How To Set Boundaries With Yourself: Four Must-Do Habits For Maximizing Self-Care

It is all too common in our daily lives to fall into bad habits or engage in unproductive behavior. Life, after all, is stressful. This is especially true as we continue to navigate through a global pandemic and all the change that has come into our lives. For as much as we want to do the right thing and develop healthy habits, it is easy to succumb to inertia and fall short of the lives that we want to live.

For these reasons, it is critical to set boundaries with yourself and to also have boundaries with others in your life. Yet while the idea is a great one, the execution can be more complicated than expected. Because of this, it is worthwhile to explore four of the must-do habits that can help you create strong and lasting boundaries with yourself. By doing this, you can combat bad habits and create a healthy structure for your personal and professional life. I’ve taught the full Build Your Boundaries framework to 75+ students in my new course, Build Your Boundaries. Let’s explore this further.

Create a Healthy Morning Routine

We all have morning routines. That said, we created most of our morning routines through years of inertia. Just because we have a morning routine doesn’t mean that it is the healthiest one or one that we should maintain.

Ultimately, a healthy morning routine lets you set a positive and healthy tone for the day. Most prominently, you can decrease stress and increase your productivity. Moreover, a healthy morning routine lets you be in the best possible condition to be at your best. Whether you have a high-stakes presentation or merely a regular Monday, your performance will keep you centered and focused.

So how do you create a healthy morning routine? The answer will likely vary based on your needs and preferences. That said, make sure that you fuel yourself with a healthy breakfast, a walk, and some love. Yes, I said love. It makes no sense to jump into work, stress, or traffic without getting love first Have a conversation or hug the people who are in your bubble (the people you share close contact with). Try to move around and hydrate—embrace reattachment. You can even adopt a meditation or writing practice. If you’d like me to share my exact morning routine with you in a video, I will (comment below if you want that!)

Find Accountability Partners

Accountability partners are individuals that can help you set better boundaries with yourself. The truth is, only you can hold yourself accountable, but your community can be a vessel, a glue, a motor for you as you practice getting yourself moving. They can be friends, family members, or even colleagues at work. Essentially, their role is to help you enforce the boundaries that you have set for yourself. Because this is a partnership, your job is the same for them.

Accountability partners are so helpful because it is easy for us to make excuses or be more comfortable. Sometimes, we need an extra push and an ounce of discipline from the people in our lives. When working with your accountability partner, make sure you know what you need. Track your progress and make sure that you are focusing on execution. Doing this will help you set better boundaries in your life. 

Be Honest With Yourself

Accountability partners can help reveal some essential truths about your day-to-day life. This isn’t enough. You must be honest with yourself about the boundaries that you are setting. If you are not honest with yourself, how are you going to be with others? We talk about how we want genuine connections and authentic people to participate in our lives, so we must ask – are we delivering that?

As humans, it is extremely easy to delude ourselves. We can create a perceived reality that is much different compared to the actual reality. This makes it extremely difficult to identify some of the boundaries that we are failing to set in our lives. But by being honest with ourselves, our chances of identifying the truth get drastically higher.

I find that getting in the journal consistently adds a lot of value around “being honest with myself”. In the journal, there is no judgment and it’s a great place to open up, to express, to see your thoughts in the physical form. Try journaling for 5-10 minutes, daily.

Be Objectively Honest: sit down and have a no holds barred discussion with yourself. Try to diagnose the obstacles that are preventing you from setting boundaries in your life. While it may take some time, this is a potent and useful exercise. And again, bring in your community to the conversation. We are not meant to do life alone, and most people want something to believe in. Why not invite them to the opportunity to believe in you?

Learn to Say No

Saying “no” can be an uncomfortable experience. This is especially true when we are saying no to people that we love. However, it can be the best possible answer if you are trying to set boundaries. By taking care of ourselves right now, we can be there for our friends, family, and colleagues in the future. 

When saying no, you don’t need to give a long, detailed answer. A simple no should suffice in many circumstances. Even if it doesn’t, the short-term pain of saying no will likely be eclipsed by the long-term gain.

Get Started Today

By following these four recommendations, you can get that much closer to setting boundaries with yourself. It will undoubtedly require work, and some unruly emotions will arise, and probably consumer lots of some tacos. You should be doing that anyways because who doesn’t love a good taco? You may stumble initially, but you will not fall as long as you stay with the boundaries. However, by starting now, you will be that much closer to the life that you’ve envisioned. It comes down to take on step each ay towards what you imagine.

If you would like to learn more about setting boundaries in your life, don’t hesitate to check out my Build Your Boundaries course. This course has transformed lives with boundaries. +75 students are currently enrolled in the Build Your Boundaries course and are loving it. The course will help you maximize your self-care and live a less stressful and happier life.

Go to buildyourboundaries.net to register for the course.

Take a look at the new Build Your Boundaries trailer here: