When it’s your first time, everything is exciting. Sure you’re nervous, but that’s a good thing, like the way you feel waiting in line for a roller coaster. Your knees are knocking and you’re thinking “I don’t know if I really want to do this.” Then you go on the ride and squeal, “Wheee! That was fun! Let’s do it again.” When you first start a new business, a new quilt, a new marriage, even the little things are exciting (“Gosh that’s a great thimble, honey! Can I try it on?”). But how do you sustain such excitement for 3 years or 30 in your legal nurse consulting business, not to mention in your relationships with your attorney-clients and subcontractors?
My solution is a simple one. I am a voracious reader. My day is off if I don’t read something each morning and each night. 15 minutes of a nourishing book (not a newspaper or gossip rag) accompanied by a steaming cup of healthy green tea in a quiet environment renews me and energizes me for the day. At night, 15 minutes of any book accompanied by a glass of healthy red wine relaxes me and prepares me for a good night’s fooling around and sleep.
Managing my business and the 25 employees that go with it is challenging and potentially exhausting. There’s one of me and 25 of them – all with their sick children, flu season, bad hair days, bare midriffs (and that’s just the men). I know when you have problems you think they’re worse than anyone else’s, but when you’re the boss, they’re magnified 25 times and you get your own and your spouse’s too! I need renewal time to joyfully come back for more of this punishment day after day after day.
After those 15 morning minutes I can step into my office with a smile and the attitude of “Bring it on! I’m ready.” I’m a working CEO, so I have to get hauled out of bed (no, I don’t pop up like a piece of toast) at 4:00am to make time for my quiet time and exercise, and yes as strange as it sounds, it’s totally worth it. I choose to start my day for me, so that I can freely and happily give to everyone else what is demanded all day, every day. My day is never predictable. While I always start with a plan, the plan rarely plays out the way I designed it (nothing makes God laugh like plans). I once naively scheduled Pilates lessons at the end of the day. When I was paying for more no-show classes than classes I showed for, I faced the music and found an early morning yoga class instead. Now I rarely miss getting my om on.
You don’t expect the batteries in your kids’ toys to keep going forever without recharging. Don’t expect it of yourself. Revitalize your mind, body, emotions and spirit frequently, and you’ll find the energy abundantly available when you need it. Certified Legal Nurse Consultants who invest in renewal have the energy to enjoy the ride long after the carnival has left town. Believe me, your attorney-clients, your family, your friends and your spouse will see the difference a little renewal time can make. For more renewal ideas, read Inside Every Woman: Using the 10 Strengths You Didn’t Know You Had to Get the Career and Life You Want Now
Whether you’re consulting part-time or full-time as a legal nurse consultant, you will love your legal nurse consulting business more if you start your day for you. Design it today to assure you’ll be here tomorrow.
Success Is Inside!
P.S. Comment and share how you renew yourself each day.
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