Including Health In Your Business Strategy

We make a simple case that health is your biggest business asset because every decision, client interaction, and leadership moment comes from you. We challenge the long-hours mindset and leave you with one question to test whether your business is giving you freedom or draining it. 
• health as a core part of business strategy 
• why exhaustion drives procrastination and reactive decisions 
• how rest and appointments improve focus and decision quality 
• sustainability as the real goal for long-term growth 
• the freedom check: business supporting your life or the other way round 
• one practical prompt to put yourself first this week 
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Transcript

Welcome And The Big Claim

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Hello everyone, it's Victoria here, and welcome back to another episode of Business Built with Strategy. So, your health is one of your biggest business assets. To be honest, it's probably the biggest, I would say. You know, we ensure our laptops, yeah, we invest in software, spend thousands on

Health As Your Core Asset

SPEAKER_00 0:35

marketing and protect our clash flag, along with putting our strategies together, marketing offers, just everything that comes with that in business. But the one thing that drives every decision in the business is us. Even if you do have a team, even if you're fortunate, you know, fortunate enough to have a team, ultimately all decisions come down to us. And if you're stressed, exhausted, or maybe running on empty, or you know what, not just even that, squeezing out that time that you want in the gym, squeezing out that swim that you wanted, squeezing out health appointments. You know, I know I've done it, it will eventually show up in your business. Looking after your health isn't separate from business, it actually supports it. And, you know, if I'm to be honest, it did take me a little while to realise that myself. I always thought that health was separate from business, but it isn't. You know, health is the ultimate. I always say health is wealth. But also in business, health is wealth too. It's straight across the board. And, you know, whether you're hiring, pricing, you know, putting offers together, creating content, dealing with clients, you know, solving all the problems that you have to solve in business, every decision comes from your brain. And when you're tired or you're overwhelmed or you're burnt out or whatever,

Exhaustion Leads To Bad Decisions

SPEAKER_00 1:51

or you're just not getting that time for you, you're more likely to procrastinate and make reactive decisions or just avoid things altogether, to be honest with you. And I've done that definitely when I first started in business. I was probably a little bit more reactive because, you know, you start off, everything's on you, and sometimes it can get a lot, can't it? You know. Um, and that's just not when you start off in business, that can be at any point. And you start to avoid things that actually, you know, they're the things that move your business forward, they're the things that move your needle. Um, and your health affects, you know, the quality of your leadership. And it's not, you know, you don't want to think that your health would affect things like that, but it it really, really does. And success, it isn't just about working harder. You must have heard online, you know, there's a lot of people saying success isn't about working harder, it is about working smarter. And one of those ways, you know, of uh of working smarter is to make sure that you keep up with health appointments, to make sure that you're going out and enjoying that that lunch with a friend or with a family member, or maybe just having a little bit of time to yourself or going to the gym, going for a swim. Could just be, you know, mooching around the shops, you know, it could be anything like that. But it's something for you. You know, there's still this belief that working longer hours equals success. But if you're working 12 hours a day or even more and making poor decisions because you're absolutely exhausted, are you actually being productive? I would probably err on the side that you're not, because the goal isn't to squeeze more hours into the day and also squeeze anything for you out, it's to have the energy and the focus and the clarity to make the hours that you work, that you do, work and count. So we've all heard that saying, you can't pour from an empty cup. And it is a little bit of a cliche, isn't it? You know, I've heard that so many times. But it's not so much about that, this is about sustainability. So if you're constantly putting yourself last, okay,

Sustainability And Putting Yourself First

SPEAKER_00 3:50

and I want you to ask, ask yourself this, you know, when was the last time that you had some real quality time for yourself? When was the last time that you squeezed something out because you needed to put something in for the business? And I probably could definitely say you've probably done it in the last week, you know. And if you're constantly doing that and you're putting yourself last, eventually your business will force you to stop. And you know, that could be through illness, burnout, or just uh just simply you know, losing that motivation. Um, you know, we all know that a sustainable business needs a sustainable owner, and that's not being selfish. I used to, you know, I've got to be honest, I used to think that that was I shouldn't be doing it, you know. I remember building my first business and I used to kind of squeeze everything out for me and not, you know, think about myself. And it was so important that you do think about yourself, you know, because you are important. And if you're not there to run your business, who is gonna be? If you've just completely ignored yourself all the way along. You can see where I'm going with this. So ask yourself one question Is my business supporting my life, or is my life supporting my business? Most people start a business for freedom, right? Yeah, many end up building something that controls them, you know, that it's like they're a slave to their business. And if your business depends on

Freedom Or Another Demanding Job

SPEAKER_00 5:10

you working at all capacity every single day just to keep it going, it's worth asking yourself whether you've built a business or created another demanding job. And a good strategy should help you build a business that works for you, not one that will slowly wear you down. And I think a lot of us have been there, and it's just knowing when we have to change things up. So this is a very short ep today, but it's just a reminder to ask yourself when was the last time that you actually put yourself first? And then make a decision. Make a time for yourself. Maybe you want to go to the gym, maybe you've got a health appointment, maybe you just want some time on your own. It could be anything, but it is so important because remember, health is part of

One Question Then Take Action

SPEAKER_00 5:55

your business strategy. I hope that you have enjoyed this week's app. If you have, please like the pod, follow the pod, share the app, share the link. Honestly, it would mean so much, and it really does help the podcast too. I will speak to you in a couple of weeks.