The Oxford dictionary defines “deserve” as a verb: doing something or having or showing qualities worthy of reward or punishment. For example, having a drink at the end of a long day, or slice of dessert because, “you deserve a treat”. Yet, in the long game of life, and for those interested in sustainable excellence, everyone needs rest – not because it’s been earned, but because humans are living organisms that requires periods of recovery to regulate biological mechanisms, like circadian rhythm and homeostasis, for survival. Just as children skipping rope learn how to time their hops, professionals must learn their own rhythm of working so they can recognize where they are in relation to the rope, and then jump so that the rope keeps twirling. In case this analogy isn’t holding up, what I’m suggesting here is that the ability to know when to stop for gas extends time to exhaustion.
In both NASCAR and F1 racing, recovery is a critical element of superior performance. NASCAR races, which typically extend over several hours, feature pit stops as an essential component of the process. Here, the pit crew’s ability to discern how many tires to change, what mechanical adjustments to execute, and precisely how much to re-fueling is required can determine who wins by fractions of a second. In Formula 1 races, refuelling is not permitted so teams must decide how much gas to use at the start and somewhat parallel to the human experience, drivers who finish the race with less than 1 litre of fuel in the tank are disqualified.
In the workplace, the fact that rest underpins well-being and performance is well-established. Dr. Sonnentag, for example, found that daily periods of recovery in the evenings after normal working days or during the traditional weekend are important to maintaining both well-being and performance. Yet, taking rest is surprising difficult for many people. In 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor found that 50% of small organizations (50+ employees) and 90% of large organizations (50,000+ employees) were providing employees with workplace wellness programs; yet, regardless of the size of the firm or the type of wellness offering, participation rates hovered around 40%. As evidenced by reports that millions of employees are experiencing burnout caused primarily by work overload, the current cultural zeitgeist of overwork may act as a barrier to rest and recovery. Looking to Hofstede’s model of Cultural Dimensions, one dimension we place a tremendous amount of value on in the West, is masculinity – which means we prioritize work, performance, efficiency, productivity, and achievement rather than relationships, well-being, and rest.
Attuning to Your Work Rhythms
In systems where there is not an official pitstop in the flow of work, the burden of taking rest falls on the individual. Multiple authors have suggested that leaders may play an important part in role modelling self-care, which has the trickledown effect of signalling that employees also have permission to tend to their needs. If this logic holds, and the literature on implicit leadership theory supports that it likely does, then a critical skill for leaders to develop is learning to discern when they need to take a break and importantly, actually taking one. How then can individuals enhance their capacity to rest? Like developing any new skill, rest must be practiced.
Building A Skillful Practice of Rest
1. Recognize When a Period of Recovery is Needed
Polyvagal theory offers a set of behaviours that are tied to different states of our nervous system such that when we fall outside of an optimal window of tolerance, our nervous system activates a state of “hyper” or “hypo” arousal signalling that we need rest. If you find that you can’t relax, are increasingly easily offended, critical, or anxious, you may be in a state of hyperarousal. If you are noticing a lack of energy or greater tendencies to “check-out” emotionally, you may be in a state of hypoarousal. In practical terms, pay more attention to your inner psychological state and related behaviors so you can begin to recognize your irritability, or waning motivation as signals that you need to rest. Attune to your inner world by engaging in practices – like meditation, journalling, singing, or repetitive movement – that connect you to your intuition, which will guide you towards what you need, and what you want.
2. Identify What Type of Activities You Desire (and Despise)
Do you know what kind of rest delights you? Do you know what kind of healthy activities you detest, no matter how good for you they’re supposed to be? Recent work in the organizational respite literature has found that the more preferable one’s break activities are, the more resources and feelings of recovery they generate. Conversely, engaging in an undesirable activity during your break has been associated with higher depression, greater burden, and less job satisfaction. To apply these insights practically, leaders would be wise to encourage their employees to take breaks and offer them the agency to choose when and how to take breaks.
3. Grant Yourself The Permission to Rest
Self-compassion encompasses being kind to, or at least non-judgmental of, oneself in times of suffering. If you are one to work to the point of exhaustion and rest only when the work is all done, exploring the relationship your work has with your self-esteem may be an interesting adventure to embark upon. As a practical first step, start by witnessing the thoughts that prevent you from taking a break when you need it. What feelings arise at the thought of not accomplishing everything?
What Do You Really Need Right Now?
Holding the self-awareness to know when you need to take a break and knowing what kind of break you desire is like having the awareness to know what kind of food you require for nourishment. If you have no awareness of when you need rest, you will eat whatever the culture normalizes – in the West, work is the main and it’s likely served with a side of productivity. With more awareness, you will be able to select just the right snack, and you will be able to discern whether you want to eat what’s on the menu or whether you need to go to another restaurant altogether.
Choose with care, and I hope it’s delicious.