In this month’s blog we will be exploring the power of rest and the interaction between rest and your mindset.
How do you feel about rest? Does the word immediately fill you with dread and panic or do you have more positive feelings and thoughts about it?
Many business owners see rest as a luxury and a reward. More often than not rest is the first thing to be sacrificed when the to do list is getting longer and the pressure is on. But what if that is actually hindering you more rather than helping you? You may get some immediate relief as you feel that you have more time to get things done but what is the long term impact of sacrificing your rest and replacing it with more work, more action, more doing?
Why is rest important?
Rest allows different parts of our brain and different parts of self to recover. It allows parts of us to come to the forefront that we possibly don’t use as much in our business. Ultimately rest is so important because it helps to prevent burnout by creating balance. Remember that old saying,
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!”
Well, that is true for us as business owners, working all the time will be dull and boring and makes us dull and boring. Many clients, when they first start to work with me, talk about losing the love for what they do. They have built their business from a place of passion and wanting to help others but they find themselves in a place where they are thinking about giving up. A part of them tells them that if they just work harder, they’ll find their love and joy again but instead the opposite happens.
Lots of things can getting our way and stop us from resting:
- Practical things like juggling family, business and life can mean we have a lack of time and we prioritise other things/ we have to prioritise other things over our own rest.
- The stories we tell ourselves: If I just work harder, if I just get my head down and power through, if I stop now I’m just being lazy.
- Family loyalties – I grew up in a world where working hard and being busy was rewarded – a part of me perceives you mattered more if you were busy and you were thought lazy if you rested.
- Money worries can play a major role in our ability to rest. A part of us will say we have to earn more and try harder but we forget that if we work too hard we end up burning out and become so ill that we can’t work.
What’s the interaction between rest and mindset?
When we are rested we are less likely to be in our stress response. When we are tired, exhausted, overworked and/or busy we are more likely to be in our stress response. When we are in our stress response, we are in fight or flight mode so the parts of our brain that are not needed for surviving this perceived life/death situation are numbed out and harder to access. A rested mind is one that has greater clarity and is able to make decisions from a place of trust and faith rather than fear. Rest allows an abundant open mindset to be present rather than a closed lack mindset that is present when we are exhausted, overworked and stressed.
As business owners we want to cultivate an abundant, open, growth mindset which is based on trust and/or faith. Great things grow from here. To cultivate this kind of mindset it is VITAL that we incorporate quality rest into our routine.
A fixed, lack mindset will see rest as a luxury and the first thing to go. This is partly down to the fact that one’s ego wants us to stay exactly where we are, in our comfort zone.
There’s so much more I could write about regarding rest and mindset but I do like to keep these blogs relatively short so I will leave you with this thought for now:
What if rest is the secret to success rather than more action/more doing?
Until next time.
Best wishes
Philippa x
Remember if you are not already part of The Fitness & Wellbeing Business Mindset Hub you are welcome to join us at any time. It’s totally free and you can get involved as much or as little as you want. Here’s the link to join us: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fwbusinessmindsethub/ We have monthly free training sessions, monthly free meditation sessions and monthly free networking/ideas sharing/Q&A sessions; all of which support you with your business and your mindset.