I ruptured my cruciate ligament playing soccer many years ago and since then surgeries and physio have been part of my rehab. At a recent review the physio gave me just 2 exercises. She said, I don’t give people anymore because they simply don’t do them. It got me thinking about setting realistic expectations and setting ourselves up for success. She’d made it achievable and it worked, I remembered what they were and I’ve been doing them!

So often as high achievers we want to do it all and do it all perfectly and if we can’t we feel we’ve failed. But what if we just focused on the basics, made it more achievable. Especially where self-care is concerned.

Some days I have time to do yoga, meditate, go for a walk and prepare nutritious food. Other days the only thing I can do is go to bed early and drink plenty of water.

There’s this concept one of my mentors Matt mentioned to me recently. He has a plan A and and plan B for his morning self-care routine. Plan A is always our preference and yet it’s the hardest to stick to when times get busy. If we can’t do plan A we often end up doing nothing and then feel bad. What if there was a plan B to fall back on? A mini, doable version of Plan A for those busy days.

If I’ve got the time my Plan A is a yoga class, meditation before I leave the house, a walk with the dog at lunchtime and bed before 10pm. On the days I’m up early for a flight, speaking at a conference and then at the conference party that night the plan B becomes a meditation app on the flight and some stretches before bed.

Plan B is like a mini, less time consuming version of plan A so ideal for those times we get busy and feel like we don’t have time for self-care. And most importantly a way of still ensuring we can do the stuff that matters, recharge our batteries and take care of ourselves.

I believe in the 80:20 rule (if we do this stuff 80% of the time, the 20% we miss because life gets busy is inconsequential). I also like James Clear’s 1% improvement theory and the way little things compound over time. If all we get to do is a week of Plan B because it’s busy it’s still better than nothing and will have a positive impact on our health and wellbeing.

So what’s your plan A and plan B version of self-care for your own sustainability?

If you need support recharging and ensuring you’re a sustainable resource why not join me on retreat?