The Hard Truth About Hustle:
The CEO Self-Care Plan Every Entrepreneur Needs

By Dena Patton, USA

How many hard lessons about self-care and burnout have you learned during your entrepreneurship journey? If you’re like most entrepreneurs, the list is long. We’ve all been there—working long days, skipping vacations, putting off workouts, saying yes to every client, surviving on five hours of sleep, or grabbing whatever food we can because we’re too busy.

But eventually, we realize something: we weren’t only “working late”; we were working ourselves to death. Burnout doesn’t happen overnight—it builds over years of unsustainable ‘hustle habits’. And then one day, we face the harsh truth: there’s no trophy for being the busiest or the most sacrificed leader. When you wake up to a broken body or a strained marriage, what happens next?

It’s time to prioritize well-being as part of leadership, not outside of our leadership as a luxury. Because true success is about leading a life that thrives.

I realized in my first business that I chased validation, worth, and confidence through external achievements, only to realize it didn’t work. Society tells us that our worth and self-esteem come from performance, awards, money, titles, and appearance. This narrative has become the norm for leaders and business owners, pulling at every part of us—our mind, body, emotions, and spirit.

In my case, the unhealthy work habits led to a minor stroke at age 27. During six months of recovery and relearning to speak again, I realized that the very habits I thought were driving success were slowly destroying me. It was then that I created a CEO Self-Care Plan that transformed my life.

I’m sharing this today because I see more entrepreneurs than ever grappling with mental health challenges and post-Covid burnout. It’s real. It’s not in your head. The prevailing narrative tends to glorify exhaustion and self-sacrifice while overlooking the importance of self-care.

I was once too busy for self-care, and it almost killed me. If you’re feeling the same, or if you see a friend, colleague, or spouse on the brink of burnout, this is your sign to pause and say, “It’s time for a change.” As a simple step, I’d like to offer you my CEO Self-Care Plan template for free. It’s a one-page tool you can keep on your kitchen counter, designed to help you stay accountable to your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

I want you to imagine that you have four ‘scuba tanks’ on your back and they are labeled: mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional. These tanks are constantly being drained through your daily roles and responsibilities leaving you exhausted and soon burned out. But what is refueling and refilling them regularly?

After implementing my CEO Self-Care Plan for the past 15 years, both in my life and with my clients, I’ve realized that self-care is the key source of fuel for us to show up as our highest, most innovative, and greatest selves. I can be more and do more in both my business and family life when my self-care tanks are consistently refueled. It is possible to take a breath and start your self-care plan today, beginning with one small step.” Download it for free at www.CEOselfcareplan.com.