The Power of “Pause”.
Over the weekend, as a team we took some much-needed time off to rest and recharge.
It’s been a pretty full on season in our world, and personally I’d worked three weeks straight without a day off. The combination of loving my work, plus #startuplife where there’s ALWAYS something to do, means even weekend days can look like regular work days. Working weekends is pretty normal, and I actually really enjoy it. Most of the time, I tend to have at least one day where I “down tools” and relax. My brain and body need it in order to sustain productivity and manage stress. But if I’m not mindful, sometimes the really busy times can mean that before I know it, I’ve worked 21 days without a decent break.
Don’t get me wrong: I still did fun, non-work stuff. I still had moments of relaxation and recreation. But when EVERY day for an extended period involves thinking and doing intense, structured work, my mind, emotions and even body don’t have time to regroup, recharge and re-energise.
I noticed it was starting to take its toll when I realised I wasn’t as excited as usual about turning up to work (for a super-extrovert like me, a captive audience of teammates at the office is normally music to my ears — just ask my long-suffering colleagues), or procrastinated getting into tasks that I normally find enjoyable. Everything seemed a weight on my shoulders, and conversations about our product, vision or to dos seemed more stressful than they normally would be.
Physiological signs kicked in too, where my mind used my body to tell me things were not ok. For example, I’d sit at my desk, and realise that I was forgetting to breathe. As in, literally I’d suddenly feel the need to take in a big lungful of air, because I was so focused on the task at hand I hadn’t taken in a breath. I’d venture to guess that it wasn’t that I wasn’t breathing at all, but more like my breathing was so shallow my sympathetic nervous system was like “WHOA LADY, don’t make us take over here.”. Either way, it was no bueno. There were other signs too — feeling tired all the time, and noticing my shoulders were creeping up towards my ears when I worked. Our body uses pain as a signal, and mine was putting on a blaring yellow light to say “WARNING WARNING, homeostasis is not in effect!”.
At Nect, our goal is to help managers build great teams, where diverse groups of people work in harmony to achieve amazing things. So it’s really important to us that we set an example of healthy behaviours within our own team, not to mention that as a leader, I need (and want) to practise what I preach.
We’ve worked hard to build an open, trusting and supportive work environment at Nect. So thankfully, it was really easy for me to bring my situation to the team and work together to find ways we could create a space of rest for a few days, not just for me, but for everyone. The extra bonus was that my partners in a couple of passion projects that I am involved with share the same values, so they also fully supported my need to take a short breather.
The timing was right — we’d all been working really hard, and some of our team had been fighting sickness or needed time with their loved ones. A couple team members had scheduled trips out of town. So we mutually agreed to take 2 and a half days off. No work, no Slack messaging, nothing.
We switched off emails, set “out of office” notifications and turned off phone alerts and notifications for work related things. Not all of us needed to do all these things: some of our team members prefer more structured environments so have set things up where they just don’t check emails or Slack messages over weekends, and have set work times during the week. This way of working suits them and we do our utmost to respect it. We all work differently (again something we’ve worked hard to facilitate), but the key thing was we were all creating intentional mental, emotional, and physical space to take this weekend off as a group.
At first it was hard. Making the mental shift to actually rest is tricky if you haven’t set that boundary for yourself in a while. I may or may not have accidentally checked my email on Saturday morning. But as the weekend progressed, I found myself sleeping more (nearly 9–10 hours each night), and waking up feeling genuinely refreshed. I also realised I was more present in my conversations with people. I wasn’t so distracted, or making lists of things I needed to do in my head. I was there.
Here are some things I personally learnt from this weekend of “pause”:
1. When I rest, my creative energy comes back.
The most exciting and energising thing was that I felt my creative juices flowing again. I am a firm believer that we’re wired to be creative in some form or another and that we flourish when we tap into that creativity (I promise to write about this another time). For me, my most regular creative expression is cooking. Coming up with ways to make and serve delicious food with new ingredients is incredibly rewarding and uplifting to me, and I consider it a form of sacred relaxation. It was telling that I hadn’t cooked for two weeks out of the past three, when I usually cook five nights a week.
Over those two and a half days, my mind unwound itself from its coils and I started to get excited about cooking again, and about taking up other creative projects that I’ve let sit by the wayside for a while. I know I work best when I can think creatively, so creating that space to pause, even for a short time, allowed that part of my brain to recharge and come back to life.
I’m SO much more productive when I have room to be creative. Whether it’s working on an art project, cooking, or thinking up fun ways to host a dinner party, my brain responds immediately to that expression.
When I have room to be creative, other things invariably get done faster. My brain is fresher, I’m more productive, and I have more sustained energy to actually do the things I need to do. Just generally, I’m HAPPIER.
So learning #1 from this weekend that I’m implementing into my professional practice as a leader: I need to consciously make room in my schedule to be creative.
My commitment? Thirty minutes a day, at least four nights a week to make a meal (it also saves me so much money because I’m eating out less), and a couple of hours a week where I work on a creative project of some kind.
Doing this will help me have more energy to do other things, and keep my mind fresh and engaged.
2. Creating space for rest allowed me to reflect and plan more effectively.
Taking a break gave me room to think about how I was approaching my life, my work, and practice as a leader. Am I focusing my energy and time on the important things? Am I listening well? What are things I can do to lead our team more effectively? What habits do I need to cultivate to help me do these things better? What help do I need? Who do I need to ask to help me?
