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#169 - Your Body Is Your Most Important Business Asset: Health Habits for Female Entrepreneurs
200 Plays1 day ago
You can have the best business strategy in the world, but if your body is running on empty, none of it matters. In this solo episode, I'm talking about something I feel really strongly about — why your health is not separate from your success as a female entrepreneur. It is your success.
Building a business is relentless. I describe it as running back-to-back marathons, and the women who do it sustainably are the ones who treat themselves like the athlete the job demands. The stats on female founder burnout, stress and anxiety are hard to ignore — and I think it's time we started scheduling our health with the same non-negotiable energy we bring to our businesses.
In this episode I walk you through three areas that make the biggest difference — sleep, nutrition, and movement — and give you practical, realistic habits you can build in around a busy life. No perfectionism, no all-or-nothing. Just what actually works.
I'm also sharing a free Female Entrepreneur Health Audit to help you see exactly where you're at right now — and I'd love for you to check out LeadHer, my mentorship programme for women building sustainable, profitable businesses.
00:00 Welcome and Purpose 01:32 Health as Success Foundation 04:20 Your Body Is the Asset 06:07 Female Founder Stress Stats 08:15 Function Connection Performance 09:43 Sleep Non-Negotiable 12:27 Sleep Strategy and Consistency 17:08 Nutrition for Steady Energy 23:08 Supplements and Health Audit 24:37 Movement That Supports Business 26:08 Training for High-Stress Women 34:40 Wrap Up and Next Steps
Links & Resources:
- DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE FEMALE FOUNDER HEALTH AUDIT here
- Apply for LeadHer business mentorship here
- Learn more about NourisHer health & fitness coaching here
- Subscribe to my weekly coaching newsletter here
- Access my FREE calorie calculator here
- Connect with me on Instagram here
- Connect with me on Facebook here
- Connect with me on TikTok here
- Connect with me on YouTube here
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with friends who might benefit.
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Transcript
Introduction to Self-Care for Entrepreneurs
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Kate Hamilton podcast. So today's episode is going to be a solo episode, and I am going to talk to you about looking after yourself as a female entrepreneur.
00:00:16
Speaker
So this obviously is going to be a little bit kind of health coach Kate mixed with business coach Kate, but they are very, very much intertwined. And what you're not going to get from this is how to lose body fat and how to track calories or anything like that. This is going to be how do you look after your body?
00:00:35
Speaker
so that you can run a successful business, so you can grow a successful business. So you even if you don't have your own business, but you are in a corporate job or in a position of leadership within wherever you work and you need to show up as your best self, this is going to be helpful to you. Whether you are a teacher, a doctor, whether you are a team leader, whether you are a manager, whether you are a CEO, whether you are a founder, Whether you are an entrepreneur, there is something to take from this. Whether you are male or female, you will take something from this because this is very much health for the long game and health for the sake of health and performance rather than aesthetics. And I feel really, really strongly about this approach to health
The Critical Role of Health in Business Success
00:01:21
Speaker
as well. And by teaching this to you, I am actually digging quite deep on my why for living a healthy lifestyle. And i'm excited to share it with you. So look, let's get into it.
00:01:32
Speaker
And one thing I'll say about this as well, sorry, before we get into it is most business advice ignores this part entirely. And this is why I want my lead, her coaching to be different. I'm like, it is about building a successful business, a stable business, building the freedom that you want, having the structure, the stability, the finances that you want, you know, making money, creating significant impact. All of this stuff is important.
00:01:58
Speaker
But none of it's important if you don't have a healthy, stable, but strong body to enjoy it in And At the end of the day, I firmly believe health is a huge part of our overall goals of happiness and happiness means something different to all of us. Some of us want to build businesses. Some of us want a quiet life. Some of us want to mix about. That's me. That's why we're doing that grounded woman, powerhouse woman integrated approach, because I like the peaceful, simple life, but I also like to build my business. I like to grow business. I love business. love personal development.
00:02:33
Speaker
But I also like peace, quiet, stability, calm, and you can have both. But regardless what your goal is, whether it's a health goal, a fitness goal, a business goal, any type of personal achievement goal, it's At the end of the day, your goals all come down to happiness. We're all trying to achieve happiness and fulfillment and happiness. I firmly believe that happiness and fulfillment cannot be achieved in a true fashion without health.
