I Kid You Not: Relaxation Is a Crucial Part of Success
I share 7 strategies that will help you relax in even the busiest of times.
Take a look around — I bet you’ll witness tons of advice and tips on how to boost your productivity and show better and better results. I’ve too written several articles on the subject of self-development and success strategies — trust me, I know for a fact just how important being disciplined and motivated is.
We live in a world where one of the major topics deals with success. Nowadays virtually anyone can follow their aspirations and try to turn them into reality. Be it business ideas, self-growth plans, or entrepreneurial potential put into practice — you name it, and you probably have every opportunity to develop it. We’re so used to chasing success that sometimes we fail to stop for a second and listen to what our bodies and minds have to say.
At the very beginning of my entrepreneurial career, driven by the desire for achievements and success, I regularly failed at taking some time off. But you know what they say: When you don’t pick a day of relaxation, your body will do that for you. Of course, I wasn’t an exception — with time I began to realize just how important relaxation is and that it’s a huge part of the success equation.
Why do we often underestimate relaxation in terms of achieving success?
When you come to think about it, we’re not used to serving relaxation and success on the same plate.
As we are diving deeper into our professional development, we are taught not to procrastinate and to always be up and running. With time we learn to believe that success comes from deliberate action only while letting go and enjoying some time off is actually pushing us away from our goals.
Of course, as it’s with everything else in life, the truth lies in achieving balance.
Think about all the times you’ve strived for taking action only to later realize you’ve actually achieved burnout. If action and work are all there is, at some point, we’ll meet our threshold.
In reality, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with relaxation. As a matter of fact, it’s incredibly needed — we couldn’t be functioning correctly if work takes up the entire part of our conscious lives.
Establishing a routine that greatly benefits us essentially consists of a balance between work and relaxation. Shifting our focus several times per day is proven to be very useful — the time I started implementing short periods of breaks was actually the time I started observing greater peaks in terms of my professional success.
Drifting away from burnout is indeed a great way to reduce stress and keep yourself up and running for the moments you feel the most disciplined, motivated, and eager to get some work done.
So once we’ve discussed the importance of balance and why you should always make room for relaxation in your daily routine, now it’s time to actually observe some useful strategies that will greatly assist you in taking all those big deep breaths.
How to implement moments of relaxation in your day? Here are 5 useful steps
- Pay attention to how you feel — when you are completely aware of your inner world, you’ll know when it’s time for proper relaxation. Built-up stress can manifest in various ways — if you feel easily agitated, nervous, triggered, or overwhelmed, then perhaps it’s time for a deserved break from stress.
- Head outside from your surroundings — chances are you’re working indoors so whenever you feel stressed out, it’s preferable for you to go out and submerge yourself in different surroundings. Taking some fresh air is always a good idea, especially if you’re constantly staring at a screen. Walking in nature or the nearest park is certainly going to lift your spirit.
- Take deep breaths — mastering breathing techniques is crucial for anyone’s relaxation routine. Breathing deeply allows us to get rid of stress and accumulated negative energy. The intake of oxygen helps us clear our heads, level our blood pressure, and calm our heart rate.
- Engage with your hobbies — who says having small breaks cannot result in engaging with your hobbies? Whenever you feel like stress is taking over, take the moment to read a book, play a game, have a decent conversation, or do virtually anything that will make you feel happy and bring back your positive energy.
- Take a moment to self-reflect — when you enter a state of relaxation, do nothing else besides relaxing. Try emptying your mind of all the stressful and work-related thoughts and fully becoming aware of your inner world. I can promise you that the feeling can be very cleansing and healing.
Summary
While hard work always pays off, so is relaxation. Finding the perfect balance between the two is essential when it comes to achieving success.
My advice is not to take relaxation as procrastination; rather think of it as a necessity that allows your mind to restart and reboot. This way everyone can benefit from breaks while implementing them among all tasks and duties.
