The presenter at this meeting was Terri-Ann Donovan of Donovan Consulting and she stepped us through 8 Practical Ways to Unlock Remarkable Personal Performance in life and business. 

Like most small business owners, many of us do at times run into frustrating problems that affect our work/life balance. Simply attending to all our basic routines can, as Terri-Ann pointed out, be stressing. The 8 steps presented by her however can help to keep that stress at bay and help to restore a work/life balance that is essential to our personal and business wellbeing.

1. Food and Mindful Eating
   You are what you eat. Paying attention not only to what you eat but also to how and where you eat is an important factor in regard to getting into a healthy lifestyle. Don’t eat on the go, sit down and turn off anything distracting such as TV and tablet screens. Make sure that you enjoy what you eat and that you get the right proportions of nutrition in your meals i.e.
   • 1/2 vegetables
   • 1/4 protein
   • 1/8 carbs
   • 1/8 healthy fats (avocados etc)
2. Exercise
   The importance of getting up and getting your body aware can’t be stressed enough. Go for a walk before starting work, get up and walk around your desk during the day, join a yoga class or whatever you can fit into your daily schedule. The least you should do, if you don’t have time for a regular workout routine, do a series of stretches when you wake up to get your circulation going and repeat once or twice during the day to keep yourself flexible. Remember, exercise makes your brain more active.
3. Mediation and/or silence
   We are continually bombarded with direct and peripheral noise This can increase our stress levels which can lead to hypertension, sleeplessness and various other detrimental side effects.  To improve your overall well being you need to spend at least 10 minutes each day on yourself. Meditation is a sure way to help you step away from the noise and let your subconscious guide you to a quiet place.
4. Down time – be rested
   You may think that you can keep going without needing some form of respite but without some down time your personal and business productivity levels will decrease. Try to find an opportunity to do nothing, even if it’s only for a short time. Disconnect your phone and just let your mind wonder e.g. sit back and recall some enjoyable memories.
5. Play
   We all need to have play and fun time. It improves our overall performance. Go play with the dogs or the kids. Go and paint or draw or whatever you feel like but you must go out and do something.
6. Relationships
   Our brain is wired to be social and isolation either at work or in your personal life can be soul destroying. Try to encourage interaction in your workplace. You’ll get much better productivity when people feel included. At a personal level, find your tribe and get out in your community.
7. Nature
   Going out and enjoying nature is one of the most effective ways to rid yourself of stress and those work/life pressures. Get out and go for a bush walk, sit on the beach and feel the sand, sit on the grass and smell it. Be grounded – be present in your body and connected with the earth
8. Live with a purpose
   Regardless of what you do, live according to your values. It requires energy and will power but living with a purpose is one of the main ingredients for personal and business success no matter what your goals are.

Thank you Terri-Ann for sharing your insights into how to avoid business stress and maintain a good work/life balance by looking after our nutrition, mind and spirit and how that can bring out our best business and personal performance. For further information contact Terri-Ann by email at donovanconsulting2019@gmail.com or call 0409 591 598