Executive Wellness Tips

As someone who works 7 days a week, I have had to create weekends and strict rest periods inside my days of active work. Saturday and Sundays are more led with personal tasks but I can't fully disconnect from the mission on weekends and so day naps, strict working days of 10am-3am and working after 8pm (the kids bedtime) become a method of achieving all of my goals and commitments. My consideration for you is: Clarify your values: Reflect on what truly matters to you. Identify your core values and aspirations in both your professional and personal spheres. Understanding what is most important will help you make more aligned choices. Set boundaries: Establish clear boundaries between work and personal life. Determine specific times and spaces dedicated to work, and make a conscious effort to disconnect and engage in activities that bring you joy and fulfillment outside of work. Communicate your boundaries to colleagues, clients, and loved ones to foster respect and understanding. Prioritise self-care: Taking care of yourself is crucial for maintaining overall well-being. Prioritise self-care activities that recharge and rejuvenate you, such as exercise, quality sleep, hobbies, and spending time with loved ones. Remember that self-care is not selfish; it enables you to show up as your best self in all areas of life. Assess your workload: Evaluate your workload and responsibilities realistically. Be mindful of taking on too much and learn to delegate or say no when necessary. Recognise that you have limitations, and it is essential to avoid burnout by finding a sustainable balance between productivity and rest. Foster open communication: Engage in open and honest communication with your employer, colleagues, and loved ones about your work-life balance priorities. Clearly express your needs and concerns, and seek solutions that accommodate both personal and professional commitments. Collaborative dialogue can lead to mutually beneficial arrangements. Embrace flexibility: Explore opportunities for flexible work arrangements, such as remote work, flexible hours, or compressed workweeks. Flexibility can help create more space for personal pursuits and enable a better integration of work and life responsibilities. Practice mindfulness and presence: Cultivate mindfulness by being fully present in the present moment, whether you are at work or engaged in personal activities. By focusing on the task at hand, you can enhance productivity, reduce stress, and derive greater enjoyment from your experiences. Regularly reassess and adjust: Recognise that work-life balance is a dynamic process. Regularly assess your approach, considering your changing circumstances and priorities. Adjust your choices and commitments accordingly to maintain a harmonious equilibrium over time.

While sitting in the airplane last week, hearing “Parents, please fasten your seatbelt first, then fasten your child’s seatbelt,” I was reminded of the “go first” rule in leadership. CEOs and leaders often put their teams, businesses, and stakeholders first. But if they don’t take care of themselves, they eventually burn out - making them less effective for everyone else. This isn’t about self-indulgence. It’s about sustainability. I had an early coaching session with a CEO I worked with a while ago. Spontaneously, I asked if he had breakfast, given the hour. He admitted he hadn’t - then quickly added, “I’m used to skipping breakfast when schedules are tight. Early morning calls with the U.S. or Sydney, then straight into meetings with Asia.” It struck me. This is how it starts. Small sacrifices, made over and over again, until exhaustion becomes the norm. But leadership isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon. And a leader running on empty doesn’t just hurt themselves - it weakens the entire organization. So here’s a reminder to CEOs: Fasten your own seatbelt first. Prioritize your energy, health, and clarity. Not as a luxury, but as a responsibility. Because when you are well, your leadership is stronger. And when your leadership is stronger, your organization thrives. A CEO who neglects themselves in service of the business may hold it together for a while - but a CEO who is well elevates it to new heights. The difference between leading on fumes and leading with full capacity isn’t just personal well-being; it’s the future of the company. Take care of yourself, then your organization will be well taken care of. Catherine Catherine Li-Yunxia (Transforming leaders, Moving the world) 📬 Newsletter: https://lnkd.in/g-AD5aEP

