, go for a walk, clear your head or go for a run or go for a swim, and then you go back to doing whatever work you’re doing, you’ll actually achieve things much quicker. You’ll be more efficient because you’ve given yourself that time to just take a break rest and come back at us free, come back at it with fresh eyes.

What tricks and strategies do you share with clients to embed lifestyle habits? Do they work for you too?