Mindset Advice

CHALLENGING THE OPPORTUNITY COST OF SELF CARE

You will no doubt have already noticed that I have declined to focus on Christmas or New Year in this final article of 2021.

The reason for this is the fact that, when talking about self-care or any other type of beneficial lifestyle change, it shouldn’t really be in relation to any particular occasion at all. (Ideally, being healthier, fitter, stronger, living longer, and getting more out of life would be enough of a reason!) Now, to explain the title... As an economist originally, with a business background, I have always been fascinated with the concept of Opportunity Cost. Opportunity Cost is simply the benefit missed out on by diverting one’s energy to something else. So, for example, if I wanted to watch a movie on Friday night, the opportunity cost could be the kitchen being cleaned. The concept is subjective of course, as there is benefit to watching the movie (relaxation and fun) and benefit to cleaning the kitchen (the kitchen is clean!) and our unconscious mind is constantly weighing up these subjective benefits and costs in every decision we make in our daily life. The problem with self-care is that the perceived opportunity cost of it is productivity i.e. ‘doing things’. It could be completing items from a do list, working, writing another to do list, or anything else really, as long as it makes us ‘busy’. This means that generally, when we are busier, more stressed or take on more in our life, self-care gets shoved to the bottom of the list. We tend to sleep less, exercise less, isolate ourselves, eat worse food and don’t make time for relaxation or mindfulness. The reason I am challenging this today is because of an interesting thing that I’ve discovered over many thousands of clients over many years, and this is the fact that if we trust in the process of self-care and break the insidious downward spiral of what is ultimately ‘self harm’ and ‘self neglect’ then something magical happens.

The Self Care Dividend

If someone spends ten minutes each day meditating, for example, they will soon see improvements to productivity, mental focus, energy levels, motivation, happiness and sleep. For ten minutes of daily exercise, their brain will remember and learn better, they will have burnt excess energy, balanced their blood sugars and released mood enhancing and healing hormones. These are just two examples of the self-care dividend that we are so often forsaking. The result of this is the experience of tangible net benefits and I have countless examples of this in my client base. One such example is someone who had been working 16 hour days for months, was exhausted and completely neglecting self-care when I met them. I started them with 20 minutes of daily meditation and a half hour light workout, as well as overhauling their nutrition and this saw them leaving the office 2 to 3 hours earlier every night within a few weeks. It was very hard for them to do initially as it felt like ‘wasted time’ but by trusting in the process and investing the time required, they ended up with MORE time and many other benefits. It is clear therefore, that the perceived opportunity cost of self-care (‘doing stuff’) is actually far outweighed by the benefit to our overall physical and mental utility of actually taking care of ourselves. So, the next time you find yourself saying that you don’t have time to meditate, do some exercise, call a best friend or to cook a healthy meal, then remember that you are not acting in a rational fashion (in economic terms anyway) and immediately stop it. I guarantee that if you learn this lesson, you will soon experience a significant net benefit to multiple aspects of your life, and it doesn’t have to be Christmas or New Year to get started… how about now instead?

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