Rest: The Competitive Advantage

If you are like me, you constantly see articles, memes, posts, and other media touting the importance of rest. I am sure you have heard the following sayings who knows how many times.

“You cannot pour from an empty cup.”

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”

“Every one of us needs to show how much we care for each other and, in the process, care for ourselves.”— Princess Diana

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”— Albert Einstein

“Let her sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world” - Napoleon Bonaparte

“Sleep is the best meditation.” - Dalai Lama

“Rest when you are weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.”?

"I think sometimes the best training is to rest.” Cristiano Ronaldo?

Admittedly I am not very good at “rest.” I often wonder, how can I “do” rest properly. My out-of-office almost never goes unanswered because I don’t want to come back from vacation to a barrage of emails that will only stress me out more.?

If you are like me and often wonder how to “do” rest, and what benefits rest has exactly, keep reading.?

I am constantly on the go. As a single mom working full time there is very little “down” time in my life. Honestly, I typically do not mind being always on the go and if I find myself with a couple of hours of free time I will typically fill it with something. Reading. Baking. Meal Prepping. Working out. Planning future activities for my kids. Checking off the endless items on my never-ending mental to-do list. It is almost like I cannot turn my brain off.?

This year I decided to get more into meditation because I thought this would be a good way for me to slow down a little. In a lot of ways, it has definitely helped me, but admittedly I still struggle with rest and turning things off.?

It truly was not until I had this epiphany about rest that I realized I need to place a bigger priority on rest in my life. I need to encourage my teams to do this as well. I need to encourage my kids to maybe turn off the screens, leave their friends alone, and connect with themselves a little bit more.?

For those of you that don’t know, I am a swimmer. It is my favorite work out of all. I never feel more myself than when I am swimming laps in the pool or the lake. Swimming is an almost spiritual experience for me. To glide through the water, and feel completely surrounded but also completely weightless is my favorite feeling. I feel strongest when I am in the pool swimming laps, I am amazed at what my body can do, and I love that swimming is a workout I can do until I am gone. You are never too old to swim laps.?

I had focused most of my training this year on endurance swimming in hopes of completing my first International Distance Triathlon without drowning, but really, my training was just swimming laps without stopping. My focus was swimming as long as I could without breaks. Without rest.?

This past weekend I decided to pull up a swimming workout on my goggles and decided to follow the workout prompts even though it was the farthest I had swam in a pool in a very long time. The thing was, this workout had rests between sets. I was not used to resting during my swims. My swims were “go, go, go,” with preferably no breaks and just constant freestyle until I hit my distance or time goals. However, I decided to follow the workout to a T, including the rests.?

I was shocked when I finished the workout to see that I had swam 6 seconds faster than any of my previously recorded times.?

If you are like me, you constantly see articles, memes, posts, and other media touting the importance of rest. I am sure you have heard the following sayings who knows how many times.

REST.

Resting between sets honestly helped me perform better than I ever had as an adult. I did not feel like I swam particularly strong that day, but because of those well-timed rests, I swam my fastest. I swam my best.?

It made me realize that perhaps, rest, is just as important professionally. If I am performing really well and proud of what I am accomplishing, how much more could I accomplish if I took some well-planned “rests.”

How can our industry and our culture promote rest? What would it look like if we actually took time to completely unplug and recharge? What would it mean for us? What would it mean for our families? What would it mean for our teams? What would it mean for our companies? What would it mean for our country?