Organizations typically praise the last person to leave the office, those who work over the weekends and holidays. Sure, work requires great effort and long hours, but rest and relaxation are just as important.

Maybe you’re saying, stress is just a part of the job. But, “work without play is a recipe for burnout.”

Employee burnout is evident that the value of a “mental health day” still holds true. You know the day where you just take a day off for yourself and not because of an unexpected reason that makes you stay home.

A mental health day is solely dedicated to give you psychological and emotional care. A time to process, reorder, and re-energize yourself.

While everyone knows the effects exhaustion can play, employees may not feel comfortable taking steps at work to see to their health. As a leader, it’s important to show employees a culture where self-care is encouraged.

An important part of leadership is taking care of yourself and those around you.

Leaders who do not take care of themselves, aren’t going to be able to take care of their team, in the long haul. At some point their patience, health, energy, and effectiveness is going to give – putting not only themselves but everyone else at risk.

Self-care does not associate to selfishness. Rather, leaders who practice self-care can do more for their employees.

Being attached to notifications, emails, calls, alerts, etc. 24/7 is letting other people be in charge of you. There is something beneficial to setting boundaries.

By reducing the number of things that drain you of your energy throughout the day will increase your most precious resource – your time.

Self-care is something not typically enforced in organizations but serves a great purpose for the bottom line as well as the engagement and satisfaction of its employees.

Take care of yourself, and you’ll be able to take care of everything else, while increasing your impact!