00:03:05
Speaker
You need to look after your health because if your physical health and your mental health take a downturn, And they're both very interconnected, so it's not necessarily one or the other. Everything else gets affected. Your experience of life is affected. So it doesn't matter how much money you have. It doesn't matter how perfect your body looks and pictures. It doesn't matter all the different things you boxes you can take if you don't feel it inside and you can't experience it the way that and connect with it the way you're supposed to. None of it fucking matters. So this, although this is very cliche of me talking health, talking fitness,
00:03:40
Speaker
in relation to business, it is the most important. And I know a lot of you listening to this health and fitness might be your profession as well, that you are coaches and you're looking to build a coaching business. But as a health coach, a personal trainer, a nutrition coach,
00:03:57
Speaker
Growing a business to the way I grew nourish her did come at the cost of my health at times, you know, not enough sleep, not getting enough walks in, letting my training slip a little bit, my nutrition not being 100%.
00:04:08
Speaker
hundred percent These things slip because it is very all consuming and it is exhausting. But We have to bring it back to this and remember that if we want to build something great, we have to behave in a
Entrepreneurship as Athleticism
00:04:19
Speaker
great way. So like I like to look at building a business like being an athlete. You need to think of yourself as an athlete because growing a business is like doing back to back marathons over and over and over again.
00:04:29
Speaker
You need stamina. that You need longevity. This is not a sprint. And therefore, you need to live like an athlete. You need to sleep like an athlete. You need to eat like an athlete. You need to train smart like an athlete. It doesn't mean you need to train at the intensity of an athlete, but you need to train strategic strategically and smartly like an athlete. And you need to keep an eye on your stress levels like an athlete. So as I said there at the start, your body is your most important business asset. So like imagine if you had one car. and Now I've done a reel on this already, so you might have heard me say this, but going to say it again. Imagine if you got one car for your whole life.
00:05:06
Speaker
like your whole life, from the moment you were old enough to drive it to the moment that you are too old to drive or you die from all ah all of that big chunk of space in your life, you only get one car.
00:05:19
Speaker
There's no trade-ins. There's no trade-ins. There's no swaps. There's no selling it. There's no getting a better model. you You are stuck with this one car your whole life. Wouldn't you make sure you get it serviced, oiled, make sure the water is is in there. You're going to drive it really carefully. You're going to treat it like one of the most important things in your life. because you don't get to get another one. But that's exactly what it is with our bodies. And we take it for granted when things are going fine and we're pushing and we're pushing and our body's just taking us along. But we really should be treating it like our most um important business asset because it is. If it breaks, if we break, everything around us and everything we're building
Prioritizing Functionality over Aesthetics
00:05:56
Speaker
falls apart. So this is not, this this conversation that I'm having today is not about fat loss and it's not about looks. This is about functionality and performance. So in relation to female founders, I have some statistics here which might shock you a little bit. And so in comparison to male founders, because it's a little different for us. OK, so what the statistics show is 83% of female founders experience high stress, suffer from persistent anxiety.
00:06:28
Speaker
54% of us face burnout and that statistic of female burnout percent is compared to 37% for our male peers. So as females, we are burning out. It's not because we're less tough, but it's because the conditions are different for a lot of us. And obviously when I'm putting out statistics like this, I'm generalizing and it's not the case for everyone. But when they do these studies,
00:06:53
Speaker
We really can see a trend and how much more difficult business can be for females, not because we're not able for it, but because the way society and life is set up for us, it can be so much more difficult.
00:07:05
Speaker
And in the coming episodes, I will be touching on, you know, females in business, what the statistics are versus males and on how far we get. And I will look at all of that and, you know, we'll dig deep on, you know, why things are more difficult for women in business. But for now, what I really want to do is just focus in on you taking care of you now and really starting to give that as a as a serious priority and focus within your your business and within your your weekly schedule. This needs to be scheduled into your week, like your sales calls, like your coaching calls, like all of the important business meetings that get put in place, your meetings with yourself to look after your body, your meal times, your training times, your walks, your sleep. All of these need to be strategized and put into your schedule like everything else.
The Vital Role of Sleep in Productivity
00:07:56
Speaker
And remember, most of you listening, I would imagine, are trying to build something extraordinary. I know that's my goal. You know, I have plenty. My goals can be quite, quite delusional, but I love it. And you can't build something extraordinary on a body running on empty. So we really have to look at this.
