With the oh-so-limited hours we have in a day, does it ever feel like you have to choose between your side hustle and taking the time to take care of yourself?

Side hustles are usually maintained with hours outside of a regular 9–5 job, which means these hours are extremely limited. Thinking of having to also incorporate self-care into these finite hours seems impossible.

But don’t fret! The luxury of both is right around the corner with these four simple mindset shifts. Soon enough, you’ll be able to successfully run a side hustle while taking care of your needs.

Self-care is important, but I don’t like to promote it the same way mainstream media does. The media creates unrealistic expectations of what self-care should look like.

You don’t need to buy expensive products, schedule a two-hour spa day, or sit around and do nothing in order to successfully practice self-care.

I do, however, believe that if you’re not at your best, then you won’t be able to be your best in the areas of life where you’re most demanded.

Over the years, I’ve had to define for myself what self-care looks like apart from what society says it should look like.

Self-care can be what you want it to be. You can intentionally practice it as frequently or infrequently as you need.

What’s important is that you’re in tune with what replenishes your personal battery.

Here are a few mindset changes I made that can help you in defining what self-care looks like in your life.

Self-Care Doesn’t Mean Doing Nothing

The entertainment titans have made you believe that self-care is sitting on the couch for five hours straight, binge-watching Netflix, or scrolling on YouTube Shorts.

That’s not self-care. That’s laziness.

Self-care is not the absence of something, but rather the presence of something.

It’s adding meditation, a daily walk, or your favorite podcast into your routine.

Doing nothing is a dystopian narrative that doesn’t exist in today’s world, especially when you have to juggle a job, side hustle, kids, pets, and other responsibilities.

To think that self-care is doing nothing means you’ll never be able to experience self-care because you’re never doing absolutely nothing.

The Amount or Size of Self-Care Doesn’t Matter

It could be an hour-long massage, a five-minute meditation, or a week-long vacation, the amount or size of self-care doesn’t matter.

Society promotes excessive spending in order to achieve the highest form of self-care. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Self-care is simple, and it often takes a small dose to boost your personal battery from 50% to 80%.

Once you acknowledge the small things you can be doing to promote self-care, you realize that you don’t need much to return to your Ideal Mode of Operation.

Speaking of not needing much to return to your Ideal Mode of Operation…

Recognize the Things You’re Already Doing

There may be a lot of things you’re already doing that you haven’t mentally categorized as self-care, but totally are.

If you have a commute to work in which you’re alone in the car for 30 minutes and you listen to your favorite podcast…that can be self-care!

If you wake up before everyone else in your household to make your smoothie and read, that’s self-care!

If you go to the gym every day or take a walk around your neighborhood…you get the point.

You may already have a lot of things you do that can be considered self-care.

Recognizing these things you already do is valuable because then you don’t have the added stress of trying to find more time in your day/week to incorporate self-care practices.

When You Need It, Do It Immediately

Understanding what self-care means to you also means understanding when your body and mind are signaling to you that you need to engage in it.

To the greatest extent possible, whenever you feel the need to do some self-care, you should try to do it immediately.

Even if you only have five minutes to listen to a mindfulness YouTube video, take full advantage.

If you don’t do it immediately, you risk further depleting your personal battery.

Practicing self-care immediately, when feasible, has prevented me from resenting the tasks I have yet to do.

It allows me to pause and realign myself and my mind to continue to press forward with the tasks that need to be completed.

Real Talk

In order to lead a well-balanced life, it’s vital you understand what self-care is to you.

Don’t rely on what social media or society tells you about what self-care is. Define it for yourself and your life.

Doing this ensures you can be your best in all areas of life where you’re needed.

It also means you can be a better leader for yourself and others.

These simple mindset shifts can fast-track you to living a life where you don’t have to sacrifice your self-care for your side hustle, or anything else in life.