Too busy to rest & recharge?

We’re back after taking some much needed time out to rest and recharge and it’s been brilliant for helping generate some fresh ideas and creative thought. Which is the theme of this week’s blog post, so grab a cuppa, take 5 and have a read.

Imagine the scene, it probably won’t be too hard to imagine for a lot of people, you worked til late last night ‘catching up’, started work at 7am to get ahead of the day, ate lunch at your desk (again), and have been desperate for the loo for the last hour. There's work to be done, meetings to attend, targets to achieve and milestones to reach. Who has time to take a breather?

But there is seldom a good outcome from continuous overworking with no time to rest and recover, individuals can become ill, disenfranchised, make mistakes or simply leave. So think about this, how much more productive can you and your team be if you are all well-rested? How much more meaningful would your contributions be if you took the time to rest and reflect?

There are some really good reasons and compelling evidence about why it's important to incorporate rest breaks into your day, week, month and year.

Improved Productivity: Rest isn't a luxury; it's essential to healthy well-being. When you and your team are exhausted, it's difficult to concentrate or stay motivated. Ever heard of the phrase "diminished returns"? The more you work, the less productive you become. Taking breaks improves productivity, enabling all of you to deliver better results in less time.

Improved Creativity: Creativity isn't always a matter of brainstorming sessions. When the mind is active and overworked, fresh ideas and innovative solutions can become elusive. Resting can help stir the subconscious mind, helping you to come up with original ideas. Providing an environment for self-reflection and unpacking mental clutter could lead to one of those amazing a-ha! moments in your team.

Better Health: Sleep deprivation and fatigue can have a significant impact on an individual’s physical and mental health, leading to long-term illnesses and often substantial risk to the business. Encouraging opportunities to take a break encourages your team to take care of themselves, contributing to their overall well-being.

Improved Relationships: You can't deny the impact good rest has on communication and relationships, both professional and personal. When employees are well-rested, they are more likely to communicate better, express their ideas, and collaborate more effectively and much less likely to emotionally react when things don’t quite go to plan. When you create a team culture that values rest and downtime you also create a conducive space for healthy teamwork.

Avoid Burnout: Overworked and exhausted employees are more likely to experience burnout, affecting their work and the team’s productivity. Encouraging rest is one way to reduce stress factors that can lead to burnout, contributing to healthy staff retention and building team cohesion.

So take a moment now to think about how you rest and reflect, are you role modelling great behaviour and encouraging your team to rest too? Next time you consider working through the night or over the weekend, or say to someone in your team at 4pm on Friday, there’s no rush for this piece of work Monday morning is fine (!), think twice.

Encourage your team to rest and rejuvenate, and lead by example. Be the leader who sees the critical importance of real rest and who understands that self-care is not selfish, but the foundation of a productive and well engaged team.