00:08:15
Speaker
So before we dive into the different areas, I just want to bring this back to what's important. So functionality, your body doing what you need it to do every day. This is a a serious objective that you need to consider. Connection, okay? Connection.
00:08:30
Speaker
You need to be tuned in and you need to not be at war with yourself. If you're trying to help others, if you're trying to build a business, because building a business is hard. You're going to encounter challenges. You're going to doubt yourself and you need to get tuned in with yourself to be able to deal with these challenges. Performance. okay Energy and clarity that you need to lead.
00:08:50
Speaker
You need to think about your nutrition in that way. You need to be able to make decisions and you need to be able to create. Like I said already, think like an athlete, sleep, fuel, move and think long game.
00:09:04
Speaker
And I know in the moment it can feel very all consuming and it can feel very all or nothing and that everything's going to fall apart or that you're on top of the world. But both being at rock bottom and being at top of the world are temporary. And the reality is that your business life is going to be a lot of ups and downs and you need to be able to go with flow and you need to be able to make decisions in difficult times and sometimes quite difficult, quite difficult, quick decisions. You need to be on point like an athlete. and make sure that you've got these basics covered.
00:09:37
Speaker
This is a marathon. This is in fact back to back marathons and we need to be prepared for So sleep. Sleep is the most underrated business decision that you're going to make.
00:09:49
Speaker
And it's also kind of the one that's fairly easy to skip, especially in the early days when you're excited that the workload is big, you've so much to do. You can like you can actually affect your sleep because you're so excited and you're all consumed by building your business, but you will burn out very quickly without it. And it's really important to to make sure that this is is getting prioritized. Here's just some statistics as to why your sleep is non-negotiable.
00:10:13
Speaker
Okay, so 63% of entrepreneurs have sleep issues because of their business. Now that can be because exciting things in your business, that can be stressful things in your business, that can be lack of enough hours in the day. 48% say it's hurting productivity and decision-making. So half of entrepreneurs find that their lack of sleep is hurting their productivity and their decision-making. Like that is massive. And think how much money that could be costing you.
00:10:37
Speaker
And think of the potential that you're not reaching because of it. Less than 1% of people genuinely function on under six hours sleep. And that is a fact. So even if you're someone you're like, I'm totally fine. i'm five, five and a half hours sleep. but You know, i I'm grand. You might be grand, but you are not thriving. You might be surviving. You're not thriving. And over time, that's going to significantly impact your health, which in relation to business is going to significantly impact your business. One bad night of sleep can actually impair your cognitive function.
00:11:12
Speaker
so much that it compares to being legally drunk. So you can imagine the emotional decisions you're making on lack of sleep and how much that is is making an impact, especially long term, over your business.
00:11:25
Speaker
So obviously, the less sleep you're getting, your cortisol begins to climb, which is your stress hormone, which is then going to make your hunger hormones be out of whack and your your hunger is going to so spike your stress.
00:11:37
Speaker
Cravings are going to spike. This is stuff that a lot of you know that you don't need me to tell you. But a really big part here with the cortisol climbing and the lack of sleep is your emotional reactivity will increase by up to 60%. So instead of making smart decisions, confident decisions, clear decisions, you're making emotional decisions in your business.
00:11:59
Speaker
And quite often then any problems you encounter in the business is not the staff. It's not the algorithm. It's not the environment. It's you. And that can be hard to hear, but it needs to be faced head on and something as simple as sleep. Just it needs to be dealt with. So your goal is minimum seven hours every night. Like a lot of you health and fitness professionals will be telling your clients. So apart from health reasons, these are business reasons as well.
00:12:27
Speaker
Now, I know like realistically when you're building a business, you're like, yeah, Kate, that's great. But, you know, I've got two kids and I've got a full time job and I'm also trying to build this on the side and there's just not enough fucking hours in the day. I totally get it. And when I was building Nourish Her Coaching,
00:12:42
Speaker
It was all consuming and it took an awful lot. It's literally, I lived breathing. It's all I thought about. It's all I talked about. It's all I dreamt about. And it is very hard. And you, especially when you're working one, two jobs, you've got kids, you've got other responsibilities. It's very, very hard because you're like the only thing that seems to be able to give is sleep. So what my rule here is, okay, obviously it's not, you're not just working nine to five if you're building a business. Of course you're working more hours. And it's not the amount of hours that you're working that's the problem. It's the lack of sleep. So work weekends if you need to. There's nothing wrong with working six or seven days a week if you're getting designated switch off time or you're actually properly switching off. And I think quite often when you're building something that's your passion project, it doesn't feel like work and everyone's telling you you're working too much, but like you're just so excited and you're enjoying it that it doesn't feel like work. So there's nothing wrong with working weekends.
