By Lisa Saul, MD, TRUST President
Life is often stressful, particularly in leadership roles. Effectively managing this stress while maintaining resilience and effectiveness calls for a multifaceted approach to self-care. Here are some practical steps I have found useful in navigating these challenges.
- Prioritize sleep: Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, I learned how important it was to get adequate sleep. My typically hectic schedule ground to a halt and I went to bed earlier than usual, feeling great the next day. I still prioritize sleep and factor a reasonable bedtime into family schedules and other engagements.
- Understand that “no” is a complete sentence: If you are asked to do something that doesn’t meet your personal or professional needs, politely decline and move on. Your time and energy are valuable assets worth preserving.
- Microbreaks: Take two to three-minute breaks from your screen throughout the day to stretch, walk around or simply change your visual focus. Microbreaks can reduce eye strain and mental fatigue, helping maintain your energy and focus.
- Prioritization and Task Delegation: Adopting techniques for delegating tasks and prioritizing responsibilities can significantly lighten your workload and help establish healthy boundaries crucial for self-care in professional settings. For those who want to learn about and work on boundary setting, the TRUST is hosting a Healthy Boundaries for Kind People workshop on August 22 with Randi Buckley.
- Aligning Personal Goals with Self-Care: Integrating self-care with personal and professional goals can be as simple as pursuing further education or exploring new hobbies to mitigate stress. I recently downloaded an app that is helping me improve my conversational Spanish skills. A few minutes every day has yielded great results!
- Supportive Network: Fostering connections with other women leaders is a great way to maintain a support network. Join groups like the Women’s Health Leadership TRUST, attend networking events and get involved as a mentor or mentee. Our TRUST Mentorship Program will open applications in August for our 2025 cohort. This program can help offer deeper connections, emotional support and career guidance.
In the health care field, it’s especially important to model self-care to help create safe, open spaces for you and your colleagues. If you’re unsure where to start your self-care journey, join us at our Unwind & Thrive: Empowering Women Well-being Retreat November 7-8 (registration will open in August) to learn valuable skills for your overall health and well-being.
As you balance leadership with self-care, remember the transformative power of connection. Building a supportive community not only strengthens ourselves but also those around us, enhancing resilience across our team, colleagues and families. Approach each day with courage and compassion, recognizing that every act of self-care is a testament to our strength and a model for others to follow.
Lisa Saul, MD, serves as the 2024 TRUST President and is a wife, mother, physician and women’s health expert. Lisa is passionate about women in leadership and health equity. She is also dedicated to improving health outcomes for birthing people, with a particular focus on women of color. She was honored as a Mpls.St. Paul Magazine Top Doctor in 2022 and Minnesota Monthly Top Doctor in 2020.