When Was Your Last Day Off…Really?
3-Minute Read
"When was your last Day Off--a full 24 hours of no work, just rest?" That's the first thing I ask any client, employee, or friend who tells me they're exhausted, anxious, depressed, or stressed. Weekly rest is one of the greatest assets we have at our disposal for benefitting our health, productivity, relationships and overall quality of life, and it’s one of the most disregarded…to our detriment.
There was a time I viewed weekly rest as optional. Like many leaders, I prioritized getting quality sleep every night, but I was “too busy” to carve out a day for nothing but rest each week—who’s got time for that?? Then a mentor challenged me to experiment with it for a couple of months to see if it made a difference. It wasn’t long before the experiment turned into the sacred practice that I now value as much as sleep. I didn’t know that I didn’t know what I was missing.
Do you want to excel in your leadership and impact? Then pay attention to the paradoxical principle of slowing down to speed up found in weekly rest. Weekly rest is one of the fastest ways to increase your productivity at work and home. If more leaders had insight to this truth, they'd move heaven and earth to make room for weekly rest in their lives, and insist that their team do so as well.
So today I'm showing you three ways that A Weekly Rest Day is as impactful as sleep for making a difference in your overall wellbeing and productivity.
the difference
weekly rest makes
Weekly Rest Is A Biological Rhythm
The human body is biologically designed for periods of rest. Your circadian rhythms govern your need to rest 6-8 hours within a 24-hour cycle. Your Circaseptan Rhythms govern your need to rest 1 day within a 7-day cycle.
While there are many vital processes that run on the Circaseptan 7-day cycle, your immune system is chief among them. It resets after a day's rest similar to how your mental alertness and energy reset after a good night's sleep.
Weekly rest strengthens your immune system, leaving you fortified against illness and stress. With weekly rest come energy and increased effectiveness to do what matters to you. Skipping weekly rest compromises your immune system, leaving you vulnerable to illness & stress. With time, you will gradually devolve into diminished productivity, exhaustion, and eventually breakdown.
Weekly Rest Is Restoration
When your body is still, it enters Restoration Mode. While you sleep, your body is actively repairing and recharging itself. The active work your body does while you sleep determines how well you function the following day.
Similarly, weekly rest is an internally active process. It restores your reservoirs of energy, creativity, clarity, and peace of mind. It renews your bandwidth for handling stress. The active work your body does throughout a day of rest determines how well you function the following week.
Weekly Rest Is Production
Productivity demands daily sleep. Said differently, daily sleep is not a departure from productivity but a requirement for productivity. Likewise, productivity demands weekly rest. Weekly rest is not a departure from productivity but a requirement for productivity.
In fact, I’d like you to consider the possibility that weekly rest is a productive act itself, as it produces the necessary resources and conditions from which all your subsequent productivity comes.
Are you seeing that weekly rest is not an “optional” practice that may or may not impact your ability to produce? On the contrary, it correlates directly to your productivity full stop.
Given its biological design and restorative function, weekly rest is as imperative as sleep to your capacity to lead, love, excel, and achieve. It WILL have a material impact on how you show up and what you accomplish in this life. To invest in weekly rest is to increase the results you ultimately produce, at work as well as home.
“Weekly rest is not a departure FROM productivity but a requirement FOR productivity.”
Now that you know what's at stake, take a full day off of work. Every week. And make it NON-NEGOTIABLE.
In future newsletters, I’ll give you the framework for my own weekly day of rest, as well as the attributes to keep in mind for designing one yourself. Until then, here’s a link to a great article to get you started on the “How-to’s” of weekly rest: “What to do on a day off from work to recharge your energy, focus, and motivation.”
what has me inspired this week?
Who I’m learning from and the experiences impacting my own development. I find great value in them—you may as well.
The Tim Ferriss Show
Tim Ferriss is the author of over five #1 bestselling books, including The 4-Hour Work Week and Tools of Titans. He’s been listed as one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People,” and his podcast has had over 1 billion downloads.
On his podcast, the Tim Ferriss Show, Tim and his guests focus on deconstructing world-class performance and productivity. It’s one of my regular go-to’s for my own development each week.
This particular episode with guest Jerry Colonna — How to Reboot Yourself and Feel Unrushed in the New Year—is a great companion to today’s conversation on rest.
Visit Tim’s website to explore the podcast, newsletter, books, and other resources:
May you prosper in every way!
Becky & TPL Team
52 Maxims of Conscious Choosing To Create the Deeply Satisfying Life You Desire.