2017 was not my year.

Sure, I was making more money than I ever had. I was leading a phenomenal team of staff I also called friends. I bought my first ever *brand new* car.

But I was also burned out. Depressed. I didn’t believe in myself. I felt like a total impostor. I was sick all the time. And drinking way too much.

After grad school, I climbed the corporate ladder like my feet were on fire. I held every volunteer role I could. I said yes to EVERYTHING. I had no time left for me.

Something had to change.

There's actually something to those magazine collages you made in summer camp as a kid.

Are you a Goal Getter? If you're anything like me, you love setting and achieving goals.

I'm super competitive with myself, so I'm always thinking about what I can do next; how can I improve? How can I reach even further?

But for some of us, goal-setting doesn't come as naturally.

Luckily, there's a simple tool you can use to set and achieve goal with ease. And I bet you already have all the supplies around your house.

“You’re not good enough.”

“No one will pay you for this.”

“Who are you to give people advice on being confident?”

These are just a few of the thoughts that run through my head on a daily basis.

As soon as I became a full-time entrepreneur, I started to question every move, every decision, every program or service I designed.

As a healthcare executive, I rarely questioned myself. I believed in my ability to be successful in my job, and I often heard great feedback on my programs and training from colleagues and supervisors.

But even though I still hear great feedback from my clients and friends, I don’t believe them.

Ever have one of those days where you don’t know where to start?

You look at your to-do list, and there’s so many different and competing priorities that you start to feel anxious about how you’ll get it all done.

And in the throes of anxiety, you give up. You relinquish your stress to your couch and start binge-watching Netflix instead of hustling for your goals.

Trust me. I know this story all too well.

The TV show "Mad Men" shows, in part, the journey of Joan Holloway from stereotypical secretary who dreams of nothing more than being the pampered housewife of a wealthy doctor into a bad-ass single mother and entrepreneur. Through the course of the show, she manages to climb the ranks until she becomes a partner in her firm and even brings in her own clients. At the end of it, her company is taken over by a larger company which refuses to take her seriously and essentially pushes her out simply for being a woman in a high power position.

Ever have one of those days where you feel like you’re floating through time: struggling to start a project, lacking the motivation to get out of bed, facing a blank screen without a clue what to write.

That’s where I am this week. Sometimes, when I feel stuck like this, I don’t even know what day it is!

It can be difficult to pull ourselves out of the cycle of overwhelm, confusion and disinterest.

The good news is that there is one simple thing we can do to give our brains a break and let inspiration flow naturally: practice self-care.

It may seem counterintuitive to allow yourself the time to step away from your work when you have competing deadlines and demanding clients. But it’s time to lose the guilt.

Making time for self-care will improve your productivity because it allows you to focus on the most important asset in your business – you!