Productivity Reimagined
“Rest is productive.”
When someone first told me that, I thought they were crazy.
There is no rest for the weary
It’s up or out
Suck it up
The only way out is through
I could go on and on. There are countless sayings that are emblematic of our hustle culture. And for better or for worse, we live in a society where professionals wear their busyness like a badge of honor. To be fair, there has been more recent discourse in popular media about mental health and negative impact of stress on our health and longevity — which is great and refreshing. However, when you get to the upper echelons of leadership, and have begun the mastery of your craft — it’s as if those cautionary tales are not meant for you. You need to be better, faster, or others are going to catch up to you.
Until you burn out. Become irritable. Are a shadow of yourself in your home and social life. You begin to resent your work, your job, and question all the career choices that you have made.
It shouldn’t have to be that way. We can stop this train before it goes off the rails. Because REST IS PRODUCTIVE, too. It’s not for the weak or the lazy. It’s for the athletes among us. It’s not practical or possible for any human to go 120 mph always. Doing that wears you down and doesn’t give you any capacity to go any harder/faster when circumstances arise.
We need to start thinking about ebbs and flows, and energy that we give must be replenished. That’s where rest is crucial. It’s where we restore ourselves, calm our central nervous systems, and pause and reflect. It’s where we go back to the well and gather what we need for the next sprint. It might not come easily at first, but like most things, practice makes progress.
Some things to try:
Use up all of your vacation days for the year
Have something you look forward to every week
Make time for the things you don’t think you have time for
Plan something restorative at the end of a hard stretch