00:13:33
Speaker
There's nothing wrong with working late or getting up early to work. But you can't get up early to work and stay up late to work because then what's happening is either end, it's shortening your sleep. So whatever works best for you and your schedule. Maybe you're a night owl and you work and you're more creative at night and you just love to get you look forward to getting home from your day job to get stuck into working for a night. for the night that might not be practical for someone who has kids and they need to get up early before their kids maybe you need to get up at 5 a.m to get some work done before your kids get up and you have to get them to school you have to get off to work or whatever but you can't do both okay because if you start working into the night you're gonna you're not gonna be able to wind up to get up at 5 a.m m to do your 5 a.m work okay
00:14:17
Speaker
It's one or the other. If you're not an early morning person and you have the flexibility, work at night. If you like the night, if you struggle to get to sleep at night and you need a bit of a wind down routine, make the evening your wind down routine and work early in the morning. So there there's no right or wrong way to do this. Just make sure that you're getting an eight hour stretch between when you go to bed and when you have to get up so that you're definitely getting seven hours in between that eight hour window. When it comes to working weekends, you know, as long as you so you don't completely avoid important relationships and important special occasions, the people who love you will understand how important it is for you. It's OK to have designated work time at the weekend. Just make sure you're also having a little bit of designated switch off time. And I know like in the early days of me building the business, taking a whole weekend was not off, was not something I wanted to do. I wanted to build my lessons. I wanted to build my business. I wanted to work on my content and I wanted to do it. And it brought me joy and excitement and happiness. and
00:15:16
Speaker
And I needed to because my my weeks were busy as well. So it, but it's just about making sure you don't completely lose your grip on reality and, you know, make sure you're still connecting with the people that you love. You might need to pull back on social occasions that you're doing just for the sake of it. And, you know, but what I always say is, you know, friends that are real friends will understand. It's just about getting that, getting the balance right for you, but that also building a business isn't balanced. There will be an imbalance, but don't let that imbalance be at the cost of your sleep.
00:15:49
Speaker
So with sleep as well, the consistency matters. Same bedtime, same wake time. Figure out what works for you. Find what works and then just stick with a Consistency over everything. It's the same as I talk about with fat loss and health. Consistency is everything.
00:16:03
Speaker
Do things consistently like that. I literally built my business, and my social media following and everything that I've built. I have built through consistency, just showing up, doing the basics. There's nothing fancy about me, as you can see. Nothing fancy. I just show up. I just.
00:16:19
Speaker
Say what I want to say. i get my thoughts and ideas across. I help people as much as I can. And I do it consistently. And I have a structure and an organization to it. And I make sure that I have boundaries and I switch off and I sleep properly. And I look after myself as best I can. It's not always perfect, but, you know, we we do our best. Remember that your circadian rhythm, which is you know, your sleep, governs every hormone and recovery system in the body. So if stuff starts to go haywire in your body, which I've experienced,
00:16:49
Speaker
It's fucking disaster when it comes to business. So just really like just know that ah that all stems from your sleep. Your work will always be there, but your body won't be if and your mental sharpness won't be if you don't take it seriously. So yes, catch those Z's, make sure you're getting enough sleep.
00:17:09
Speaker
Nutrition.
Nutrition Strategies for Entrepreneurs
00:17:10
Speaker
So eating for sustained energy. This is not diet talk. I'm not talking about you getting into a calorie deficit and dieting and looking for to get and into a certain shape. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about sustained energy, being fueled and being nourished to get to live and feel your best self so that you can give your best self to your business and to your clients as well. And it all comes back to blood sugar. OK, your blood sugar levels are so important. So when your blood sugar drops, your cortisol rises to fix it. OK, so if you do that all day, that's chronic stress and hormone imbalance. It's just constant. It's just chaos within your body. OK, so what's really important here
00:17:56
Speaker
is eating regularly. Okay. So it stop skipping meals because you're so engrossed in what you're doing. Make sure you're having at least a breakfast, a lunch and a dinner, if not really like four meals, four or five meals spread out. It's, it's the reason why it's so important when your blood sugar drops, your cortisol, which is your stress hormone,
00:18:14
Speaker
rises to fix it and you don't want to be in a constant state of high cortisol it is going to wreak havoc in your body so everything just gets better when you keep your blood sugar level stable and you keep your cortisol levels under control so the two main characters here that you really need to think about is protein and fiber okay so regular eating and protein and fiber in every meal. OK, so it's not about cutting things out. It's actually about putting the good things in, making sure you're getting out of like every meal, every snack as well.
