“Leaders, what is your relationship with REST?” Masterclass

If you missed the “Leaders, what is your relationship with REST?” masterclass yesterday, here’s a sneak peek of what I covered….

I did a deep dive into how we (leaders) can understand our attitudes and behaviours around rest and empowered us to learn how to rest well in a way that prevents exhaustion and energises us in our life and work. The leaders and individuals I meet often show up in a deficit state, lacking in energy, motivation, direction, and enjoyment.? With that in mind, I hoped that together during the entire session we would embark on a search for how we can re-imagine our reserves and replenish them regularly. And WE DID!

By the end of the class, I came to the conclusion that many of us are suffering from a rest deficit as we form part of a high-achieving, high-producing society that is chronically tired and burnt out. The notion of ‘resting’ has become tainted as something unattractive, unproductive and selfish, and we have forgotten the value of rest for ourselves and others.

Let’s dive into the deep sh*t. Shall we?

During the session, I asked six reflective questions to help the leaders reawaken to what meaning they give rest and what place they want rest to have in your life and work.

Question 1. How do you rest?

I requested the leaders to take a moment to think about how they usually rest.

Question 2. How have you learnt or not learnt to rest?

I noticed that our behaviour and perspectives around rest is consciously or subconsciously influenced by how people around us rest and by the messages that we receive about rest.? For this, I gave different scenarios:

1. We may have never seen our parents prioritize rest
2. We may have been mentored by people who never seem to priortize or talk about rest?
3. We look up to people who “hustle hard”
4. We live in societies that condition us to feel like rest is laziness

Question 3. How does your rest pattern work for you?

The leaders took a minute to notice what behaviours they engage in to rest, and what impact they have.?

Do they increase their energy and mental capacity or leave them feeling drained and deflated?

Are they happy with the BLEND not balance of rest in their work and life and want to keep that going?

Question 4. What don’t you know about rest?

For this question, it was important that we re-imagine REST and we did that by expanding our definition and knowledge about rest (there are 7 types of REST), which may be richer than we realize.?

Question 5. What is your response when others rest?

This was a thought-provoking question. I requested the leaders to think about how they react when they see someone taking a full lunch break, having a lie in, or watching TV in the evenings?

How do you feel when you hear that I REST more than I work?

Question 6. Are you willing to give rest a go? Or re-imagine a blend of work & life?

The last question before opening the Q & A session was meant to challenge leaders to relearn how to rest which I clarified starts as an inside job. It was important to note that finding a work-rest blend can nourish us personally and help us be our best selves, so that we have the energy and capacity to nourish others too.

This was followed by an interactive Q & A session with questions and responses I will post at a later date.

If you'd like me to facilitate such a session for your team, please email [email protected]