Resting is Hard, I Know (But Worth It)

Almost every leader I have ever interviewed has spoken about the importance of rest and rebalance. And yet rest feels more elusive than ever. Rest is more difficult to achieve than ever. Rest is hard.

Harvard Business School's Nancy Koehn cited "recovery" as one of the most crucial elements of managing leadership anxiety. She says, "you need to feed and water yourself. The more anxiety around you, the more the anxiety in you, the harder what you're trying to do is" the more you need to practice recovery. Moving your body. Sleeping. Eating well. Device free moments. Time to reflect and meet with yourself. "You need moments where you can have joy and transportation, meaning you're transported from the pace of the day or the demons. The whole system is recovering."

Sometimes parents need a night away from the kids to remember why they became parents in the first place! Sometimes leaders need a break from their brains and responsibilities to remember why they love their work! (I loved this post from Caroline Fairchild on why she loves coming back to work after vacation).

Muriel Maignan Wilkins has this recipe for rest: practice it! She says, "Here’s the thing. Us high achieving types have convinced ourselves that if we take a break, we’ll lose our place on the real-life leaderboard (all you Peloton folks out there know what I’m talking about, right?). And then we feel bad about it. Stop it! That mindset is not going to help you recover appropriately so that you can stay on the success track you’re on. Instead, shift your thinking about rest from one of it’s a hindrance to it’s what’s necessary."

Rest is necessary.

Rest is not easy. Muriel reminds us that for ambitious people who like to work and feel highly identified with our careers, rest is actually difficult. Even if we rest our bodies, our minds race. Our phones ping. When I get anxious and overfunctioning, my brain both runs a constant to-do list and plays songs in my head on repeat. It's quite overwhelming.

But if you can take some time (even 10 minutes) to clear the chattering squirrels from your brain, you will benefit. (You know this, I know.) Everyday, you can practice resting; it's a discipline.

Practice-- and achieve-- resting. Do a quick meditation on your phone (I love the Ten Percent Happier app). Watch Netflix at 2pm. Turn off the phone. Don't check your email after 7pm.

It's that time of August... for many of us, a bittersweet time. Summer is ending and the rush of September feels too close.

I'm off to practice resting for 2 weeks. Actually, I'll have no choice as I'll be in the middle of the woods with no reception or internet. I'm terrified. But it's a challenge I'll accept.

Rest well.