The Right (Requirement) to Rest

This week I returned from a wonderful time in Mexico. In the heart of winter, taking some time to relax and get a full dose of vitamin D has been great for my spirit. But I fear, for many in the business development space, taking time off and away from your business is unthinkable. In this moment, I want to encourage that we not only allow for it but recognize that it is required.

“If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.” — Bansky

CrossFit is, in my experience, a great practice to build the mental skills necessary to run a business. It requires the practitioner to face difficulties head on, it builds confidence that one can overcome that which seems impossible, it teaches the value of intensity and that there are times to push and there are times to endure. And, surprising to me, there are times to rest. Being successful in CrossFit and in business requires both a deep well of intention to push through and a wise awareness of where to pause.

In CrossFit we will often see a workout like this:

Three movements, front squat, burpee, box jump over. Do each movement 15 times. Repeat that 5 times. Get it done as quickly as you can but do that take more than 18 minutes.

People new to the practice “go out hot”. In other words, they see the “get it done as quickly as possible” to mean “go at maximum effort until you are done or drop”. They race to grab the bar and might get the first round done in less than 3 minutes. Experienced practitioners, plan their intensity and their rests. They know themselves after years of doing workout like this. They will have a game plan that includes rest. By round 5 the experienced athlete is putting in their max effort - this is were they go hot. They have rested so that they are not redlining until the last 2-3 minutes. The less experienced athlete is taking long breaks in round 5 because they are exhausted by round 3 and is getting crushed (maybe even lapped) by the GOATS of the gym.

I have learned and now attempt to practice both in my work outs and in my business that intensity is key to success, recognize that intensity is required and plan to crush it by taking intentional breaks.

Resting in the Midst of the Grind

In order to be able to relax and take time away, unlike in a workout, requires some additional planning and preparation. You can’t just throw up your hands and walk away - well you can but the chaos the ensues may not be conducive to your success. Taking time away from your business takes intention. Here are some practices so that you can rest successfully.

Automate Process and Practices

Looking at the way your business runs and implement automation so that it happens irregardless of staffing. Practices ripe for automation are consistent and require little to no thought/interpretation or wisdom. Whenever I or my staff say in a meeting “We/I have to remember to…” we now write it down to see if we can add that into our FileMaker database. Emails, invoices, payment reminders, appointments, coordination of staffing/human resources, daily business record keeping can all be automated with FileMaker. I recently worked with an organization who FileMaker report was not working as expected. While fixing the report, I learned that the admin then manually emails key employees a form letter reminding them to take action. Later today, I will be writing the code to automate that process. FileMaker by Claris will run the report, identify the key people and send them an email - all in the background. In my business practice I think of this as becoming more efficient. FileMaker is an excellent tool for increasing a business’ efficiency.

Empower Good People

In my day to day, there are times when I have to step in to resolve the issue. Whenever that happens I am mindful that I cannot be the enduring solution. If I am required to make this practice work, then I haven’t found the solution yet. Always strive towards a practice or process where you are no longer needed. (The why of that is a whole other blog post, and I would love to hear your thoughts about this in the comments). To that end, if I cannot automate myself out of the day to day, I look to empower others to fill that role.

Empowerment is an active process of adequately training and then actively trusting people. Let me take a minute to talk about trust. I firmly believe trust is a decision not a feeling. We choose whom we trust and with what. I also believe trust can exist in the midst of failure. Let’s think about our transportation method, be it car, bike or bus. Were have all experienced being let down by it at times. Recently in a snow storm my car could not make it up the hill and I had to walk home. We have all missed the bus from time to time. Anyone who bikes long enough is going to have an unexpected chain break or tire go flat. Once that happens, does that mean we never use it again? If asked, we might very well say we still trust our method of getting around even though it has let us down at times. The same is true for our people. Do them the service of not requiring perfection to maintain your trust. Most importantly, when failure occurs resist the urge to take back the practice or process (see the above paragraph). Consider training, reassigning or revamping for greater success. Also recognize the a certain amount of time your best employee is going to let you down. No amount of planning is going to prevent that from happening. You need to accept this in order to set yourself up to be able to rest.

I am close with a business owner who has little tolerance for letting down his customers. It is commendable but, in my experience, impractical and impairs his growth. In order to ensure the highest quality he often has to insert himself into the day to day and there is only so much of him to go around. Once he is maxed out he cannot grow further. In addition, should he need to rest, it will be very hard because he is not use to a certain degree of failure. This is a fine balance, but trusting your people and accepting imperfection is key for business owners to rest for success.

Give Permission

Resting is not resting if you are still working in your head. We have all had those “restless” nights where we are stress dreaming. Letting it go is required for rest. So give yourself permission of disconnect. While in Mexico, my phone was permanently in airplane mode. Only my family have my personal number so we could FaceTime and connect but my customers and employees could not connect with me. I turned my email off, by going into my phone and turning the mail feature off for all my business accounts. I could get personal emails but all business emails waited for my return. In essence, I created a do not disturb space for myself and let myself be in that space for the duration of the time off.

I am a firm believer that honouring rest is a great practice to imbue into your corporate culture. Consider practices like paid sick days, hybrid work environments, pay by the outcome (vrs pay by the hour) and others that embody a value of rest for your whole organization. Rest within excellence produces better products, better services, and better businesses. If rest is part of your culture then it is easier for you to take a break and not process hard feelings within your organization. When rest is instilled as a cultural practice than when your staff need a mental health day, it is less likely to produce hard feelings in their supervisors and the business owner. Rest needs to be planned and practiced for it to have its best outcome.

Clarity and restoration comes when we slow down and breathe. With some focused planning you can too. We all need some toes up time.