Conversations on Leading People: Self-Care in Leadership The more I explore burnout with leaders, researchers, and practitioners, the clearer it becomes: effective leadership is deeply intertwined with understanding the intricate dynamics of one’s mind, body, and heart. Enter Pooja Lakshmin, MD, a psychiatrist and the author of “Real Self-Care,” who sharply distinguishes meaningful self-care and the superficial, commercialized "faux self-care" variant that only deepens exhaustion and disillusionment. Lakshmin advocates for a self-care regimen grounded in the following: - Requires Boundaries and Moving Past Guilt: Mastering the art of saying no and establishing clear boundaries is crucial. It's about distinguishing between the needs of others and your own. - Means Treating Yourself With Compassion: Ditch the self-sacrificing martyr mindset that leads to resentment. Instead, prioritize kindness towards yourself. - Brings You Closer to Yourself: The aim is to align with your core values, beliefs, and desires. Self-care brings you closer to understanding and fulfilling these aspects of yourself. - Is an Assertion of Power: Embrace and leverage your capacity for change. Self-care is a powerful assertion of your agency and ability to influence your life positively. Lakshmin boldly characterizes burnout as a deep-rooted societal betrayal. She asserts that a myopic focus on “fixing the people” overlooks systemic flaws as “...the game has long been rigged. In our patriarchal society, women are burdened with the mental load – the cognitive and emotional burden that comes with running a household - and a series of paradoxical expectations, all of which understandably drive us to embrace faux self-care in our desperate search for a fix.” Self-care isn't just slapping on a face mask and calling it a day. It’s a dynamic, ongoing journey of tuning into and managing one's mental and emotional states. It involves recognizing stress triggers and making informed choices to support our wellbeing. It’s about knowing when and how to step back from stress-inducing situations, focusing on healing and self-nurturing, and determining when to re-engage with life's complexities. In today's complex and messy world of work, embracing this self-care approach could liberate us, enabling us to be the leaders we aspire to be. #leadership #realselfcare #leadingpeople #diversityequityinclusion

4 Self-Care Principles for Strong Leadership: The holidays bring a unique blend of pressure and possibility — year-end targets, team needs, family schedules, and a calendar that moves fast. It’s a meaningful season, but even the strongest leaders can burn out if they don’t pause to refuel. A truth I’ve learned again and again: you cannot lead well if you’re running on empty. Strong leadership starts with strong self-management. Here are four self-care principles to help you stay grounded, energized, and effective: 1️⃣ Protect Your Energy with Purposeful “No’s.” Your energy is a strategic asset. Decline what drains you so you can fully show up for what matters. Boundaries aren’t barriers — they’re leadership tools. 2️⃣ Treat Rest as a Performance Strategy. Sleep and recovery sharpen your creativity, emotional intelligence, and decision-making. Power down, create a wind-down routine, and let rest become part of your leadership plan. 3️⃣ Move to Strengthen Your Leadership Muscle. Movement isn’t just physical, it increases resilience, stress tolerance, and mental clarity. 4️⃣ Build Micro-Resets Into Your Day. The best leaders regulate themselves before they lead others. Five minutes of breathwork, stretching, or stepping outside can shift your entire state and elevate how you show up for your team. Strong leadership is fueled from the inside out. The more grounded and cared-for you are, the more powerfully you can lead, decide, and inspire. ✅ Which of these will you focus on this season?

