Let’s face it. We can all #love ourselves a little more. This guide includes popular social media hashtags to help you to tap into a greater you. Let’s embrace our narcissism for once this Valentine’s Day and practice each of the following steps a little more often:
1. Monday: Weekend flew by again? All too often, we rush the workweek for Friday’s finish line and the weekend is gone before we know it. Slow down. Start being more present. Stop bringing your work home. Checking emails, taking phone calls, working on a report, or finishing up a project when you are at home can make you feel like you never have enough time to yourself. If you have a bad day at work, do not bring home that negativity either.
2. Tuesday: Take a vacation or plan a trip with family or friends. It can be to Las Vegas, the Caribbean, the Eastern Hemisphere, or even a local trip to Montauk or upstate New York. Vacation days should be used for vacation, no matter how big or small. It is refreshing to get away from everything. Do not spend your vacation taking business calls or responding to emails. If it is absolutely necessary for you to be available, arrange to be accessible for a short period once per day or week.
3. Wednesday: Exercise & Eat Healthy – Sign up for a gym membership if you have not already. Exercising should be right alongside breathing, eating, and sleeping as necessities in your life. Try going to the gym or do a basic yoga routine at home in the morning before work. It will make you feel accomplished before your busy day begins. You will also feel more alert. Not a morning person? Go right after work. It is almost impossible to exercise once you get home because your body is ready to rest. Cut out fast food and enjoy more home cooked meals. If you lack the time or energy, you can prepare all your meals for the week on Sunday (#Sinday) night and place them in re-heatable containers. Replacing fast food with healthy, home cooked meals will make you feel better about yourself and prevent you from feeling lethargic, bloated or greasy.
4. Thursday: Make a schedule – A schedule will keep your most important activities on track and keep you away from mindless activities. It can be hard to stay in touch with family and friends. Plan to meet/call family and your closest friends on Thursdays. You have time to make short notice weekend plans or to schedule for the following week.
5. Friday: Weekend is here and you are going to spend it right! Plan to minimize the time wasted on activities like scrolling through Facebook and watching reality television. How much time per day do you spend on activities that are meaningless and have no value? Cutting out time wasted on social media and television give you more time to do productive and important things, such as spending time with your family and friends.
6. Saturday: If you cannot take that afternoon catnap you daydream about during the week, get a good night’s sleep every night. Try your best to get at least 7 hours of sleep. Being well rested will make you much more productive throughout the day. Improve the quality of the hours you are awake, and decrease the hours you watch television right before bed. Coffee is not a viable alternative.
7. Sunday: Learn to say no – Today is your day to do whatever you want. Make the most of it. Prepare those delicious looking meals you pinned on your Pinterest board for the week ahead. As long as you are not binge watching Netflix again, do what makes you feel good. You should not say no to doing what is really important, but when it comes to doing an extra task, there is nothing wrong with politely declining. This will be extremely beneficial for your growth factor at home and at the office. For example, when asked to do something extra, say you will get back to that person and give yourself a moment to think clearly about the decision.
Hopefully this guide has planted the few seeds needed to begin considering better choices when it comes to you. In the end, the more you take care of yourself, the more you will be able repeat similar techniques in the other areas of your life. Balance is key and can only be self-taught, the same way we learned to take our first steps. Try not to look at the top of staircase, begin with the first steps and enjoy the journey!
If you would like to learn more about this topic, please contact:
Kimberly R. Roffi, CPA
Partner
Kim, who has been a member of the firm since 2001, has over 19 years of public accounting experience. Today, she is a partner of the firm and previously served as Director for the firm’s tax and business advisory practice and Director of Finance and Operations for the firm internally. Kim has written Practice Insights for Lexis Nexis’ tax research platform and has been published in Building Long Island magazine.