00:18:46
Speaker
Protein, protein in everything and fiber in everything. Another thing that's really important is eating within one hour of waking. If you can avoid having that morning in coffee in that first hour. So when when we wake up, our cortisol levels are high and they need to come down naturally.
00:19:04
Speaker
within that that that first hour of waking. If we have a coffee within the first hour, it's going to just shoot our cortisol levels up again and keep them high. So we're starting the day off on the wrong foot. So always just let like, you know, have a glass of water with squeeze of lemon in it and, you know, just start your morning slow, even if you are working at your desk.
00:19:24
Speaker
and have your breakfast within that one hour of waking. Don't leave hours before eating something. If you can't really eat too early in the morning that you can't stomach it, just have a small little bit of like Greek yogurt, walnuts and honey. and You know, there's there's fiber in the walnuts there.
00:19:39
Speaker
Also healthy fats. You've got protein in the Greek yogurt and it it's just a little bit to keep you going. You can put a bit of banana in there as well if you want. and And then have breakfast a little bit later if you can't have a full breakfast, but you need something that's balanced. You need protein.
00:19:53
Speaker
and fiber within that hour of waking. Eat every four hours, about every four hours, so we don't have any long blood sugar dips. Never eat carbs alone is another thing for managing cortisol and blood sugars. So always, like there's nothing wrong with having carbs. We need them. We need them for our energy. But pair them with a protein, a fat or a fiber, okay? Because the more balanced, just think of everything you eat as a little mini meal.
00:20:16
Speaker
get a little balance of all the the macronutrients. Remember, we're trying to eat like athletes, not just like normal people. We want to eat like athletes because we want to be able to perform like athletes. We be able to think like athletes. And these little things are just going to make a huge difference to our hormonal stability.
00:20:32
Speaker
Another important thing here then is the overnight gap. OK, so I am not a fan of intermittent fasting for females, particularly females over the age of 40. However, that doesn't mean that we need to snack way into the night and be eating right up before sleep. So it doesn't affect your body weight or your fat loss or anything, but it does affect your sleep. And again, we've talked about how important the sleep is. So you want to have about a 12 hour overnight gap to give your body time to recover. A 12 hour overnight gap, 8pm to 8am, 7pm to 7am, whatever it is. It's gentle. It's not restrictive. and And it will really, really help keep everything regulated. And then water two and a half to three liters water daily. We need to be hydrated also. And just keep an eye on your coffee. But try and make, never have coffee on an empty stomach, okay? So always have coffee with food or after food so that like that we've balanced the blood sugar levels before we're like firing a load of caffeine in there on top of it and manage the coffees like, you know, you'll know yourself, your tolerance to it. It's affecting your sleep. It's affecting how you're feeling and you're little bit jittery.
00:21:39
Speaker
Maybe need to reduce them. I recently had to reduce them. I feel quite anxious, just physically anxious. There was nothing particularly going on. My body was just kind of. given up on me a little bit anxiety wise and I was like okay something's off balance or they said to me well Kate maybe how many coffees are you having a day and I was like three okay one coffee a day max going forward i was like okay right one coffee so I'm actually shocked even as a health coach and nutrition coach who knows these things I'm shocked at the difference that it's made okay so really do look at your caffeine and I know but you can think oh coffee keeps me going but
00:22:14
Speaker
Wait till you start fueling properly and nourishing properly and how much more of a superpower that feels. So obviously then a no brainer as well is going to be your vegetables, your micronutrients, your fruit and vegetables. So I kind of think, you know, half your plate filled with vegetables in every meal.