🏖️ Sometimes the most powerful leadership lesson happens without a single word being spoken. I was in Sydney yesterday facilitating an exec offsite with a brilliant leadership team. Our venue was right next to Coogee Beach, and after lunch the MD casually mentioned he was going for a walk. So I did too. And soaked in this view. Something really subtle happened in that moment that leaders often miss. This MD normalised that it's ok to step away. To breathe. To look after yourself in the middle of a work day. I hear leaders say all the time: "But I tell my team they should take breaks and look after themselves." Your team isn't listening to what you say. They're watching what you do. 👀 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀.  If you eat lunch at your desk while telling everyone else to take a proper break, guess what message actually lands? There are some pretty simple yet practical ways to normalise self-care through your actions, not just your words: 1️⃣ 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝘆 - Don't hide your lunch break or walk as "busy". Label it "Walking break" or "Lunch - away from desk". When your team sees it on your calendar, they get permission to do the same. 2️⃣ 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗱𝗹𝘆 - Instead of sneaking off at the end of the day for that gym session, mention it casually. "I'm heading to the gym, have a great night." No apology, no justification. Just normalising it. 3️⃣ 𝗔𝘀𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿𝘀 - In your next one-on-one, ask "What did you do for yourself this week?" Not in a compliance way - in a genuinely curious way. What gets asked about gets prioritised. The best leaders I work with role model wellbeing. Openly. Unapologetically. What's one thing you do (not say) that gives your team permission to look after themselves?

⚖️ MANAGER’S MENTAL HEALTH ||| Leadership sets the tone for every workplace. A manager’s decisions, mood, and resilience ripple through a team every single day. When leaders take care of their own mental health, they create an environment where people feel safe, focused, and motivated. When those needs go unaddressed, the impact can be damaging: confusion, tension, burnout, and high turnover. 👁️🗨️ WELL-BEING ||| Managers often carry heavy loads, deadlines, budgets, staff concerns, pressure from above. It’s easy to believe you must stay “tough” no matter what, but ignoring stress or emotional struggles doesn’t make them disappear.  Instead, they may leak out as irritability, micromanagement, poor judgment, or even hostility toward employees. A healthy workplace starts with leaders who model balance and self-awareness. 🍀 SELF AWARENESS ||| That means noticing when you’re stretched too thin, being willing to talk about challenges, and getting help when needed. Access to counselling, peer networks, or leadership coaching can be invaluable tools. Setting clear boundaries on working hours, taking breaks, and encouraging the same for your team sends a powerful message: well-being is part of how we succeed. 📢 LEADERSHIP ||| Organizations also play a role. Training managers to recognize signs of strain in themselves and others, providing confidential support services, and fostering a culture of respect can prevent small issues from escalating into major problems. Strong leadership isn’t about ever struggling; it’s about responding wisely when you do. 📌 WORK WELL ||| By tending to their own mental health, managers not only protect their personal well-being but also create conditions for employees to thrive. A team led by someone who is calm, fair, and present will always outperform one ruled by unchecked stress or instability. Healthy leaders build healthy workplaces, and that benefits everyone. – © LCA 🍁

Many leaders give everything to their work and almost nothing to themselves. They push through exhaustion. They pour energy into their teams. They treat their own well-being as optional. Cutting sleep. Ignoring stress. Skipping workouts. Running on caffeine and adrenaline. It works for a while. Until it doesn’t. Neglecting yourself erodes clarity, creativity, resilience, and credibility. You cannot lead with strength when you are running on empty. Well-being is not a luxury. It is a performance strategy. Rest sharpens decision-making. Health strengthens resilience. Presence builds trust. Investing in yourself is not selfish. It increases your capacity to serve others. Think of how you treat your best customers: You care. You listen. You invest. You protect. Now apply that same level of care to yourself. Listen to your body. Invest in your health. Protect your boundaries. Design systems that support you. Start simple: Eat real food. Get real sleep. Move your body. Schedule yourself first. Say no when you need to. Create small daily rituals that renew you. Track your energy the way you track KPIs. When leaders take care of themselves, everything they lead gets better. How you treat yourself sets the tone for how you lead.

