Focusing on Health and Growth Alongside Work

Tech Giants and Hip Startups Shouldn’t Be the Only Ones Adding Wellness and Mindfulness to Work

Lara Knight – 5 August 2020

Running a small business can feel like bubbling in a pressure cooker. The to-do list is endless and the mind chatter of ‘what didn’t get finished today’ and ‘what needs to be done tomorrow’ is hard to turn off. Most of us didn’t have how-to-run-a-business training. We just work long hours, figure stuff out, and try not to get overwhelmed.

If we’re lucky we find systems and practices to make it easier. 

When I started The Junk Map I found the advantage of following online entrepreneurs is they like sharing what they’ve learnt… everywhere! In blog posts, videos, podcasts, books, courses, conferences and social media. (Digital business owners are perhaps a wordy bunch who spend a lot of time alone??)

Anyway, the more successful people become, the more their advice changes. Success and happiness become less about money and more about maintaining a healthy mind, body and relationships alongside work. There is no point being successful in business if all other areas of your life fail.

Of course COVID-19 has made things extra difficult. Many businesses are in trouble and the strain on owners, employees and the newly unemployed is huge. A post like this can’t tackle big economic problems. But you never know where small, personal changes in thought or lifestyle can lead.

Taking Care of You

As a junk business owner or creative you already look at the world a little differently. You see use and value where others see rubbish.

Exploring functional medicine, nutrition and mindfulness is similar. It’s looking beneath the surface to something potentially very valuable – your long term wellbeing.

Anyway without getting too woo-woo here are some of the people and resources that I’ve found interesting this year.

Growth and freedom don’t have to stay in the realm of millionaires. We can all fit small changes into our lives that improve our future. 

Podcasts

Podcasts are a brilliant way to learn while doing something physical like exercising, driving, gardening or making. I dip into loads of podcasts but these are the handful that I keep coming back to. Education-focused presenters and guests make them easy to understand, even if you’re new to a topic.

If you haven’t tried podcasts, the simplest way to access them is to:
1. Download a podcast app on your mobile (eg. Apple Podcasts).
2. Search for a podcast by title, presenter or topic.
3. Click into a podcast and read the short description of each episode to find ones that sound interesting.
4. Click the + button to add an episode to your library to listen to later.
5. Or subscribe to a podcast to have new episodes delivered to your phone. 

Broken Brain PodcastFeel Better Live More PodcastEventual Millionaire Podcast

Broken BrainDigging into neuroplasticity, epigenetics, biohacking, mindfulness and functional medicine. That all sounds really complicated but Dhru chooses good storytellers and starts with the basics. Go to ‘See all episodes’ to try a couple. (Episode 78 and Episode 98 are two I liked.)

Feel Better, Live More – Similar to Broken Brain (above) in the UK. Dr Chatterjee is a wordy interviewer and the episodes are long but you get a lot of detail if you like the topic. Hopefully we’ll see more doctors move from general medicine to functional medicine, looking beyond treating symptoms to the underlying causes of ill health and disease in individual patients.

Eventual Millionaire – Jaime Masters interviews all kinds of successful business owners and digs into their purpose, history, routines and processes to see what might help others. Topics range from practical skills like hiring and communication, to beliefs and mindset. These are good to listen to when you’re feeling a bit down or overwhelmed. Many of Jaime’s interviewees struggled at times and it’s encouraging to hear how different people found their way.

Websites

      Well Nourished – When you’re busy or stressed it’s easy to let healthy cooking slip. But research linking poor diet and gut health to a scary array of body/brain diseases is stacking up. Well Nourished is run by Australian naturopath Georgia Harding and is good for quick, nutritious recipes. Dishes are super easy to prepare with a few pantry staples and fresh produce, and the site encourages food variety with minimal fuss.

Books

Simplicious by Sarah Wilson This is another no-fuss recipe collection that I actually use (we have lots of cookbooks that look beautiful but never leave the bookshelf). I’m a make-it-up-as-you-go cook but after a while meals and flavours get repetitive. Mixing in fresh ideas makes a big difference to what we eat, particularly for work lunches. Sarah has some great tips for buying, sorting and prepping ingredients for healthy meals without waste.  

Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz
Yes, terrible title. It took quite a few recommendations for me to actually read this and I almost didn’t include it because some people will loathe it. But it’s an interesting concept. Psycho-Cybernetics was first published in 1960 but you’ll find it on the must-read book list of many coaches and successful people in business or sport. The main premise is your mind is always working subconsciously on goals or problems that are ‘set’ in your imagination. These can be positive or negative. Occasionally you need to change the mind-picture to achieve a different result.

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