The path is never-ending. You spend your days as an entrepreneur making decisions, innovating, and paving the way to new heights for your customers and your team. It’s an all-consuming journey — one you wouldn’t change for the world, but intense and exhausting, nonetheless.
You somehow find the time to keep yourself alive and, if you’re lucky, healthy in the process — but sometimes creating the space in your schedule to incorporate all of the things you know you need to feel whole can seem like a futile effort.
It’s easier to fuel your business than your body. What you do for your body seems to move on a continuous cycle of give and take that feels pointless, whereas your efforts in your business reap tangible rewards over time, each step moving you closer to the bigger vision.
So you do what you can to keep your body in alignment, but your business has to come first and there’s no debating that for you.
And that’s where most entrepreneurs go wrong.
We think our businesses come from our minds and, if we’re lucky enough to be mission-driven, our hearts. But we forget the key ingredient in leadership and business — our bodies.
But here’s what I’ve found. Ever since I’ve shifted my perception of my workouts, and all forms of the physical activity that I’ve always loved, from a part of my life to an integral part of my business’ success, my business has skyrocketed.
Everything within my business has grown more quickly, I’ve become far more relaxed and peaceful in dealing with the challenges of entrepreneurship, making decisions has become a piece of cake, I have felt far more supported, and the feelings of ease, flow, joy and fulfillment have infused my days on a much more regular basis.
This new awareness has made me eager to share what I’ve learned with you!
Behold, four reasons why it’s necessary to integrate your body into how you’re running and growing your business and, really, into all of the decisions you make and actions you take from day to day:
1) Your body is where the next steps in your business are meant to come from.
Most good entrepreneurs at some point realize that ‘gut feelings’ are just as important in decision making as business sense and strategy. You learn pretty quickly as an entrepreneur that not following your gut on things will hold you back.
So consider this – your body is your access to these feelings and gut instincts. The “spidey-senses” that you strive to become stronger in, which guide your business forward, are accessible in your entire body, not just your gut.
The more “in” your body you feel, the more you’ll be able to notice the subtleties of the sensations in your body that are trying to give you signals of what decision to make, what ideas to act upon, and how to move forward in your business.
2) Your feelings are there to guide your business.
One of the best parts about being human is our ability to create things – that’s probably part of what motivated you to become an entrepreneur in the first place. Another amazing aspect of the human experience is our ability to feel. This goes for men and women alike. Everything from the feeling of a soft touch, to joy as it rises up within us – anything we can feel is a gift of the human experience.
It is with this same awareness that we can begin to notice the extent to which our feelings have been trying to guide us in our businesses. Even the seemingly negative feelings, when ignored, are bound to fester and ultimately get in the way of our ability to stay present and lead powerfully. And at their core, all of our feelings serve a purpose in leading us toward more clarity and truth in our business.
So what does that have to do with your body? Your feelings are felt within your body, and nowhere else. By coming home to having an awareness of your body, you will be more aware of your feelings and their subtleties in the role of co-creation they play with your business.
3) An embodied leader is far more powerful than one who’s not.
Walking your talk is an important part of leadership. If we’re not walking our talk, we can’t expect anyone to listen to us, let alone want to be a part of our mission. But embodiment is a step beyond walking our talk. It’s demonstrating what we believe in through more than our actions – through feeling and knowing things so strongly in our bodies that our words and actions become aligned with our very state of being.
Embodiment creates trust and alignment, and it cultivates excellent leadership in your business. And the only way to become fully embodied is to get into your body – to inhabit it in a way that it’s not separate from your mind.
4) The best way to cure an overactive mind is through the body.
You’re undoubtedly brilliant – most entrepreneurs are. However, chances are that sometimes it feels like your brilliant mind gets in the way of making progress with your business more than it helps move things forward.
So how do you continue to cultivate your mind’s brilliance while keeping it mellow enough to stay focused and act on your brilliant thoughts? How do you prevent your brilliance from monkey-minding into an abyss of intellect that ultimately takes you nowhere?
The key is in your body. When we develop a practice of bringing our awareness to our bodies, the mind is able to slow down to a place of intentional focus and act as our ally, not our enemy.
It’s time to redefine the “hustle” typical of entrepreneurs to one of ease in movement — from the inside out.
And it’s time to take thing that you considered one aspect of your life — like a separate component you try to maintain — and realize it’s actually a part of every aspect of your life.
What commitment can you make to include your body in your business today?
