We get into business for a lot of reasons. One of them is to create freedom in which to enjoy our lives. But sometimes, we focus too much on the hustle that we forget to take a moment to honour our own energy and fill our cup.

We keep pouring and pouring until we’re too drained and we start to feel really bad on a subconscious level. We feel a sense of disappointment and we end up resenting our work.

As cliche as it may sound, you can’t pour from an empty cup. That’s why it’s so important that we have practices in place that remind us to honour our energy so that we can serve ourselves before we serve others.

Here are some of the things you can do to prioritise your energy in business.

1. Be authentic.

It’s so important that you are authentic in the way that you show up because when you try to emulate another person’s energy rather than fully stepping into your own, you’re not showing up with your truth, not bringing your own unique light and overall making it harder for yourself by trying to put on a facade.

Some people may seem so up all the time, creating so much content, and showing up all over the place. And you can’t help but ask, how do they do it? How are they doing all of that and still having so much energy for themselves?

Stop focusing on them and start working on yourself. Define what high energy actually looks like to YOU. Take some time and ask yourself, what does the most authentic version of me look like? How does she show up? How does she speak? What does she do? How does she engage with her audience?

When you ask yourself those questions, it gives you clarity on how you can be of service to others. You’re not trying to emulate someone else, but you are showing up as the fullest expression of you – which is ultimately what your audience needs.

When you do that, it feels easy. It doesn’t feel like something that is draining to you because it’s you being your truest self.

2. Set your boundaries and honour them.

Outlining your calendar, listing all your responsibilities for the week, and setting your boundaries is quite easy. The hard part is actually honouring and implementing them.

So you need to set aside some time to really ask yourself what are the boundaries that you want at work and how you can ensure that you are honouring them.

Some of the things that you might want to consider when setting boundaries for work are:

How many people am I serving?
When do I want to have time off?
What does my ideal day look like?
How would I like to start my day?
When would I like to end my day?
What do I want to achieve within the week?
Do I allow myself to work on weekends?

These things are extremely important and this has probably been one of my biggest learning curves, personally. It took me a lot of time to give myself permission to take weekends off, to take some time off and recharge, to take my freedom back.

As someone who for a long-time identified as a “workaholic”, I admit It wasn’t easy. But I worked on implementing those boundaries over time, and the more I stuck to them – the more I realised that having them allowed me to show up even better for my clients and my audience! The more time I allowed myself “off” the better I was when I was “on”!

3. Make sure to fill your cup.

Prioritising fun and play and having that white space in your calendar for things outside of your business that light you up is so important, but often we put it off. We tell ourselves we’ll get to it when we hit that next level. Right now it’s all about work, work, work, and milestone, milestone, milestone for you. Rest will come later.

But the thing is, if you keep telling yourself that, you will perpetuate the narrative. If we wait for “when” – then “when” never really comes. It just gets replaced by the next thing, and the next. As you reach those milestones, you will continue the pattern and you will find other ways to keep yourself busy.

The “next level” actually comes with more responsibility, more people relying on you, and your clients expecting more from you. So it will never be easier. Which is why you need to implement good behaviours, boundaries and rituals in the NOW. Wherever you are at, integrate them, and then it will be second nature to carry those habits through as your business grows.

What will help you avoid burnout when you do get to that level is getting into the habit of filling your cup up, now. When you take time off for yourself to replenish your energy, you raise your energetic state, making you more of a match with whatever it is you desire. It allows you to let go of the negative narrative and gives you a more positive mindset.

4. Create a morning routine.

Morning routines are always tricky. It gets talked about a lot and we see a million different things that are being done to create the perfect morning routine, but the truth is that it’s not about what it looks like aesthetically at all.

It’s about the sense of inner peace and grounding that it is going to bring you. And yes, you can draw inspiration from other people, but you need to really take the time to craft what is going to serve YOU the most. That might look entirely different to what you are seeing online, and that is completely fine.

It’s something that you develop over time. I crafted my own morning routine over the years and it’s still pretty malleable. I change it as it serves me.

That’s the beauty of it. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to work.

5. Move your body.

When we are not moving our body, when we’re not taking time to prioritise our physical health, everything else suffers.

That’s why it’s so important to get some movement and change your physical state because, energetically, that has such an impact on how you feel. It improves your productivity. It affects your mindset going through your day. A simple movement in the morning or even in the middle of the day can have such a huge impact on how your day is going to play out.

You can start your day with some cardio. You can lift weights, do yoga, go for a swim, or break a dance move or two in the middle of the day – whatever works for you, just get those muscles moving.

Wrapping Up on How to Protect Your Energy

These are just some of the things you can do to protect your energy and make sure you have enough to keep doing your sacred work. You can start implementing these and integrating them into your everyday life.

Over time, you may develop your own process and find other ways that work better for you – whatever they may be, the important thing is you’re honouring your energy and making sure your cup never goes empty.