On our journeys, we find ourselves swimming in metaphors for how to win at work. Perhaps you resonate with the long trek up the mountain, prepping our heavy packs with the resources we need to get to the top. We anticipate what tools and gear we might need for bad weather and back-ups should the trail wash out. Or, maybe you’re all on bikes, taking advantage of hills, and drafts, relying on one another to get where you need to go.
These stories can place us in different contexts – on mountain tops, on the open road. The implications for leadership abound. Yet, what’s missing in most of these common stories is the reminder that pace makes a difference in how you will succeed. We may be able to rush to the top, be prepared for on-going circumstances, and push through the pain, but if we fail to rest, we fail to fully succeed. Even leaders deserve time and space to build in times of rest. To do so is a compassionate choice for yourself and those you lead.
Too many of us are over-burdened with the demands of our organizations, the people we care for, and the asks of our community and families. However, trying to fix the challenge of being overextended by trying to do more is a shortcut to burnout.
Author Katherine May writes in her book Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, “We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again.”
Are you in a season of flourishing, or are your bones feeling bare? Both of these places deserve compassion and rest.
When we practice self-compassion to shift to a place of rest, our systems relax and release. With repetition and consistency, this becomes a way of being, rather than just something we do.
We don’t need a week of vacation to keep ourselves resourced. Research shows that rest and restoration is enhanced with even very brief intentional action. Start, right now, with a short pause. Pay attention to the space you create when you simply take a moment to pause the daily swirl of activity.
Micro-moments of rest offer small breaks in our demanding days. We can choose to create mini rest stops throughout the daily flow of life to help refill our cups. Each of us will find different ways of accessing rest.
Our natural world is full of rhythms. Seasons remind us there are times of growth and productivity, times of nurturing and sustainability, and times of rest and release. Yet, often we neglect to apply these same rhythms to our ways of working. And furthermore, many of us forget to build in rhythms of rest. When was the last time your body, mind, and spirit felt rested?
In this space is an invitation for curiosity – who and what could help you feel more rested?
With your answers you can then begin to explore the rhythm at which you want to add rest into your daily life. If you’re in a place where rest feels readily accessible, take the opportunity to embrace what is available. And, if you’re moving at a clip too fast or with too much intensity, consider how you can invite new rhythms of rest into your season of growth.
While individual examination of your own choices, rhythms, and behaviors are crucial, we must also look at structural issues. Burnout and depletion caused by structural issues can't be remedied through individual actions, nor should they be employees’ responsibility. They need to be addressed at the organizational level.
Research done by Pew Research Center reminds us that 46% of U.S. workers who receive paid time off from their employer take less time than they are offered. Clearly our work culture isn’t valuing the vital importance of time off to restore ourselves. As a leader, what you model sets the example for your team and your employees. When is the last time you took time away from your organization? And how are you creating a culture where rest is not only granted to those in need, but designed into the very ways in which your team works together. The design of your organization’s cycles of productivity and structures of how you work play a big role in shaping everyone’s wellbeing.
Many organizations are starting to implement sabbatical policies, honoring both tenure and contribution, and also creating space for creativity and connection with the things that drive us outside of work. Others are creating job-share models that better support working parents, or those trying to downshift their work commitments.
Designing for compassion competence means that you recognize that people are going to need seasons of restoration at different points throughout their tenure. We can make choices in our policies and how we work together that support care and rejuvenation. Where can people better collaborate in support of giving each other space for time off? Deep rest involves not just stepping away from the computer, but turning towards things that pour into our souls. Humans are not machines. And we need one another to remember, that in our rest, lies great possibility.
Where have you seen rest work well for you and others? And what rhythms can you create on your teams that can invite more micro-moments of restoration into how you are working together. Share your thoughts in the comments below.