Self-Care as a Business Value

Let’s talk about self-care—and why it’s a game-changer for entrepreneurs.

Recently, I got a great question from a client that stopped me in my tracks. She said, “What if I don’t feel like doing anything for my business at all?”

My response? “Then do nothing.”

Her jaw dropped. “What do you mean, do nothing? I can’t just stop!”

Yes. 👏🏼 You. 👏🏼 Can. 👏🏼

Seriously. If you don’t feel like doing anything for your business, then don’t. Such feelings are signs that something needs to change.

Sometimes, “doing nothing” is exactly what you need to do. It’s not laziness—it’s a sign that something deeper needs attention. Whether it’s burnout, physical exhaustion, or emotional overwhelm, pausing is a powerful form of self-care. And when you allow yourself to rest, you actually strengthen your ability to show up for your business.

In this post, we’ll dive into how doing nothing isn’t just okay—it’s essential for your success as an entrepreneur.

Why “Doing Nothing” is a Necessary Business Activity

Sometimes, what feels like procrastination or avoidance is actually your body and mind signaling that something deeper needs attention. It could be:

• Signs of burnout manifesting as resistance or lack of motivation.

• Physical exhaustion, where your body is asking for rest.

• Emotional or mental processing that needs to happen before you can move forward.

Ignoring these signals can lead to negative emotions that block creativity, productivity, and abundance. Instead, by honoring your intuition and allowing yourself to pause, you create space for creativity, playfulness, and alignment—all of which ultimately support your business.

As Jenny O’Dell explains in her book How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy:

“...having recourse to periods of and spaces for ‘doing nothing’ is of utmost importance, because without them we have no way to think, reflect, heal, and sustain ourselves—individually or collectively. There is a kind of nothing that’s necessary for, at the end of the day, doing something” (p. 22).

Taking intentional pauses doesn’t just benefit your well-being—it enhances your ability to lead, create, and grow. In fact, doing nothing might just be the most productive business activity you can do.

Make Resting a Part of Your Job Description

Of course, you can’t reasonably expect to have a business in the long run if you regularly choose not to do anything at all. Having a business of any kind involves work. However, the idea with a slow-living business is we get to choose to do the work we love. Yes, it’s work. But running a slow-living business is filled with days of “want tos” not “shoulds.” And I let myself rest as much as necessary.

If I find that I’m struggling with not wanting to do anything, I experiment to see if really what’s happening is I’m bored with my current task or think that something else seems more fun. If so, I pivot. If not, I let myself rest.

For example, on most days, I choose activities based on what I feel like doing, but they are all moving me toward my end goal. This is much like a writer who doesn’t sit down and write their book from start to finish but jumps around from chapter to chapter until they have the whole thing assembled. 

As part of my neurodivergent approach to running my business, I’ve found the writing metaphor works for me. As long as I’m doing activities for my business that keep it moving forward, it doesn’t matter too much which things I’m doing when or whether there are some things I don’t feel like doing right now. I know I’ll either get to them when I need to or will figure out what I need to shift or change.

This comes from years of practice building my intuition, which means I’ve built up my self-trust. I trust that I’ll figure out what I need to do when I need to do it. I haven’t missed a deadline yet, and I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t trust myself that I’ll keep being successful, so long as I give myself the room to stop and rest when needed.

Before I built that trust, though, I would often overwork, burnout, and work under the fire of pressure from others and the pressure I put on myself. I was trapped in people-pleasing mode, terrified I would “drop the ball” and let someone down. So, resting was never an option for me. I had to trust myself and feel like I was safe before I could allow myself to slow down and recuperate—especially in my career.

Self-Care as a Catalyst for Change and Innovation

Most times, when we don’t feel like doing anything for our business, it’s temporary because we need rest or a readjustment. But if it lasts more than a few days and starts turning into weeks or even months, then it’s time to stop avoiding the real issues and get to the heart of what’s really going on. You may need to dig deeper to find out how to better support your needs and business. It could be time for a bigger change.

If your severe case of “I don’t want tos” doesn’t feel like anything you can easily identify, maybe you need to change the focus of your business. This could be a shift in the types of customers you serve, the types of services you offer, or the products you create or sell. 

You might need to switch up your marketing tactics or develop a more personally expressive, authentic way to connect to your audience. Maybe you need to update a product or branding if it feels outdated or uninspiring. Or, especially if you’re in a creative field, it could be that your current outlet is blocked, and you need to find new motivation and inspiration to create or innovate something new. 