00:22:27
Speaker
You may not be doing that breakfast, you know, like have your berries or whatever with breakfast vegetables with the other meals and and always a decent source of protein at every meal. And then when it comes to your carbohydrates going whole grain,
00:22:39
Speaker
slow release carbohydrates and try and avoid the refined ones as much as possible within reason. and We're not about cutting anything out and a small amount of healthy fat in every meal. and And look, it's what I talk about all the time. It's what a lot of you know and a lot of you listening actually teach as well. But it's also it can be very easy to fall in the business trap of being so busy. And we're constantly on the go that, yes, we know this stuff, we're teaching this stuff, but we're not actually doing it ourselves. And actually in the show notes of this episode, I'm going to put an entrepreneur health audit in place. OK, so it'll be like a little audit you can do to check out
00:23:17
Speaker
Like being really honest with yourself, how well are you looking after yourself while you build your business? And you' you're going to be able to score yourself in this audit and really just find your starting point and be like, right, shit now. And then you'll be able to see where you need to focus and what you need to build. So if you check the show notes, there'll be a link to that. You'll be able to download that free audit to help you just figure out where your starting point is, because when we're in it and we're go, go, go.
00:23:38
Speaker
Sometimes it can be shocking to see how little we're actually looking after ourselves, no matter what we tell ourselves. And so we're thinking and then supplements like, you know, yourselves supplements are very much individual to the person. It's always worth getting your bloods done every six months, 12 months and getting a detailed report, seeing what you're a little low on. Even if you're not clinically low, you might need specific supplementation. But in general, things worth considering. I'll always say creatine cannot go wrong for your cognitive health. and for obviously your muscle cell health as well and vitamin d if you're in anywhere northern hemisphere that's a little bit cloudy basically all the time like ireland you might need a vitamin d supplement omega-3 unless you're eating oily fish twice a week omega-3 supplement daily is but a good quality one is going to be hugely beneficial again for your cognitive health we want to stay sharp magnesium to help with our nervous system and our stress are some supplements that I would recommend and a decent multivitamin that's going to fill in the gaps. Okay.
Incorporating Movement into Daily Life
00:24:38
Speaker
Another thing we need to think about is movement. And this can be a huge one for us when we don't have enough time. Okay. We know we need to train. We know we need to move. We have kids, we've got parents, we've got extended family, we've got work, we've got the business. not always possible to fit the movement in, but we have got to schedule it in. We've got to structure it in just like we tell our clients to do.
00:25:02
Speaker
So we need to be doing the same. so What I find is I'm talking now in relation to training, I'm a big believer in doing what you enjoy because what you enjoy is going to be effortless and you're going to keep it up. So it's really important to do what it is that brings you joy and do it consistently.
00:25:20
Speaker
However, it's really important that all of us are lifting weights. How you lift weights is completely up to you. The specific advice I'm going to give here is going to be very much towards female health and females over the age of 35, 40. So, you know, as you're heading towards that perimenopause stage and we're running businesses and we're raising teenagers and kids and doing God knows what else and our stress levels are high, our hormones are starting to change. And the last thing we want to do with our exercise is add more stress to our bodies. Okay. So this is not prescriptive. This is just from my experience, what works for me and but what for any female entrepreneurs that I have worked with that are under a high level of stress as it is. You want to make sure your training is not causing more stress. Relationships, business and fitness. You cannot push yourself.
00:26:13
Speaker
all three at once. OK, you cannot be trying to prioritize all the relationships in your life. You cannot be pushing to grow your business and you cannot be going for a serious fitness goal all at the same time. OK, you won't be optimized. You won't be performing at your best in any of them.
00:26:33
Speaker
You could push at two at the same time, but one needs to take a back seat. And it depends on where you're at. If you're, you know, if you're single and you want to be single at the minute and you don't have too much responsibility and ties and you're like, you know what, relationships are taking a back seat for the next three months. I'm focusing on my fitness and my business. That's totally fine. For a lot of us, relationships is a non-negotiable if we've got kids, if we've got need long-term relationships that that are important to us. If we've got extended family, that's important to us. So it's for a lot of us, it's not realistic to make relationships that be the backseat. Sometimes there can be periods where it's like, look guys, I'm going monk mode for a month. I'll see you all next month. I have to do this. And that's fine.
00:27:15
Speaker
But making sure you communicate that with your loved ones. But in general, we, our relationship, like I'm not in the position to be able to do that. got kids, are teenagers, you know, I like, and family is very important to me as well. And my relationship, my marriage is very important to me. So I like to get the balance. Now have very supportive people around me that allow me to do my thing as well. So it's important to, to make sure that your relationships around you are healthy as well, you know, and not being afraid to step back from things that are not serving you and that are holding you back, but that's a whole other podcast. Yeah. But if we're presuming that, you know, relationships are not taking a backseat here, you can only really push forward with serious business goals or serious fitness goals. And doing both is going to burn you out. OK, so I'm go to presume that
00:28:01
Speaker
From this, and I should never presume, I know, but I'm going to take the approach that I'm presuming that right now business is the push. You're listening to this podcast. You're trying to grow a business. You're trying to start a business, whatever it it is that you're doing with your business. You're trying to perform at this high level. If you've gotten this far into the episode, then I presume then that that's something that's important to you. So with your fitness, we don't let it drop.
