Do you need a reboot?

‘Great workers don’t work all of the time.’

That’s a pretty impactful thought.

Yesterday my Mac kept doing some weird stuff. Blacking out, being super slow, closing things I didn’t want closing. Super frustrating as it always runs quickly and efficiently.

In the end, a thought occurred. I had left it on and not in sleep mode for a few days. I cleared out my downloads folder, closed down the open tabs and rebooted it. Same thing with my boys PS4 station recently. Not working properly, switched it off and rebooted it.

Both sprung back quickly and efficiently. It seems. the problem was solved.

This morning I woke up feeling like I haven’t slept the hours that I know I had. You know that foggy feeling like someone has taken your brain out of your head?

Literally no capacity for thinking and being creative. Slower and less efficient. Frustrating. 

Got me thinking.

Yesterday was a long day. 7 hours of back to back meetings. Then into Mum mode, followed by immersing myself in study and a slightly later night.  No exercise and only an hour or so down time.

Having recently started time blocking my day (more on this another time), I have found I am way more productive and churning out much more work, BUT if I don’t schedule a close down and reboot, how long can I sustain this pace? What would happen to my Mac if I just ignored the signs, would it break down completely?

My wonderful Yoga instructor, Fran of Hillhouse Therapies was chatting Monday about the importance of scheduling 30 minutes to pause and rest.  She builds this into one of her 2 hour programmes and is training to be able to provide this as a stand alone session.  I laughed that people (like me, as I went along and loved it - I highly recommend by the way, it is utter bliss) would actually pay to just lay down and not do anything.  There is a reason we pay for it, because we don’t schedule time to do it otherwise.

The reality is, I’m one of the post cancer warriors. I know the benefits of slowing down to speed up. The value of our health, above everything. Yet it’s easy to forget to do it.  Plus I love my work so it is easy to go all in and forget about myself in the process.

We MOT our car. We fill it with fuel. We get our computer checked out when it isn't working. Yet. Too often, we plough on not firing on all cylinders, almost running on empty because we have deadlines to meet, work to get through, commitments to keep.

Slowing down to speed up is a thing. Scheduling down time each day to switch off, walk away from the work, get outside, do whatever it is that is your version of recharging. This is not a luxury, it is a necessity to our survival, to sustain our levels of productivity and performance in order to bring our BEST selves to work each day.

Forward thinking companies are seeing this too. Encouraging down time.  Rest/sleep pods, yoga classes, anything to help their employees value their wellbeing which creates a win win scenario for individual and the organisation.

My best ideas and creativity come when my tabs are closed. During holidays, shower time, in bed and when I am doing the thing I love the most like today - being outside.

If like me, you woke with the tabs open, make a commitment to yourself to figure out what you can do to close them.  What steps can you take each day, then build the habits that make you stay accountable for this. In turn, allowing you to speed up the computer, be more creative and allows you to bring your best self to work without compromising your wellbeing in the process. 

Stop.  Reboot. Restart. 

Bring your best self to work.

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Leigh Howes. Helping Leaders & Businesses be the best at what they do.