The idea is to use your resistance and procrastination to your advantage. Rest, reset, and reevaluate your business activities, routines, and priorities. Not enough entrepreneurs take the time to reimagine their business fully; they’re too busy working toward the next thing. But instead of “full steam ahead!” mode 24/7, what would happen if you stepped back and looked at the bigger picture? Taking the time to rest and consider change if needed can be the difference between a business that fails and one that thrives.

Think of your self-restorative periods as relaxing, resetting, and identifying new ways of thinking, creating, or being. And who knows? Those changes could be just the things your business needs.

Embracing Change as Part of Self-Care

Any change to your business can seem scary, which can subconsciously cause you to shut down and not feel like doing anything at all. So, ask yourself honestly: Is there a change I need to make in my business that I’m unwilling to see or make? 

Remember that the whole point of being a business owner is that you get to create the rules. If you want to make a new product, change your messaging, or develop a new client base, then that’s entirely possible and even encouraged. Sometimes, you need to try a zillion different ways to find the right fit. Even then, we’re human, and our lives and situations change. What worked for your business a year ago or even six months ago may not work for you now.

If you’re unsure what needs to change, journaling, meditating, and tapping into your intuition can help you see the bigger picture and discover ways to move forward.

When I feel stuck, tarot reading is one of my favorite tools. I have practiced tarot for several years and have enjoyed learning the cards' symbolism, discovering intuitive meanings, and then using them to make decisions in my life and business. (In fact, I’m working on making a game to teach others how to learn. Let me know in the comments if you’d be interested!)

Reading tarot helps me decide when it’s time to make a change, start something new, or even decide to drop a product, close a business, or abandon an idea that no longer makes sense.

In addition to flexing your intuitive muscles, you can reach out to others for feedback. Your team, assistants, mentors, and colleagues in your network can be valuable sounding boards for new ideas when you feel stuck. And, if you have analysis paralysis around a particular feature or customer pain point, usability research methods can help you determine where to adjust. Leverage customer surveys and interviews, heat mapping tools and user data, website analytics, and other tools to help nudge your ideas in different directions. 

Just know that by always relying on feedback from others, you risk dulling your intuition. (And the intuitive part is what is speaking to you when you hit the wall and don’t want to do anything for your business!) I suggest starting with your intuition to let you know when it’s time to change. Relax and unplug. When you’re ready to return to work, explore changes that need to be made. Later, add data (e.g., user/customer/colleague/employee research) to your intuitive work if you need to make more complex decisions or changes.

Regardless of how you make decisions, choosing to make a change can be scary, but also a form of self-care. Learning to let go and try something new is incredibly empowering and often leads to innovations, personally and professionally.

The good thing about change is that once you’re comfortable with it, you’ll notice opportunities everywhere for growth and improvement. New pathways become clear once you’ve tried something, changed it, and tried again. But the first step is recognizing the changes you’ll notice in yourself, sometimes as a case of the “I don’t want tos.”

Making Self-Care a Business Value

Whatever your business situation, I encourage you to embrace self-care as a part of your regular entrepreneurship routine. Just as caring for yourself is essential to being a good partner or parent, caring for yourself is just as important to being a business owner. 

Once we can identify and embrace a practice of self-care as one of our business values, it becomes a priority. Then, we can recognize patterns where our bodies, minds, and hearts are telling us to shift directions, make improvements, or let things go. To that end, our businesses become healing journeys of self-improvement, where we can reiterate, shift, change, and improve as needed.

Of course, I realize this can be easier said than done, and it takes some practice to feel like you’ve fully mastered it. 

If you’re frustrated by your progress (or lack thereof), be gentle with yourself. After all, you’re battling some pretty big societal conditioning. Capitalistic views of productivity so condition us that we can’t often see the importance of slowing down and stopping entirely if we need to. After all, so many of us who have had careers in academia or corporate America have been told that our worth is based on our productivity. Just remember: That is not true! 

You are worth so much more than your productivity level. You are enough exactly as you are and will create and produce abundance for your business exactly when and how you’re meant to. When the timing is right, magic will flow from you and ignite the fire within. All you have to do is recognize it and be willing to slow down, trust yourself, and be open to change. Start a self-care policy for your business and watch all of your potential bloom.

If you’d like more practice building your intuition so you can develop a self-care routine in your business, check out my free intuition journal, packed with prompts to help you build a daily practice of reflective self-care.