Funny how taking time out is necessary when you want to change the world.
Most people take time as an annual leave block but for a business owner or entrepreneur taking time out in this way can be a little more difficult. The quest for rest conflicts with the responsibility of ensuring the mission keeps going when you are not there. You start to feel as if you are ‘on it’ 24/7, and that sleeping is a weakness!
However, the reverse is true: Rest is a powerful weapon in the armoury that CEOs, Entrepreneurs and business leaders have to discover if they are going to stay the course.
-‘How are you?’
-‘Busy’. (It’s our badge of honour).
Some choose ‘Productive’ over “Busy”, however, the enquirer is not after details of our productivity levels, the question is concerning our well-being.
One of the best and most simple metrics is to score oneself out of 10, with 10 being great and 1 being rubbish. When the SAS use this metric, they remove the number 7 so that you are either a 6 or an 8. We did the same during the pandemic which helped us remove ‘I’m ok’ or ‘I’m fine’ (which can be a dodge for a more honest answer).
There’s nothing wrong with being open about how you are feeling, and you’ll be surprised if you don’t normally share that much how those who do build deeper connections with the people they meet.
Why put a game face on? Winners in the game of life understand that authenticity is a superpower. If you genuinely rate yourself at a ‘1’ it’s going to be beneficial to talk it out before hitting the business meeting, but a 5 to an 8 and rare 9 or 10 are easier to share about.
You aren’t failing if you don’t have it all together all of the time. Ask a runner how they are feeling in the middle of a marathon – probably closer to a 5 than a 10. The 10 comes at the end. So it is with life! You will spend more time in the middle than at the top. There will be mountaintop experiences but life is generally lived in the middle. It’s more about progress than perfection. Learning that you don’t need to be a 9 or a 10 all the time takes the pressure off!
There are times when you need to switch off and unplug because your score is low and your clock needs resetting.
What I like most about British Summer Time is the resetting of the seasons. It wakes us all up! Unfortunately, if you have young kids you are then in the unenviable position of trying to convince them that it is light at bedtime!
I also like how daylight saving gives us more time. Time to go for an evening walk or visit someone and stay out, relaxing more. We seem to gain more time to stay out and stop scrolling. Life outside seems invariably more interesting than inside.
Everyone should take time to reset their clock. Take some time out. Permit yourself to take a mini-break.
Sat at the coffee table with one of my friends, John, we both remarked on this very thing. He is on a journey to head overseas and the process seems particularly gruelling! I remarked how it was only Wednesday and we both felt exhausted. Comparing notes, we realised that, apart from a couple of afternoon meetings, we were both in a position to take a mini-break the next day!
I forget how much a full day of podcasts followed by a late-night home from London takes out of me. I find myself running on empty and it takes me by surprise! Knowing that I was headed to a conference at the weekend, I chose to check out. As a leader, sometimes you see it first but at other times it takes someone else to tell you to REST!
The more tired you are the lower your score will be. We often make wrong choices, get overwhelmed and become less resilient when we fail to pay attention to our bodies and become overtired. In an endurance race, you need to refuel at some point and rest allows you to do that.
For me, the thing I want to avoid is decision fatigue. I am not talking about the number of decisions I have to make or delegating, I am talking about the weight of those decisions. Over a sustained period, I become weary of making decisions and I almost don’t care! Everything starts to transition into a “whatever”!
How to avoid decision fatigue:
Spend time in places where you don’t have to make all the decisions!
Play in a space (unconnected) where you don’t have to make weighty decisions. Go and have some fun.
I remember a mission trip I went on in the middle of a pressured workflow and while the mission trip was hard work (we drove from Bristol to Iasi in Romania) the decision-making was done by our missions director. I had to make a few decisions but I didn’t have to carry the whole weight of responsibility for the trip.
The trip was epic but I felt rested on the return because someone else was directing and I had a break.
Find the best time to decide and give yourself space
Walking and talking with people, unconnected, can be transformative. Learn to play in a different space.
Purposeful choices are made when the heart catches up with the head and things click. The result of that alignment is peace, without which you’ll be unsettled.
Once the decision is made, people will focus on their priorities, not on how they made the decision.
Without peace, problems come.
Big decisions require energy
Decisions of magnitude will involve loss, whether it’s your time, talent or treasure. So be prepared for it, but see these purposeful choices like a wave that will always come back in. You’ll redeem the time, find aligned talent and essentially see revenue increase!
You may have to ignore some of the voices to make purposeful choices– you won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.
People pleasing is hard. Leaders will have to make big-picture decisions and once they have considered the voices and the options I can tell you most impact-led leaders will do everything for a win-win.
Purposeful choices are based on conviction and company vision. Circumstances can change but a bit of time can mean circumstances change for the positive. A delay may provide a little more information for that win-win.
Conviction-led decisions mean that the mission takes us closer to the vision! When people lose sight of impact they focus on comfort. How they can minimise effort and maximise reward. Ironically, the best things require more effort and being uncomfortable creates the greatest rewards.
So, there you have it. Decision fatigue is real.
Today, if you feel worn out or you need a break and feel weighed down, choose to reset, refocus and rediscover the energy to make progress in the pursuit of purposeful living.
Watch the latest episode of the Purpose People Podcast today via the link below…