When I was working as an Occupational Therapist, one of things we were taught to do as professionals was regularly engage in Reflective Practice. It was a way of managing our personal professional development, and a framework that many health professionals still use to guide and assist their lifelong learning.
I think business managers and leaders could make great use of tools like these too. Many top performing managers already do. Managing and supporting teams is hard work, and most of us don’t have a lot of training in how to manage people.
I find this series of questions from the Gibb Reflective Model as a great way to guide my reflections:
Over the weekend, as my mind cleared and shoulders began to relax to their normal position, I moved through the questions to help use my experiences as a learning opportunity.
Through the reflective process, one big thing I realised was that email notifications are significantly counter-productive to my workflow. So coming back from the weekend of pause, I’ve just kept them switched off. If anyone needs me urgently, they can call or text, or if they’re in my team they can also Slack message me. I realised that I check my email regularly enough that I don’t need an instant notification every time I receive an email.
It’s completely changed my mornings. I’d already stopped having my phone in my bedroom (it charges overnight in the living room) and use an alarm clock (as in, an old fashioned digital clock, not my phone) only when I need to. My sleep is SO much better for it. But removing email notifications has meant I don’t suddenly have a list of things to respond/react to as soon as I look at my phone. I start my day doing the important things, the big things, and check my email around 10 or 11am once I have accomplished a few key tasks.
It might seem simplistic, but this small act of setting a boundary has revolutionised my work days. And it all came about because I had time and space to step back and reflect on what was really going on.
The trickle effect has been that I finish each day feeling like I’ve smashed out at least some important tasks, and had more headspace to work on strategy or creative thinking work because I’m not constantly reacting to my email and getting distracted by it.
Learning #2 from this weekend was: Carving out time to reflect helps me identify and make small changes that can have big, positive impacts.
3. Creating a physical space to rest helps me rest better and more regularly.
Another thing Occupational Therapists are taught to understand is the power of our physical environment and its impact our mental and physical well-being. I know this seems obvious, but it’s amazing how in busy periods (when I need the benefit of a restful space the most) that’s usually the first thing that drops by the wayside.
Putting some OT principles into action over the weekend, I used my newly returned creative energy to clean and declutter two key spaces in my house: my living room and my bedroom. I’m no Marie Kondo, as evidenced by this photo:
But thankfully, the forced hiatus from work gave me time to declutter my space, clean a little and to create an environment that felt restful and enjoyable. Come Sunday night, even though I’d had a pretty active day out and about, I returned home to an inviting, peaceful space, lit a candle, put on some music and read a book for the first time in ages. It was AWESOME.
It was amazing the difference paying attention to a few key things in my environment made to my headspace and ability to rest more quickly and effectively.
I changed up the lighting, swapping out harsh blue light bulbs for warm light ones. This helps let my brain know it’s evening time and means my body knows when it’s time to sleep. I also religiously use the Night Shift function on my iPhone, and use f.lux on my laptop so I can watch Netflix at night and my brain doesn’t think it’s broad daylight (which of course would be bad for my sleep / circadian rhythm).
I live in an inner city apartment, so noise pollution is something I try to be mindful of when I’m trying to create a space where I can rest. Music for when I’m trying to intentionally relax, and ear plugs to sleep have been really helpful. Plus I figure this way I’m also conditioning my brain to respond to music as a relaxant. Pavlov would be proud.
Scented candles and a bunch of fragrant lilies were added to complete the picture, and hey presto, every night this week when I’ve come home from work I walk into my house, smell the lilies at my front door and easily shift into “rest mode”. Not only is it more fun to come home, but it also means I’m getting better rest more regularly, and each day this week I’ve felt the difference of being able to properly recharge my brain / body batteries on the regular.
I know this isn’t as easy to do in every home. I live by myself, so it’s a luxury that I get to have so much say over my space. But I can definitely attest to the difference even having a clear, clean bedroom has made to my well-being in the past few days. And does anyone else get a weird level of satisfaction out of sleeping in clean sheets? Because I know I do.
Learning #3: Things will invariably get cluttered again and life will get crazy full at some point. Maintaining at least one space in my home dedicated to helping me rest (my bedroom makes the most sense), will help me rest more effectively on a regular basis.
Closing thoughts
I’m so grateful that I have a great team to work with that is equally committed to healthy work (and life) habits. I’d also like to clarify, that the three weeks of continuous work weren’t a result of negative things happening in our company, in fact, they were because we were in a really exciting period where a lot of really great progress was being made. We kicked some massive goals in the last month, which meant more opportunities that we wanted to make the most of. Thankfully, we recognise as a group that in order to make the most of these opportunities we’ve got to be mindful of our well-being and energy levels, or we’ll hit a point of burnout.
Entrepreneurs are always at risk of neglecting rest. We’re working on things we’re passionate and excited about, we care about our teams and we care a lot about making the most of the trust (both financial and emotional) that our investors have put in us. I consider it an honour that my team, investors, and advisors partner with me in our vision. So of course, I’m driven to make the most of our opportunities and give everything to the cause. This weekend I was reminded again that creating intentional opportunities to hit pause and rest, especially as a team, isn’t counterintuitive to achieving our goals. It’s critical to achieving them.
My hope is that there’s something in the above ramble that helps you, or encourages you to pause for a moment and recharge your batteries. Your work, your relationships, and your life will surely be better for it.
I’d love to hear how you create moments / periods of rest for yourself and things you’ve learnt through the process.
Have a stellar week,
Jade.