00:28:21
Speaker
So although maybe taking a backseat, It needs to keep ticking over, OK, because health is important for all of the reasons this whole episode is about. It's so important, but it's not about the hero at the extremes and the heroics. OK, so what needs to happen here is move your body every single day.
00:28:39
Speaker
It doesn't matter. Walk, run, swim, dance, whatever it is you enjoy. I love walking. it can be hard to find time to put it in. Some people find it easier to just go for a run because They get the movement in a shorter time. If you're not a runner and you're trying to grow a business, take don't take up running to add more stress to your body while you're already under stress. If you're already a runner who's growing a business, then running isn't stressful for you, but maybe don't book into an ultramarathon or something. So keep that homeostasis in place within your fitness. Keep your fitness.
00:29:08
Speaker
as it is at your baseline that you're comfortable at. Okay. And keep it ticking along. You don't want to be pushing yourself. Like if I decided to, now's the time to start training for high rocks or, you know, for half marathon, it's not the time for me at the minute I'm growing a business, but I can't sit on my ass all day and do nothing. So I get out for my daily walk and it helps me massively with my creativity and with feeling better. And just my heart held a good brisk walk is doing the job for me.
00:29:35
Speaker
And then obviously lifting our weights three to four times a week doesn't have to be extreme. Most of you listening will know exactly what to do. If you don't, you're an entrepreneur, get yourself a personal trainer and get the basics down so that you are looking after your muscles, your posture, sitting at desks all day. We're going to get stiff. you know, our as we age, how important it is for our metabolic health, our overall health, our bone density, our muscle mass, everything. I cannot stress how important it is to strength train and it needs to be fitted. It needs to be fit in in your week, wherever works best. So why does movement equal better business? Because at the end of the day that's what we're here to talk about. So there was this study done by Stanford University and what it was looking at was the creative output while walking versus sitting. And what they found was that there was a steep percent increase in creative output while walking versus sitting. And it didn't matter about the surroundings because they they had people walking out in nature, but they also had people walking on treadmills facing a blank wall. And there was no significant difference between the outdoors people and the treadmill people. So it's actually the walking itself. It's the movement that helps with that creative output. So that daily walk, like, isn't it, was it Steve Jobs that used to take walking meetings so if he had me important creative meetings he used to take them walking because he found he was more creative rather than sitting at a desk so think about having your meetings out walking if you're feeling stuck get up go for a walk come back the ideas come on the walk not at the desk so like do you remember that walks for ideas your walk is for ideas your desk is for execution
00:31:14
Speaker
Then when it comes to lifting heavy weights. So heavy lifting regulates your course as all your stress hormone and it builds resilience. And it also gives you that take on the world feeling where you step out of the gym feeling like a boss. And that is important because you have to step into your power as a founder and as a business owner. And it is real. Don't neglect it.
00:31:35
Speaker
So the bit I want to say around training in relation to women over the age of 40 and cortisol and stress, a lot of this comes from Dr. Stacey Sims, who is absolutely fantastic and her work. and And what we really want to do, what we need to consider, as I said, is our blood sugars because of our cortisol. It's all about cortisol and making sure our cortisol is under control.
00:31:58
Speaker
And as we are also starting to deal with perimenopause symptoms, we're already fucking stressed. We're building a business and we're raising kids and we're doing God knows what else. OK, so we're stressed. And if you're doing long like zone three cardio, like running, spinning, like really long hike, like zone three, it actually spikes your cortisol with very little benefit. OK, what is actually better is for you to do daily zone two cardio. rather than putting your body under the zone three stress. So daily zone two cardio is actually going to be more effective. So good, brisk walk, something where you're able to hold a conversation.
