The 5 E's of Extreme Self-Care

Andy Robinson
Apr 6
2 min read

Recently, my wife, Carrie, and I were discussing ways of extreme self-care to stay healthy and active as we grow older. The discussion was prompted by Carrie's father's recent 100th birthday. Additionally, Carrie's doctor confidently said that she has great genes and will most likely live well past 100.

Our discussion reminded me of this quote I love... “Self-care is giving the world the best of you, instead of what’s left of you.” It was shared with me by Katie Reed, a mental health advocate and a self-care evangelist.

Our ability to offer our best to others — team members, business associates, friends, and family — is ALWAYS contingent on our clarity of mind, our energy level, and our emotional state. It’s the proverbial airline directive of “putting your oxygen mask on first.”

“Extreme self-care” is the term I use in my practice to describe a framework of habits that enable highly effective, consistent “best self” actualization. I’ve distilled the philosophy of Extreme Self-care into five categories of habits I call the “Five E’s:”

Enrichment - Prioritizing lifelong learning and personal development
Exercise - Enjoying exercise, maintaining fitness, and optimizing energy
Eating - Maintaining a “way of eating” that optimizes your health and wellness
Ethos - Nourishing your beliefs, values, and spiritual needs
Environment - Molding your environment in support of extreme self-care

Enrichment can be optimized by bringing the following five habits into your daily personal life and work life:

The Read-to-Lead Habit – Nourishing your mind with books and quality reading material every day
The Personal Development Plan Habit – Knowing your strengths and weaknesses and approaching both with an actionable development plan
The Coaching, Mentoring, and Masterminding Habit – Leveraging professional development experts and cohorts on your journey to mastery
The “Netweaving” Habit – Nurturing your business, professional, and personal relationships and proactively connecting others
The Intentional Media Habit – Being selective about the media you consume or allow into your mind