How are you?
The most common response to 'How are you?' is 'Good but busy' How many times have you heard this or said this? We are all busy. In fact so busy we never stop. Being contactable and always 'on' We cram more and more into each week, each day and each hour. So what are the consequences of this behaviour?
When we fail to manage our energy levels we create an overload or overwhelm in the body and the mind. We are not resting enough to recharge our bodies and our mind and this can lead to burnout in the form of stress, illness, lethargy, health issues, early aging and worse extreme anxiety or depression
What can we do to change this downward spiral?
The traditional approach is to get better organized, manage your time better, delegate and be more productive. Of course, all these strategies can help but one area that contributes greatly to how we operate at work and our energy levels is our PACE.
What is PACE?
We all have a natural pace at which our bodies want to perform activities. When we were children we probably did this very naturally. We slept when we were tired, we played when we had energy and it all felt so natural. As we got older other factors come into our lives socializing, hobbies, family, work and we begin to change our pace to adapt.
We may have to do long periods of focused work or multiple things in a short period of time to keep up. These external factors push us to run outside of our natural pace. If we do this for too long we start feeling the negative effects like stress, exhaustion and aging. Imagine if you are a machine set to run at 60 RPM but you are actually running at 80RPM eventually something will break.
We use the PACE indicator with leaders to encourage them to assess their PACE gap and explore what they can do to avoid feeling tired or burnout. But if there is 1 thing we would recommend to start doing now is taking more rest.
REST is king.
No matter how fit you are if you are not allowing your body to recuperate after rigorous exercise or working long hours as well as socializing your body will let you know. With proper sleep and rest, we are able to fully recover and grow. Sleep is when muscles grow. When it comes to our mental energy, rest is just as important. This may also involve doing things that you enjoy or relaxing you. Whatever it is, it has to feel restful.