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The Digestion Metaphor for Entrepreneurs Revisited
The last two posts have focused on the following wellness affirmation and have provided tips for applying it to your entrepreneurial body and business:

“My intake, assimilation and elimination are in Divine Order.”

So…moving right along with this three-part article, let’s turn our attention to the third part of the metaphor – the process of “moving right along” (a.k.a. elimination) and the roll it plays in our bodies and our businesses.

Spotlight on Elimination
for Body Wellness
Regular exercise, meditation, relaxation, and healthy diets that include lots of fiber and water all help our bodies eliminate what is no longer needed. This process of elimination is no more and no less important in our digestive health than intake or assimilation. And just like the other pieces of the equation, it is critical to our wellbeing.

Dr. Andrew Weil wrote a fabulous article on the subject, with tips, actions, and supplements to help keep your body “moving right along.” Check it out here:

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART00677/digestive-health

Try This:

Fill a clear glass pitcher with at least eight 8-oz glasses of fresh water. Add lemon or cucumber slices. Notice the simple beauty and make a mental note that this water will aid in your digestive wellness. Stop throughout your day and with gratitude, drink to your health.

Spotlight on Elimination for Business Wellness
As it does with our bodies, the process of elimination in our businesses needs to be a regular activity. We can sometimes forget that in order to make room for new ideas, new things, new relationships, and new clients, we may have to let go of some of our old things, relationships and clients. Taking time to prune and eliminate weeds that have grown in our businesses is just as important as planting new seeds.

A daily or weekly practice of eliminating junk mail, old email that has stacked up in that in-box, and magazine stacks may already be a part of your regular routine. Do you do the same with outdated ideas, processes, methods, or systems? Do you review them and toss those that no longer serve you?

Try This:
Taking time to identify what can be eliminated is an invaluable activity. Slow down enough this week to do so. Over a tall, cool glass of that water you poured for yourself, take note of your:

Things
- what has served me well but is no longer useful here?
- what nine items from my office can I toss out this week? (this is a feng shui practice and great to do routinely)
- what can I give away?

Procedures
- how do I deal with proposals, phone calls, marketing, invoices, accounting? Are my methods and procedures serving me? Does any method or procedure need to be tossed out and a new one developed?

Relationships
- what needs to be eliminated when it comes to my relationships with vendors, clients, or staff?
- what do I need to stop doing I these relationships? (there is always a “stop doing” on the other side of a “start doing” – what is it? Stop procrastinating? Stop pretending? Stop tolerating?)

I think entrepreneurs can get so busy deciding what we need to start doing, we can forget about the process of elimination. Yet just like the other components of the Digestion metaphor, elimination plays a critical role in entrepreneurial wellness:

“My intake, assimilation and elimination are in Divine Order.”

May your body and business be in Divine Order.

Tags: Wellness of Your Business, General Wellness Tips, Nutrition, Body by Erica Ross-Krieger
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I’d like to continue the discussion of how your individual wellness and the wellness of your entrepreneurial venture are linked more closely than you may realize. Today, I’ll take the second piece of the Digestion metaphor and offer some tips for applying the wisdom to your business and body.

The Digestion Metaphor Revisited
Yesterday, I introduced this affirmation for physiological digestion and suggested you consider applying it not only to your body but to your business:

“My intake, assimilation and elimination are in Divine Order.”

Today, I want to direct your focus to the second piece of the Digestion metaphor – Assimilation.

Spotlight on Assimilation in the Body
When it comes to our bodies, we know intuitively that going for a jog right after we have eaten a meal is not the best idea. We know this not just because we heard someone advise against it – we know it because it just doesn’t feel great to run, swim or workout immediately after eating.

That feeling of fullness is designed to serve a purpose. It keeps us from stuffing ourselves (well, if we heed it) and it keeps us from immediately doing physically vigorous work (again, if we heed it). It does so to give our bodies a chance to assimilate what it has just taken in – a chance to make optimal use of the fuel we have just provided.

I think it’s interesting to note that we really don’t have to do anything consciously for assimilation to take place within our bodies (short of not going out for that 5k run.) All we have to do is to trust the internal process and let the body do its work.

Try This:

After eating lunch or dinner, take an “assimilation time out.” Sit for just a moment longer than you usually do after eating. Close your eyes and put your attention on your digestive tract and belly. Breathe deeply. Silently thank your body for the incredible job it is doing to process the food you have just provided it. Thank your body for converting the meal you just ate into high-performance fuel to let you go about the business and life you love.

