October 21, 2020
1 Leadership Thought
“I’m too busy.”
“I don’t have time for that.”
“What did I do last week?”
“I’ve taken on too many things."
These are some of the things that overextended individuals say and it’s a problem. What’s worse is that most people know it’s a problem, yet still suffer from the same problem.
The main culprits of that are our culture and ego:
We wear our exhaustion like a badge of honor as if doing more activity makes us a better citizen
We often think too highly of ourselves and try to put our hands into things that would be better off entrusted to our teammates
The solution is to embrace this truth—the quality of your rest often determines the quality of your work.
Your car won’t go without gas.
Your phone won’t work without battery.
You’ll slowly burn out at work if you don't rest.
Rest is intentional, disciplined margin that enables you to recharge. (Share this on Twitter)
Rest must be intentional because it’s not a habit in your life yet.
Rest must a discipline because our ego constantly tempts us to do just a little more.
Here are four habits that will help you start building a discipline of quality rest:
Make yourself unavailable for meetings for at least a 2-3 hour block (or a whole day if you can) during the week—use this instead to plan, process, and knock out tasks that will free up your mind to focus during the rest of your week.
Utilize the Downtime setting on your phone to automatically turn off your connection to work when you are off the clock.
The evening before your day off, start a simple ritual that helps you enter into rest mode—as an example, my family lights a certain candle during dinner and blowing it out after our meal helps us click into rest mode.
Leave all your electronics in a drawer on your day off—connect with people and do enjoyable activities instead.
As a gauge, if it’s not helping you recharge, it’s not rest. If it’s not something you can sustain and build on, it’s not rest. Rest is intentional, disciplined margin that enables you to recharge.
1 Resource
John Mark Comer on developing a rule of life:
"The word rule comes from the Latin word regula, which literally means 'a straight piece of wood,' (think: ruler), but it was also used for a trellis...Without a trellis, plants bear a fraction of the fruit and are vulnerable to threats like coyotes."
Source: "3. Rule of Life", Fight Hustle, End Hurry Podcast*
1 Question
What do you wish you could do more of if you had the time?