Lots of people wish the week away waiting for the weekend. When the weekend finally rolls around they don’t have a plan to make it count and they face Monday morning feeling more drained and tired than they did the week before. Is it possible to spend your weekend in a way that actually charges you up instead of wearing you down? Is it possible to actually face Monday on FULL instead of empty?
I don’t know about you but I have a hard time resting. I enjoy the idea of resting and I certainly think I need more rest, but when my day of rest rolls around I find that I’m tackling a different “To Do” list. That’s the list that consists of all of the personal things I need to get taken care of so my life stays together. I’m sure you have a list like that as well.
Everyone says they need more rest, but no one tells you how to rest. We all need a rhythm of rest but we haven’t been taught how to rest. For me, resting conjures up images of sleep and taking a whole day to sleep sounds extremely boring. Lying on the couch all day and watching Netflix would get old really fast and I certainly wouldn’t be looking forward to my day of rest.
Part of the problem is that it is easy to confuse active rest with passive rest. Passive rest is more of the lounging and napping variety, whereas active rest means that you are doing certain key activities that fill you up.
It has been helpful for me to imagine my emotional, spiritual, and physical energy much like a glass of water.
I’m sure with a title like that is seems to be a bit of hype but I’ve found one simple practice to help me rest. I’ll give it to you right up front. Here it is: You must make a conscious decision to limit your work.
That means you have to decide how many hours a week you are going to work and stick to it. If you are self-employed this is really difficult. Trust me I understand. It is hard to stick to a schedule. There is never an end to my emails, FB messages, voicemail, and to-do lists, so I have to create an end. I have to make a conscious decision to end my work. So if you don’t get a response from me right away it isn’t because I don’t love you, it’s because I’m trying to put boundaries in my life.
Entrepreneurs, you have a tendency to never stop. You bring your work home, you work in the car, at the dinner table, even in bed. If you’re married there are a lot better things to do in bed than work.
Some of you are pushing back right now and thinking, “But if I take a break there is no one else who is going to do this. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid.”
What’s your rhythm of rest? Do you have a regular set schedule to take time to recharge and refuel? If not, you need one. Most people I talk with don’t take rest seriously enough. They all know they need more of it, but it always gets pushed to the bottom of the priority list as other things seem to be significantly more urgent.