Spotlight on Assimilation in your Business
When it comes to business, I think many entrepreneurs have become numb to the feeling of fullness. Actually, maybe numb isn’t the right word. Many of us have just become occasional, or chronic, experts at denial when it comes to having our entrepreneurial plates too full and often not taking time for assimilation.

Years ago, when I first started doing executive coaching by phone, I used to set aside and then book one full day of back-to-back sessions each week. I’d stop between each call long enough for quick restroom breaks, drink water while at my desk, take time before the next call came in to stretch my muscles and ate a healthy lunch I’d prepared the night before. At the end of the day, I’d spend an hour or so sorting through my notes, updating client files and closing up shop. I truly thought I was covering all my bases.

But after a few months of this weekly full-day routine, I started feeling something was missing. My clients were getting great results, so it wasn’t that. But I felt empty. Some introspection time later, I figured it out. I felt empty because I hadn’t been taking the time to get nourished from the process of my work. I hadn’t assimilated what had transpired for me as a coach in each call.

I began to see my need to take a good half hour break between each call. I switched things around. I started a bit earlier and went a bit later each day, but I found I actually had more meaningful time…time just for me to stop, go outside, take a breath of fresh air, and let the experience of the last call wash over me. Time to reflect on the skills I’d used, or the mirror that the client was for me, or what I’d learned in the process of providing service during the last call. Throughout the day, I was taking the time to assimilate my experience. I continue this practice today. For me, the assimilation process is a big part of my definition of wellness.

Try This:
Find your own way to assimilate your daily experience as an entrepreneur. For my husband, who also runs his own business, the end of the day works just fine for him as a period for assimilation. My colleague, Joe, keeps a journal by his desk and jots notes throughout the day of his key business insights. Actively experiment this week and find or refine a practice that works best for you. Maybe the end of the day is right for you – maybe taking time to go for a walk or workout while you actively mull over what you learned for the day will help you put the day into perspective and give you time to assimilate all that has transpired.

Remember that assimilation time is more than just time to unwind. It is time for your business being to make the most of all you have taken in for the day – a balanced component of the Digestion metaphor:

“My intake, assimilation and elimination are in Divine Order.”

Tags: Uncategorized by Erica Ross-Krieger
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What does digestion have to do with running a small business? Plenty! In the next three posts, I’ll explain how your individual wellness and the wellness of your entrepreneurial venture are linked more closely than you may realize. Today, I’ll share the metaphor and tips for working with the first of the metaphor’s three components.

The Digestion Metaphor
During nutrition school, I overheard a colleague discuss her protocol for clients dealing with digestive challenges. In addition to dietary changes and supplements, she recommended her clients use this affirmation to help keep their focus on a healthy digestive tract:

“My intake, assimilation and elimination are in Divine Order.”

I recently got to thinking how much this affirmation applies not just to our physiological digestion but, as entrepreneurs, to our businesses.

Just think about that affirmation for a minute: “My intake, assimilation and elimination are in Divine Order.” What a grand intention for a small business owner to hold! What a difference it could make in our business lives if we kept our “intake”, “assimilation” and “elimination” in Divine Order!

Application to Business
Breaking the affirmation down into bite-sized pieces will help make it useful. Take a look at the three components individually:

Intake: in the world of physiological digestion, intake refers literally to what we take into our bodies. As a business metaphor, it refers to all the things we take in as small business owners: new clients, email, snail mail, ideas, information from the internet and this blog☺, handwritten messages, marketing material from others, invoices, books, phone calls, text messages, new supplies, new equipment, audio and DVD material, and customer feedback (positive and/or negative).

Assimilation: in the world of physiology, assimilation refers to how our bodies break down food and liquid into the components it will use for fuel. As a business metaphor, it also refers to our ability to extract the business fuel from what is before us and put it to good use. Assimilation requires our attention. Our time. It requires sorting, extracting useful information, and making small or large shifts based on new information. This can be a challenge when we try to take it all in – to take in all the email, all the new blog posts we see, all the phone calls, all the new communication that comes our way. Assimilating means making sense of information and ideas, putting them to good use, and getting the most from each thing we attend to - (i.e. assimilating the new tax laws that my CPA just told me about.)

