Leadership Unplugged: Joan Marie Godoy’s High Quality Time-Off

Leadership Unplugged is an interview series where our team at Cultiveit features the work recovery habits of senior leaders. Our aim is to enable more people to develop a practice of High Quality Time-Off in their day-to-day lives. Read the article directly on our blog to see Joan's amazing photos of her time OOO in Guatemala, Espa?a, and her own backyard: https://www.cultiveit.io/cultiveit-blog/leadership-unplugged-joan-marie-godoys-high-quality-time-off

Name: Joan Marie Godoy

Title: CEO, Radical Partners

Favorite High Quality Time-Off Activity: Travel to naturally beautiful places where the Internet sucks ;). This doesn’t have to be abroad; one can do it wherever one lives.

What is your go-to High Quality Time-Off activity? Why?

Movement. I run, dance, and do yoga as often as I can.

HQTO has five different attributes: 1) active, 2) intrinsically satisfying, 3) disconnected, 4) stimulating to the senses, and 5) fuels growth. How does this activity embody these characteristics?

Exercise is all of these and it makes it easy. While you move, you have to focus to accomplish a certain goal, whether that’s a particular number of miles, a pose, or a choreo, and use all of your senses. When you’re done, you know your body is better for it, your mind might be too, and if you happen to enjoy the movement with friends, it fuels the growth of your relationships too.

What is an example of a moment when you were under stress and HQTO helped you recover?

Movement helps me every week. Before I start a class or a routine, I have to finish important tasks on my phone for my mind to be at ease and then particularly yoga helps me unwind and get ready to enjoy life with my loved ones.

How do you plan for HQTO on a daily, weekly, and annual basis?

I have to move on a daily basis and my calendar reflects that. Some days are more intense than others and I oscillate between running, dancing, yoga, and HIIT classes. If I happen to not have time for any of them, I compensate by walking places. On a weekly basis, Sundays are my reset days; there’s no work and I make an effort for there to be sweat involved ;). On an annual basis, aside from our PTO days, Radical Partners closes between December 22 and January 5 for everybody on the team to enjoy family time, no-email days, and travel if possible.

What advice do you have for others who are seeking to build intentional work recovery practices?

Schedule it, plan for it, and save for it, especially if you’re passionate about your job. Hope you know that resting, reflecting, and restoring are best practices for great leaders and a privilege that all humans should afford so an accountability partner can help too. Find that colleague or friend that will not only hold you accountable for it but jump on board with you and enjoy it with you.

What other HQTO activities do you enjoy and/or want to try out in 2024?

Paddleboarding, hiking, line dancing and more phone-free meals. Nowadays, work is not our only job. I feel like catching up with notifications and social media updates also takes a toll on us so I seek to continue to have and foster meals where everyone is fully present without looking at their phones or posting about the activity itself.

Want to support your team with intentional work recovery? Learn more about High Quality Time-Off learning & development sessions here.

Want to nominate a senior leader for the Leadership Unplugged series? Send us an email at [email protected].