At the executive level, the idea of “balance” is often more aspirational than real. The demands are constant, the stakes are high, and the expectation to perform does not pause when the workday ends. Over time, I’ve come to understand that if you are not intentional, success in your career can quietly and quickly come at the expense of your life at home. Managing both is not about evenly dividing your time. It is about being fully present in the moments that matter. When I am working, I am focused and accountable to the responsibilities in front of me. When I am with my family, that same level of focus has to apply. Presence is not automatic, it requires discipline. It means setting boundaries, protecting time, and resisting the instinct to stay partially connected to work when you should be fully engaged elsewhere.  You should also give yourself a little grace, because you will not be perfect all the time.  I certainly am not, and my kids will tell you if you ask them. 😀 The reality is that your family does not measure your success by your title, your deals, or your calendar. They measure it by your consistency, your attention, and your willingness to show up. That requires the same level of intentionality that we bring to leading teams, making decisions, and driving business outcomes. Too often, executives build strong careers and realize too late that they have neglected the people who matter most. That is not success, it is a tradeoff. Building at a high level professionally and showing up personally are not mutually exclusive, but it does require clarity on priorities and the discipline to act on them consistently. In the end, legacy is not defined solely by what you build in business. It is equally defined by what you build at home. Both require leadership, and neither can be left to chance.

Your most overlooked leadership asset? You. The irony: we track everything except our own capacity. In the whirlwind of our busy lives, I've noticed a pattern in recent coaching conversations. We meticulously track KPIs, optimize team performance, and scrutinize quarterly projections, yet consistently overlook the most critical asset on our personal balance sheet: ourselves. The challenge isn't knowing we should prioritize self-care; it's implementing it consistently as you manage competing demands. After a 4 a.m. return from a work trip to Miami earlier this week, I dove straight into a full day of meetings. By 2 p.m., my strategic thinking had dropped off right when critical decisions were needed. Sound familiar? We push through exhaustion because there's always more to do. This cycle is common but it's not sustainable. Here's how to put yourself on your to-do list: ⒈ Schedule non-negotiable recovery blocks ↳ Book 90-minute windows after intense travel or work. Guard them like high-stakes meetings. ⒉ Build transition buffers into your day ↳ Add 5–10-minute breaks between meetings to reset your focus: breathe, walk, sip tea, or simply pause. ⒊Protect your energy like any other key asset ↳ Know what sustains you, such as journaling, exercise, or no-phone walks, and turn it into a weekly rhythm. ⒋ Engineer your environment to support recovery ↳ Use calendar nudges, desk notes, or team rituals to reinforce renewal. ⒌Make your well-being central to your leadership strategy ↳ Self-care is a strategic and vital investment. You can't lead with vision if you're running on empty. As you plan for next week, choose one strategy and implement it consistently. What step will you take to prioritize your most valuable leadership asset? Drop your answer below.👇🏾 ♻️Feel free to share if you know a leader who needs to hear this. 🔔 Follow me, Michelle Awuku-Tatum, for insights on: ↳ human-centered leadership, team dynamics, and company culture.

I used to think great leadership meant putting everyone else first. - My team. - My clients. - My business. - My family. I’d take the late-night calls. Push through exhaustion. Be available 24/7. Until one day, I hit a wall so hard I had nothing left to give. Burnout isn’t just exhaustion—it’s leadership suicide. I ignored the advice my former boss gave me years ago: “You are number one.” I laughed it off back then. "That’s selfish," I thought. Wrong. - You can’t lead at your best if you’re running on empty. - You can’t inspire others if you’re mentally drained. - You can’t make sharp decisions if you’re chronically exhausted. I realised it late but here’s the brutal truth about leadership & self-care: 🔥 Your energy is your #1 leadership asset. Guard it. 🔥 Overworking isn’t a badge of honor—it’s a liability. 🔥 If you don’t prioritize your mental & physical health, you’ll destroy your effectiveness. This isn’t about spa days or meditation apps. This is about staying sharp, sustaining performance, and leading like a damn pro. -Set boundaries like your life depends on it—because it does. -Say NO more often—because every ‘yes’ costs you energy. -Treat your mind & body like a high-performance machine—because it is. Take care of yourself first. Not because it’s nice. Because it’s necessary. #Leadership #HighPerformance #Worklifebalance #selfcare #Burnout