Elimination: in both the physiological and business worlds, this means getting rid of what no longer serves us after we have taken all that has been useful. Perhaps you clipped an article from a journal. Now you toss the journal. Maybe you implemented a new marketing technique and joined a networking group. It served you well last year. This year, it’s no longer the right vehicle. You stop your membership. As a business owner, you can eliminate: antiquated systems, books and materials, equipment, clients, staff members, procedures, and even attitudes that no longer move your business forward.

As entrepreneurs, we took a big bite out of life when we set up our own businesses. We need to be sure to manage that bite well. We need to be sure that the intake, assimilation and elimination of our businesses are in Divine Order. We need to be sure our bodies are in that same Divine Order. Over the next three days, I’ll give you some tips for all three components involved in both body and business wellness. It all starts with intake.

Intake - Focus on Your Business
Today, spend some time thinking about all you take in as an entrepreneur. By taking in, I mean all the things you fold into your business life each day. This can be an overwhelming task, so go slow. Chances are, many things are coming in to your business at high volume and a fast pace. Simply notice your intake. Take time out to list or just notice the things you take in each day. Glance at all you take in – a message on a scrap of paper, a business card, or your email in-box. Breathe. Glance at something else you take in – papers in your in-box, notes by your phone, or books on your book shelf. Breathe. And notice something else. This simple act of noticing is a practice in mindfulness for your business.

Now, it wouldn’t surprise me if you told me that your physiological intake (eating) matches the pace of your business intake. If that is a hurry-up-and-eat pace, perhaps it’s also time to take a respite on the physiological front.

Intake – Focus on Your Body
Sometime during the next 24 hours, make time for this juicy dining experience. The experience will be most effective if you can eat alone…preferably in a peaceful setting.

Place the meal in front of you and take a few deep breaths before you pick up your utensils. Take a moment to simply notice the colors of the food on your plate. Take another moment to breathe in the aroma.

Now pick up your fork and arrange your first bite. Take that bite of food into your mouth and immediately place your fork back down on the table. Chew your bite of food completely. Notice the textures and flavors. Savor the bite. When you have swallowed, then go ahead and lift your fork to arrange another bite. As you did before, take in that bite and place the fork back on the table while you chew and savor. Continue in this manner until you are full and satisfied. Take a final moment to just allow the experience to settle in to your bones.

Eating this way is a practice in mindfulness. It can remind us of the many flavors and textures that surround us each day that we let go unnoticed. Intake is the first component of the affirmation for digestive wellness of business and body.

“My intake, assimilation and elimination are in Divine Order.”

Tags: Wellness of Your Business, General Wellness Tips, Nutrition, Body, Mind by Erica Ross-Krieger
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As much as I am a proponent of the Slow Food Movement, and will post tomorrow about Eating with Mindfulness, I am also a realist and a busy entrepreneur. Sometimes, I just plan the day with a short window of time for breakfast. But wellness is also my priority. So on those gotta-get-going days, I head to the freezer and draw from my stash of frozen fruit* to make a flax shake. Here’s the recipe:

Fruit Flaxshake

4 oz. Almond Milk
4 oz. Rice Milk
1 Tbs. ground flax seeds
2 Tbs. rice protein powder (I use the Nutribiotic brand. In most health food stores.)
1 cup fresh or frozen fruit. (Peaches work well for all Blood Types.)

Blend together. Serves 1 busy entrepreneur.

End of summer tip:
While the weather is still warm, and the end-of-summer organic fresh fruit is still present at your farmer’s market or health food store, stock up. Freeze berries, sliced peaches, and chunks of banana for good-for-you quick flax shakes.

Tags: Nutrition by Erica Ross-Krieger
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I discovered a fabulous article recently about the wellness challenges specific to entrepreneurs — the same challenges that I’ll continue to address in this blog.

The article, “Overcoming Anxiety and Maintaining Wellness: A Necessity for Entrepreneurs” was written by Jeffrey Moses and posted in March on the National Federation of Independent Business site.

The article provides a great overview of the many Wellness topics that we entrepreneurs face, leaving a deeper exploration of these issues for us to discuss. The key issues listed are:

- the ambiguity that entrepreneurs face and the anxiety that often goes along with it;
- the need for regular exercise, good diet, and a meditation practice; and,
- the challenge of managing time and setting priorities.

As I said, it’s a wonderful article — a great starting point from which to begin to explore the terrain of wellness. It is important that we learn to deal with ambiguity, exercise often, eat well, meditate and manage our time. Having been to entrepreneurial burn-out and back myself, these are the same practices that helped me turn things around. And yet, this is just the beginning of the wellness journey.

