Nourish Your Soul

Why It’s Wise to Nourish Your Soul: The Business Case for Me Time and Creative Recharge

By Steve Rizzo, The Mindset Adjuster | Nourish Your Soul

If you’re a business owner or a busy professional, chances are your calendar looks like a Tetris game nobody ever wins. Meetings stack on meetings. Deadlines pile on deadlines. And somewhere in the middle of all that hustle, the one appointment you never seem to keep is the one with yourself. However, here’s the truth I’ve learned after decades on stages in front of Fortune 500 leaders, sales teams, and entrepreneurs: it would be wise to nourish your soul, and appreciating what lifts your spirit is not a luxury – it’s a strategy.

I know what some of you are thinking. “Steve, I don’t have time to nourish my soul. I have a business to run.” Trust me, I get it. But consider this: your soul is the engine behind every decision you make, every idea you pitch, and every relationship you build. Therefore, if that engine is running on empty, don’t be surprised when your energy, your patience, and your creativity start running on empty too.

What Does It Mean to Nourish Your Soul?

Let’s clear something up right away. Nourishing your soul isn’t about scented candles and spa days (although, hey, I’m not against either). It’s about intentionally making room for the things that light you up inside – the moments, people, and activities that leave you feeling more alive instead of more drained. In other words, it’s about identifying what genuinely lifts your spirit and giving it real estate in your life, not just leftovers.

For some people, that means a quiet walk before sunrise. For others, it’s playing music, cooking a big Sunday dinner, working in the garden, or losing themselves in a good book. Similarly, for me, it’s often as simple as making people laugh – because before I’m anything else, I’m a HUMOR BEING having a human experience, not the other way around. Whatever your version looks like, the goal is the same: reconnect with the parts of you that business meetings and spreadsheets tend to push aside.

Nourish Your Soul: Me Time Is Not a Waste of Time – It’s a Business Strategy

Let’s address the elephant in the boardroom: many high achievers treat “me time” like it’s a dirty phrase. As a result, they wear exhaustion like a badge of honor, as if burnout somehow proves commitment. Unfortunately, that mindset is not only outdated – it’s counterproductive.

Consider this: your brain doesn’t produce its best ideas while it’s buried under back-to-back Zoom calls. Instead, creativity tends to show up in the shower, on a walk, during a workout, or in the quiet ten minutes before bed when you finally let your mind wander. That’s not a coincidence. Neuroscience backs this up – when your mind is relaxed and unfocused, it enters what researchers call the “default mode network,” which is exactly when insight and creative connections tend to happen. In other words, stepping away from the grind isn’t slowing you down. It’s actually speeding up your next big breakthrough.

Consequently, when you carve out real me time – time with no agenda, no emails, and no guilt attached – you’re not being lazy. You’re doing some of the most important work of your career: refilling the well that everything else draws from.

Real-Life Examples of Nourishing Your Soul

So, what does this look like in practice? Let me give you a few examples that I share with audiences all over the world, because appreciating what lifts your spirit looks different for everyone.

• The Early-Morning Walker: One executive I know starts every day with a 20-minute walk before anyone else in the house is awake. No phone, no podcast – just her thoughts. She told me that’s where 80% of her best decisions get made.
• The Sunday Chef: A small-business owner I coached rediscovered his love of cooking after years of frozen dinners eaten at his desk. Now, Sunday cooking is sacred. It relaxes him, and, not surprisingly, his team says Monday morning meetings with him are noticeably better.
• The Weekend Musician: A sales director I met plays guitar in a garage band on weekends. He once told me, “Steve, those two hours of playing bad rock covers with my buddies save my sanity – and honestly, my sales numbers too.”
• The Laughter Seeker: I always tell my audiences to schedule laughter the same way they schedule meetings. Watch a comedy special. Call the friend who always makes you laugh until you cry. Laughter isn’t frivolous – it’s fuel.

Notice a pattern here? None of these examples cost a fortune or require a week off in Bali (although, if you can swing that, go for it). Instead, they simply require permission – permission to protect a slice of time for the things that light you up.

