Give Yourself A Break

First published on June 15, 2017

Coming back after a holiday always makes me reassess things. I guess it's a part of being a curious person. And having a practice like this, where I have to write something and post it, only encourages me.

Often, having a break gets me thinking about how I feel after I've had one. What is the effect on me of some time off? This week, particularly on Monday and Tuesday after flying back from Crete on Sunday, I felt tired. And yet, it was such a different tired to the tired I felt before I left. This was tiredness, but before I left I was drained. Not because I don't like my work (although I've had that in the past). Perhaps, in fact, because I really like it. I drive myself hard. This week, I'm tired because I've quickly got used to staying in bed and then sitting by the pool enjoying the sun, and now am making myself do something quite different. 

I'm coming through that now, though, I'm adjusting to working again, and I can feel the difference. When I spoke to my friend Nicole yesterday, she said 'I like this Robbie'. This Robbie is particularly laid back and relaxed. And that, if you ask me, is the effect of a break. 

I coach better after a break. I sell coaching better after a break. I am also happier and more relaxed after a break, even when under pressure, as I felt last night having an interview for a training course at 11.30pm due to time difference fun. 

And here's what I think. I think we all know this. We all know we work better after a break. When we are looking after ourselves. When we find the right balance. But we don't trust it. 

We can't quite believe that by taking a break we could become more productive. We only imagine that more time equals more output. We hold our friends to that standard, and our children, and we hold ourselves to it, too. Yet that can't possibly be true. Because we don't live in an industrial age any more. Perhaps in a Victorian factory, that was true (although I doubt it). But now so much of our work isn't about what we do it's about how we think. And no one thinks better when they're only surviving based on an extraordinary caffeine intake and three hours sleep. No one thinks better when their emotions are so fragile that the wrong text message, or comment from a friend or colleague, can send us into a downward spiral. 

Today is Wednesday, the middle of the working week. The tipping point. The cobwebs from the weekend are gone, and thoughts haven't turned to whatever plans we have for the next one. It's a kind of equilibrium. 

If you are interested, like me, in living the happiest and most productive life you can (and if you aren't, then you really should be) then the idea of equilibrium, of balance, bares thought. If we knew the point of equilibrium in our energy levels, our point of balance, then perhaps - in the end - we could finally begin to trust it. Now everyone's point of equilibrium is different, so I can't tell you what yours is. I can tell you that you need to look after yourself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. And I can tell you this with almost complete certainty: you are working too hard. Take some time with your someone you love. Get a hug. Read a book, even just for for twenty minutes. 

Give yourself a break.