I also know the importance for each one of us to step back and ask ourselves a much bigger question. A question whose answer only you can give. I will ask it here:

How do you define wellness?

Do you include specific activities? Do you measure wellness for yourself by the results of those activities? Do you include the quality of your relationships? Your financial picture? Living your values? Which values?

I encourage you to take some time this week to hang out with this question. Add a post and let us all know what you include in your definition of wellness. I’ll include mine later in the week.

Tags: General Wellness Tips by Erica Ross-Krieger
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I love to say, ”thriving” when someone asks me how my business is going. The notion that things are flourishing, blooming, and prosperous fills me with delight. Likewise, I like to use the same word to describe my health and wellness. “Thriving” seems to capture that top-of-the-world feeling I strive for each day. So when I read the post on Angeles Arrien’s website this past spring, “50 Ways to Thrive and Survive in the Next Ten Years”, you bet it caught my attention.

I chose a few items from the list and implemented them that week. I gave something away, talked to a neighbor, and explored a new walking trail. Doing so truly added to my feelings of wellness and “thriving.”

I’d like to co-create a similar list for entrepreneurs in the WellnessCoach.com community. I’d love you to join me in building the list. Tell me the ways that you increase your sense of wellness and help yourself thrive as an entrepreneur.

Let’s shoot for 52 ways to thrive – that could cover a year’s worth of weekly focal points. I’ll start:

52 Ways for Entrepreneurs to Thrive (The list begins…)

• Put plants in your office, water them often
• Pack your lunch at night; Take it to a nearby park the next day
• Set a kitchen timer to remind you to stand and stretch each hour
• Go barefoot in your office
• Ask for help 3 times this week
• Start a blog
• Visit a toy store at lunch; find something that makes you smile
• Hold a board of directors meeting on a conference line with a few colleagues. Ask them to brainstorm with you on a topic that’s been baffling you
• Expand your community – post to a blog at least once this week
• Write a haiku on your lunch hour
• Take a lunch hour
• Put cucumber slices into a pitcher of water; drink throughout the day
• Give a business book away to someone who might need it
• Breathe. Breathe deeply. Just breathe.
• Revisit your corporate mission and vision; rewrite so it makes you smile and tugs at your heart strings

What will you add to this list?

Tags: Nutrition, General Wellness Tips, Spirit, Body, Mind, Uncategorized by Erica Ross-Krieger
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Are you familiar with the term Stillpoint? It’s often mentioned when discussing forms of body work, including: Osteopathy, Balanced Integrative Therapy, CranioSacral Therapy, and deep tissue massage. The Stillpoint is a phenomenon that occurs during the treatment.

A simple description of the Stillpoint is: the moment (usually toward the last part of a treatment) that the client’s previously active body energy or body rhythm, stops — either on its own or through conscious intent of the practitioner to stop the active rhythm — so the body can reintegrate and assimilate the changes that are being made.

Having experienced many forms of body work, I can tell you that the moment of the Stillpoint is not just palpable by the practitioner, but by the client as well. And whether you have had formal bodywork sessions or not, I know you know this place within you.

Perhaps you experience your personal Stillpoint when you meditate. Maybe you notice it when gazing at a candle, a sunset, your peacefully sleeping children, or while you’re painting, or digging in your garden. I find mine when I meditate, swim or hang out with horses. The Stillpoint moments of life are luscious. Making them a regular part of our wellness programs will renew our busy entrepreneurial spirits.

Manya Arond-Thomas, M.D., a brilliant consultant, (and fortunately for me, a B/Coach colleague of mine from days gone by), wrote a fabulous article back in 2004 called: “The Power of the StillPoint. No matter how much time goes by, reading her article helps me find my own Stillpoint. May it help you do the same.

Tags: Meditation, General Wellness Tips, Spirit by Erica Ross-Krieger
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The article “Beneath the Surface” posted Friday, August 31st, on Entrepreneur.com contains such brilliant wellness advice for entrepreneurs, that I had to let you know about it. In part 5 of a series about leadership lessons learned in the tropics, columnist Patty Vogan compares scuba diving and running a business! (Hint: breathing, the current, and preparation all play a key role.) You simply must check it out!

Tags: Wellness of Your Business, General Wellness Tips by Erica Ross-Krieger
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