Nourish Your Soul: Appreciating What Lifts Your Spirit Sparks Creativity

Here’s where it gets really interesting for business owners specifically. When you take time to appreciate what lifts your spirit, you’re not just recharging your mood – you’re recharging your ability to innovate. Think about the last time you solved a tough problem. Chances are, it wasn’t while you were staring at the problem head-on. More often than not, the solution showed up later, when you were doing something completely unrelated that made you feel good.

That’s because joy and creativity are close cousins. When your nervous system feels safe and satisfied, your brain has the bandwidth to make unexpected connections. On the other hand, when you’re stressed, anxious, or running on fumes, your brain shifts into survival mode – and survival mode is not exactly known for producing brilliant marketing campaigns or bold new business strategies.

So the next time you feel guilty for taking twenty minutes to sit outside with your coffee, or for closing your laptop to go for a bike ride, remind yourself: this is not wasted time. This is creative incubation. This is how your best ideas get room to breathe.

The Real Cost of Ignoring Your Soul

Before we move on, let’s talk about what happens when business owners skip this step altogether. Many leaders push through years of nonstop output, assuming they’ll slow down “someday.” Unfortunately, someday has a funny way of never arriving, and the bill for that choice eventually comes due.

Consider the classic warning signs: decision fatigue, short tempers with your team, a shrinking sense of humor, and ideas that feel stale no matter how many brainstorming sessions you schedule. These aren’t personality flaws. They’re symptoms of a soul that hasn’t been fed in far too long. Meanwhile, competitors and colleagues who do protect their me time often seem to have more energy, sharper instincts, and a steadier hand under pressure – not because they’re smarter, but because they’re not running on an empty tank.

On top of that, ignoring your spirit doesn’t just affect you. It ripples outward to your team, your clients, and your family. A leader who is depleted tends to lead from a place of stress rather than clarity, and that stress has a way of trickling down into every meeting, every email, and every decision. On the other hand, a leader who takes time to nourish their soul tends to bring a calmer, more creative, more magnetic energy into the room – and people notice. Clearly, this isn’t just a personal wellness issue. It’s a leadership issue, a culture issue, and, ultimately, a bottom-line issue.

How to Start Nourishing Your Soul Today

Naturally, you might be wondering how to actually build this into a busy professional life. Fortunately, it doesn’t require a total life overhaul – just a few intentional shifts.

1. Schedule it like a meeting. If it’s not on the calendar, it doesn’t happen. Block out your me time the same way you’d block out a client call.
2. Start small. Fifteen minutes of something that lifts your spirit is infinitely better than zero minutes. Build the habit before you build the duration.
3. Notice what actually recharges you. Not everything labeled “self-care” works for everyone. Pay attention to what genuinely leaves you feeling lighter, and do more of that.
4. Give yourself permission. This is the big one. Rest is allowed without earning it first. Full stop.
5. Protect it fiercely. Once you find your soul-nourishing activity, guard that time. Otherwise, the calendar will happily swallow it whole.

Mindset Is Everything

As The Mindset Adjuster, I’ve spent my career helping business leaders SHIFT the way they think. Because your mindset truly does write the story of your life. If your current story is “I’ll rest when the work is done,” I’ve got news for you. The work never ends. There will always be another email, another deadline, another fire to put out.

Therefore, waiting for permission to nourish your soul is waiting for a day that will never come. Instead, decide today that appreciating what lifts your spirit isn’t something you’ll get to eventually – it’s something you build into how you lead, how you create, and how you show up for your business and the people who depend on you.

Ultimately, the professionals and business owners who go the distance aren’t the ones who grind the hardest without stopping. They’re the ones who understand that joy, laughter, rest, and me time aren’t distractions from success . They’re the foundation of it. So go ahead: take the walk, play the guitar, cook the Sunday dinner, laugh until your stomach hurts. Your soul – and your business – will thank you for it.

Steve Rizzo is a Hall of Fame funny keynote speaker known as The Mindset Adjuster, helping business leaders and professionals SHIFT their mindset to achieve success in business and in life. Learn more at steverizzo.com.