Check out our Instagram for Cynthia’s Highlight reel! : https://www.instagram.com/nevertoolatetostartconference/

Intro To Cynthia Graham

Cynthia Graham, serial entrepreneur, Virgo, and mindfulness coach. Cynthia found her own balance after she was put on bed rest after burning herself out running multiple businesses, forcing her to make a change. Although many entrepreneurs are told to ‘do whatever it takes’ and put yourself second to your company, many people forget that your company will only run as well as you run yourself. Cynthia, one of our returning WEC speakers, has tackled this issue in speaking out on the importance of personal health in relation to the health of your business. She tells her own cautionary tale about how she ran three businesses and was overwhelmed and exhausted. Stepping away from two of her businesses proved to be one of the best decisions she could make, as she now successfully runs her life and her business.

Mindfulness

First, let’s define mindfulness to understand what it is and why it’s necessary to keep yourself and your company from falling apart. Cynthia Graham defines mindfulness as “a basic human quality, a way of learning to pay attention to whatever is happening in your life that allows you a greater sense of connection to your life inwardly and outwardly. Mindfulness is also a practice, a systematic method aimed at cultivating clarity, insight, and understanding.” She unpacks this by explaining her interpretation of mindfulness as allowing yourself to be aware of your surroundings in the present without judgment. By putting yourself in the moment and becoming familiar with your direct surroundings you can have a better reaction time to current problems. 

How To Be Mindful

Cynthia teaches us how to recover from burnout through the 5 steps of achieving mindfulness. But before we start, it’s important to keep in mind the key to a clear mind is a balance of grounding yourself through a higher power and combining that with a tactic called treat & move your feet. This combination manifests taking action to get what you need. 

  1. Exercise– Staying still for too long has a number of negative effects on your body regardless of whether you’re standing or sitting. Exercise can help freshen your perspective and clear your head. By physically getting up and moving you are giving your brain a break and will feel less stuck in your work. Exercising 3 times a week will help keep a steady flow of energy.

 

  1. Food & Water – We all know that food and water are needed to keep going throughout the day, but what often gets forgotten is how much water we should be drinking. Dehydration causes physical strain and can also create mental fog which prevents clear thinking. Dehydration combined with a diet that unable to provide the proper nutrients is often the reason why so many people feel groggy all day. 80oz – 100oz of water daily and incorporating plenty of greens should keep you at your best every day.

 

  1. Sleep – Entrepreneurs are some of the most sleep-deprived people today. One of the reasons being they were told that any time not spent on their company is time lost. Continuing to work through the time you’re supposed to be sleeping increases the time you’re working, and the longer you work, the lower the quality of your work. Without a proper 7-9 hours of sleep, there could be a build-up of toxins that will clutter your thinking and lead to a lack of focus.

 

  1. Feel Good Activity – A distraction to help your mind break away from your current project gives you life away from work. As an entrepreneur, it is very easy to let your job bleed into your personal life and you’ll find yourself investing all of your time and energy into work. Allowing yourself time to enjoy a hobby or explore an interest once a day is a good way to stay productive while taking a well-deserved break.

 

  1. Meditation – There is so much going on in your head that it’s hard to give yourself the time of day to stop thinking and give your brain a rest. Meditation gives your brain time to process everything and clear your mind of everything that isn’t needed at the moment. Cynthia describes it as “mind chatter”, a constant noise in your head reading off everything you need to do and even adding more to it. Meditation helps you clear your head and give yourself a break making it easier to organize your thoughts afterwards.

Conclusion

Living in such a fast-paced world causes fast-paced thinking. With the opportunity to start a business at an all-time high, there are endless resources to connect with others, network, and find funding. Even though you are building a startup and pushing yourself to success, remember that your business will only run as well as you run yourself. It’s easy to get caught up in such a fast-paced life, but no matter how much you delay your dreams it’s never too late to start.

Check out our Instagram for Cynthia’s Highlight reel! : https://www.instagram.com/nevertoolatetostartconference/