00:32:35
Speaker
So that could be a light jog. It depends and on on what what you're into, but that you could hold a conversation, but you mightn't be singing. Okay. That's the kind of zone two cardio that is going to be best to keep our stress levels under control and lifting heavy three to four times a week. and compound movements where possible and to keep those fitness levels up looking at actual true HIIT exercise so once a week or so doing 80 to 90 percent max effort but keeping it brief is way way more effective so that could be like 20 seconds of really fucking hard on the on like on a exercise bike let's say or a treadmill like it's 80 to 90 percent effort for like 20 seconds
00:33:17
Speaker
And then rest for like one to two minutes and then do that like four times. And that is enough to give that response, that high intensity response that you
Managing Stress and Exercise Intensity
00:33:28
Speaker
want. Now, if I'm being completely honest at the minute, I'm not doing high intensity cardio at all. I am walking every single day and I'm lifting weights. And that's enough. So, you know, I think look at where you are and what the stress levels are in your business. And although giving this advice in relation to stress and cortisol, if you currently have an exercise routine in that works for you, that you enjoy, don't change it. If it's not broke, don't fix it. But just keep an eye on your stress levels and don't be putting yourself under or unnecessary pressure with your training is all I'm saying, because I know was high achievers can tend to be very, very hard on ourselves exercise wise. And the last point I just want to make on exercise as well, is please,
00:34:04
Speaker
Stop training on an empty stomach. If you're training first thing in the morning, please don't train fasted. If you're a female, you need to have your little bit a Greek yogurt, a few nuts, a bit of honey, a slice banana, a few slices of banana or something small. Doesn't matter. i Have your big breakfast when you get home from training if you're training early in the morning. But training fasted, like I said, you wake up, your cortisol is high. You go and you train on an empty stomach. You're just keeping your cortisol high. It's like, you know, getting that coffee in and not actually bringing letting your cortisol levels come down. So we want to manage that stress. So always eat a little bit, at least before training, and then a good balanced meal afterwards then as well. So I'm going to start wrapping up this episode. But I really do think like, what is the point in building wealth, in building freedom, in building purpose, if we're too sick and wrecked to enjoy it? And a lot of people fall into this trap and they reach their goals and it doesn't feel like enough. They're not happy. They're not connected. There's something wrong. And they reach for more and they reach for more. And it doesn't need to be that way. You can experience wealth. You can experience freedom and you can experience purpose and connection and joy all in the one. But you have to look after yourself in the process and you need to check in with yourself to make sure you're connected with you, with your body, with your health, but also with your values and what's important to you as well. OK, so to wrap this whole episode up in five
Conclusion and Summary of Key Points
00:35:24
Speaker
sentences, let's do this. Sleep. Minimum seven hours, consistent, protected like it is an asset.
00:35:30
Speaker
Nutrition, stable blood sugar, protein and fiber every meal. Movement, lift heavy three to four times a week. Walk every day and stop training past it. The business runs on the asset, which is your body, and not the other way around. Don't let your business run your body. Make sure your body is running the business. You only get one car.
00:35:50
Speaker
So service it Look after it. Fuel it. And that is me done. Please, please take care of the woman building the business. I can't stress enough how important it is. And it's true. And anyway, look, if you don't know where to start, Jess, or you do know where to start, but you're like, oh, Jesus, I don't, you know, i I don't even know where I'm at with this.
00:36:09
Speaker
there is an audit. If you go to the show notes here, there is a link that you can download my free entrepreneur health audit and you can score yourself, see where you stand within it and you'll kind of know what you've let slip and what you need to know. It's not about beating yourself up, just picking yourself up and moving forward with that. And with a little bit of focus on you as well as
Invitation to Join LeadHer Program
00:36:30
Speaker
you're growing the business. As always, if you enjoyed the episode, please share it with someone who you think will find it helpful. Make sure you're following the show. that you are subscribed. we Always love to read your comments if you have any comments that you'd like to leave below the episode. And if you would like some structure, some support and some mentorship in relation to growing your business, this is what I do with LeadHer, which is a mentorship for women who are looking to build
00:36:57
Speaker
A mentorship for women who are looking to build sustainable, profitable businesses, but to do it the right way without burning out. And so that we can have the grounded woman and the powerhouse woman connected, that it doesn't have to be either or. We can have calm, peaceful, connected life. but also chase our dreams, achieve it and have the abundance that we deserve. And we can do both. I have done it and I am so passionate in helping others do that. So there is a link to my leader coaching below as well, if you would like to apply and we can have a chat, see if we are a good fit.
00:37:34
Speaker
And if not, either way, i will see you on the next episode. And thank you so much for listening.