Living in the city, and having been raised here, a lot of how I view myself and my value is based on what I can do and what I can offer. There’s huge pressure on being able to prove myself worthy and back that up with achievements and visible proofs of success. We’re pressured to be married by 30, to have a house of our own by 25, a car, or a business (if not a high position, or a high salary).
There’s a lot of material out there that encourages the hustle, a market for part-time work you can do with your full-time. And even a lot of freelance work that you can do in your spare hours. It’s always filling your hours with more work to be able to afford a comfortable life for yourself, even more so for your family. It’s understandable to want to do everything we can to be able to achieve that life.
I emphasized ‘can’ because I don’t think we pay attention to what we can do in terms of what we have the capacity for. This includes mental capacity and emotional capacity.
Why does this matter?
It’s important to know and be mindful of these capacities because overdoing it can cause burnout. Burnout is your body and brain’s way of really shutting down and that’s difficult to heal from. When we think of productivity and laziness, do we allot moments for actual rest? Rest, not sleep, is often regarded as a negative. This can be mental rest where you just binge a show for the night, or watch a really funny movie. It can be taking time to do your hobbies. But it can also be giving yourself the time to process the things that have been happening during the day, or during the week, and just allowing yourself to sit still and breathe. It’s usually that last part that we notice negatively.
Effect of lack of rest: Burnout.
Burnout is frequently caused by a lack of work-life balance. Working really hard with no end in sight is unsustainable. It’s easy to get off course when teams are working nonstop. It can be really exhausting and detrimental to productivity, team morale, and employee well-being.
This is why it’s crucial to have that space and time for yourself and all employees regardless of how tight the deadlines are. Take that as an opportunity to collectively reflect on what isn’t working, what to improve on; and also space to celebrate the wins.
Do not consider rest to be a ‘nice-to-have’ extra that you indulge in when you have the opportunity. You prioritize your career and yourself by prioritizing rest.
