Knowing How to Switch Off
Hugh Coppen
Inspirational Safari Leader | Hosts Unforgettable Experiences | African Roots, Global Perspective | Executive Coach | Focused on Leadership in Nature | Speaker | Lifelong Rugby Fan
Recently, while sitting quietly beside a pride of 12 lions, one guest whispered “Lions seem to be pretty lazy – all they do is sleep!”
She had a point. Lions do spend a lot of time, 16 to 20 hours a day, resting and sleeping. Most of those hours are daylight hours, which is why we often see them laying around when we’re out on safari.
While they will hunt during the day when the opportunity or the need arises, lions are predominantly ‘after dark’ hunters when their excellent night vision gives them a better chance of creating chaos in a herd of prey.
If you’ve ever watched a lion hunt, you know that it demands focus, purpose, stealth, patience – and then an explosive burst of energy, agility and relentless determination to bring a prey animal down.?
Yet with all that investment of effort, lions’ success rate is usually less than one in every four hunts. And regardless of when they last had a meal, each hunt demands the full expenditure of energy and effort.
Here’s a key to their success: lions know how important rest, relaxation and sleep are in order to achieve success next time. They know when to switch off, like when we see them laying around.
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We have a lot to learn about how important it is for us too to switch off.
To our detriment, the reality is that many of us aren’t much good at finding our ‘off’ switch at all, let alone using it!? We seem to think we have unlimited resources to achieve performance and success without giving our minds and bodies the time to rest, recover and replenish. What makes things even worse is our pursuit of ‘be more, do more, make more’ and our enslavement to ‘always on’ technology.
Think about it. How much more effective and successful would YOU be if you genuinely learned how to be like a lion?
Know how to switch off.
Executive Vice President, Global Head of Delivery Systems & Services and Specialty Gases at EMD Electronics | 20+ years of Experience in Semiconductor Industry
4 个月As I am reading this, I am taking a few days to switch off after quite a lot of on time. What a timely reminder.
Vice President, Guest Experience and Event Security at San Diego Padres
5 个月Great share - thank you, Hugh!
CEO Surface Solutions / President EMD Electronics
5 个月My brother and I were there that day. We got a lot of time with the lions. I’m in the safari hat, Hugh’s in the green jacket and my brother is beside him. Best part for me was an encounter with a completely wild elephant, while on foot (just 5 of us and a guide) through the national park. That elephant was less and a meter away - curious about why we were in his space. The lions in this picture were resting and peaceful. We encountered them at another time right after their feast on a wildebeest. The big male was there and unhappy they ate without him. ?? I highly recommend one of Hugh’s learning and recharging safaris. Great experience. Great guide. The trip itself is a great way for lead and reenergize.
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5 个月Being completely engrossed in a conversation is a 'switch off' tactic I've become reliant on and (much to my surprise) it works. I learned this from a journalist friend. I noticed whenever we spoke he was completely engrossed in our conversations, to the exclusion of ALL other distractions. For me, this became a bit like doing an old school puzzle, and the relief this provided was immense. When fully engrossed in a conversation, my brain dedicates its RAM to processing the moment and not the background noise, and for some reason, this act is simultaneously energising and relieving, and the person/people your with, fell that attention, and enjoy it. I still enjoy switching off doing sport and hobbies but this tactic has helped bring relief more regularly and immediately. The 3-step how-to on this is simple. 1. Phone to silent and placed screen down, 2. All alerts silenced during virtual meetings and 3. Enter each meeting with a journalist mindset (ie this might be the only opportunity to get the knowledge I need to write the story). Hope that helps!
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5 个月"Switch off". That can be difficult for us because we believe that we should be doing something. Perhaps my version of switching off is running, walking, skiing and riding my motorcycle. Not sure is that is switching off or a mental escape.