Resting is how You Maximize Your Performance and Productivity
There is a lot of talk about productivity, stress and burnout.
No wonder. We're constantly bashed with an array of information. From our city lives, our friends and family, from the screens inside and outside our houses and pockets, and well, from a fast-paced type of lifestyle that we so cherish in the Western World.
Sometimes we may say "I'll sleep when I'm dead", but truth be said, unless you truly are getting enough sleep to feel energised throughout your days, then you'll be dead sooner than before if you don't get enough sleep. Lack of sleep is tied to a lot of health issues and is hurting your productivity and happiness. A lot.
While sleeping is resting, we also forget to, well, rest. Be it in the form of just laying down for a while, closing your eyes, meditating or just swerving away from the daily grind a bit, all forms of resting are beneficial. We should not confuse procrastinating or being lazy with resting; in fact, if you're procrastinating, maybe the problem is that you didn't get enough rest or you're not finding the right motivators to do the job.
We also need to stop associating long work hours with being productive or with delivering quality work. More than ever, studies have shown that too many hours working on a task (even more so if you're not intrinsically motivated) will hurt your performance, health and focus. It creates a downward spiral of not resting and getting less and less productive by the day. I found it extremely curious how on Peak Performance, a book about peak performance in humans, such a large portion is dedicated to resting and longer resting periods. You can't train your muscles without resting just as you can't learn without resting.
We take too much time over planning and forgetting about the real things. The book 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think may defend on being extremely organised with time, but at the same time (no pun intended) it does showcase the need to, in the middle of all those work hours, take time for the things that really matter to you. Be it spending time with family, friends, a hobby, or just resting.
It's high time we start looking at sleep and resting as superpowers, than enable you to charge up, and not the other way around.
Sleep helps you organize memories, with cell rejuvenation, and getting enough of it is the only way to feel truly refreshed and ready to tackle your days.
If you have difficulty sleeping, start revising your nights and mornings. Are you overthinking? Having too much screen time before bed? Maintaining irregular sleeping patterns? Or just having too much coffee, stimulants or even work before getting a good night of shut eye?
Is it the mornings? If you are lucky enough to sleep in a room devoid of light and able to fully rest, but unable to wake up to natural light in the morning, you can always think of gadgets like the Philips Wake-up Light Alarm Clock which, while certainly not a substitute for real sunlight, may help you wake up a bit more naturally.
Start revising your days: stop cramming so much into one and do start resting.
Sleep tight.
Update 24/08/18: Few days ago, Elon Musk, who is known for working 120 hour weeks, not taking vacations almost at all, and needing ambien to even get some shut eye.
Ariana Huffington, author of The Sleep Revolution, wrote an open letter to Elon where she stated the need to sleep and rest from a scientific viewpoint, and how the world needs Elon to rest; otherwise, Tesla and Musk's other projects' may be hindered since his productivity levels and well-being will decrease, and hard work alone might not suffice. If this is true, who's going to take us to Mars?
However, Ariana got her reply at exactly 2:32 am on a Sunday. Here's what it said: “Ford & Tesla are the only 2 American car companies to avoid bankruptcy. I just got home from the factory. You think this is an option. It is not.”
The tweet was later deleted.
What is your opinion? Should Musk rest more in order to get more done or considering his current challenges, all he needs to do is to keep pushing?
No wonder. We're constantly bashed with an array of information. From our city lives, our friends and family, from the screens inside and outside our houses and pockets, and well, from a fast-paced type of lifestyle that we so cherish in the Western World.
Sometimes we may say "I'll sleep when I'm dead", but truth be said, unless you truly are getting enough sleep to feel energised throughout your days, then you'll be dead sooner than before if you don't get enough sleep. Lack of sleep is tied to a lot of health issues and is hurting your productivity and happiness. A lot.
While sleeping is resting, we also forget to, well, rest. Be it in the form of just laying down for a while, closing your eyes, meditating or just swerving away from the daily grind a bit, all forms of resting are beneficial. We should not confuse procrastinating or being lazy with resting; in fact, if you're procrastinating, maybe the problem is that you didn't get enough rest or you're not finding the right motivators to do the job.
We also need to stop associating long work hours with being productive or with delivering quality work. More than ever, studies have shown that too many hours working on a task (even more so if you're not intrinsically motivated) will hurt your performance, health and focus. It creates a downward spiral of not resting and getting less and less productive by the day. I found it extremely curious how on Peak Performance, a book about peak performance in humans, such a large portion is dedicated to resting and longer resting periods. You can't train your muscles without resting just as you can't learn without resting.
We take too much time over planning and forgetting about the real things. The book 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think may defend on being extremely organised with time, but at the same time (no pun intended) it does showcase the need to, in the middle of all those work hours, take time for the things that really matter to you. Be it spending time with family, friends, a hobby, or just resting.
It's high time we start looking at sleep and resting as superpowers, than enable you to charge up, and not the other way around.
Sleep helps you organize memories, with cell rejuvenation, and getting enough of it is the only way to feel truly refreshed and ready to tackle your days.
If you have difficulty sleeping, start revising your nights and mornings. Are you overthinking? Having too much screen time before bed? Maintaining irregular sleeping patterns? Or just having too much coffee, stimulants or even work before getting a good night of shut eye?
Is it the mornings? If you are lucky enough to sleep in a room devoid of light and able to fully rest, but unable to wake up to natural light in the morning, you can always think of gadgets like the Philips Wake-up Light Alarm Clock which, while certainly not a substitute for real sunlight, may help you wake up a bit more naturally.
Start revising your days: stop cramming so much into one and do start resting.
Sleep tight.
Update 24/08/18: Few days ago, Elon Musk, who is known for working 120 hour weeks, not taking vacations almost at all, and needing ambien to even get some shut eye.
Ariana Huffington, author of The Sleep Revolution, wrote an open letter to Elon where she stated the need to sleep and rest from a scientific viewpoint, and how the world needs Elon to rest; otherwise, Tesla and Musk's other projects' may be hindered since his productivity levels and well-being will decrease, and hard work alone might not suffice. If this is true, who's going to take us to Mars?
However, Ariana got her reply at exactly 2:32 am on a Sunday. Here's what it said: “Ford & Tesla are the only 2 American car companies to avoid bankruptcy. I just got home from the factory. You think this is an option. It is not.”
The tweet was later deleted.
What is your opinion? Should Musk rest more in order to get more done or considering his current challenges, all he needs to do is to keep pushing?
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