Rest and recovery is an essential component of an exercise programme, because it gives the body time to repair, rebuild, and strengthen itself.
Within business, it is also important to have holidays, breaks, mini trips, or just simple time away from the job.
It is protected time for you to reflect, think, be creative or just to wind down and do nothing. To rest and recover.
Pre planning before you go away is key. Communicate to the team, to colleagues and even clients. Set your Out of Office.
However, for many, returning to work after taking time away, it is tempting to overwork to try to make up for ‘lost time’, ‘get back up to speed’, or relieve team members of the extra work they did, whilst you were away.
The guilt of the trip away, often forces increased activity. We start playing ‘catch up’.
However, try and resist this behaviour.
– Change your mindset about rest and recovery, about taking time away from the business. Like top sportspeople, think about recovery as an essential element of achieving high performance.
– Don’t see it as taking time off as a last resort after burnout, because you were becoming unproductive, or as a special reward when you have completed your to-do list.
– Also, try not to ‘jump straight back in’ to meetings, etc. Create space upon your return. Perhaps a no-meeting policy on your first day back, or waiting a few days before working on any high level assignments. It’s also important to give yourself permission to ‘say no’.
Remember, the time away was to refresh and re-energise yourself – not to just press pause, dive back in and feel stressed once you return because you have so much to do!
