Oftentimes CEOs are really adverse to resting. 

They're like, don't have time, I’m way too busy for that. 

They think resting is non productive. 

I recently read a book called Rest, by Alex Payne, that was recommended to me and in this book it listed some of the smartest, top-performing people in history who actually only worked 4-5 hours a day! 

So this belief that being a top-performing CEO means that you don’t have time to rest is actually a myth that we perpetuate ourselves.  We can have successful businesses and not be running ourselves into the ground, in fact it’s essential that we don’t burn out!

After reading this book I started looking at my own life and the life of my clients who I coach. I started to question what most of us consider rest and how we can incorporate active rest into our days and weeks. Rest that actively benefits us rather than is just us completely zonked out, unable to think straight because we are so depleted and forced to. 

It’s time that we start taking our rest time as seriously as our work time and making sure that it works for us and impacts us in a positive way. So here are 4 ways that you can actively rest in order to be at your best performance levels.

1/ Exercise - Yep may not seem like the most restful thing to do but exercising our body actually allows us to switch off and rest our minds. We live in a world where the muscle we use the most in our daily lives is the brain. Having time where you can focus instead on your body is vital not only to your health in general but also to helping to reduce stress and overthinking in our brains.  

2/ Walking - Ok this is very similar to exercise but getting out even for short walks throughout the day helps to increase brain function, stimulate creativity, innovation and memory plus all the health benefits of walking! 

Why not have a weekly team meeting while going on a walk or use it as time to completely unplug from technology and connect to nature. Even a short 10 minute walk can really do wonders for your mood and actually help you feel rested throughout the day.

3/ Detaching from work - With all the technology we have around us day to day this one can feel super hard to do. We are available 24/7 to whoever needs it, after all it can’t hurt to just reply to that message quickly now right? Until it’s a never ending stream of messages and you are feeling overwhelmed and tense. 

I highly recommend setting the Do Not Disturb function up on your phone or even switching off notifications at certain times so that you can detach from work. Remember the days before all this tech when our phones were just landlines and when we left the office, we left work there and went home to our lives! Seems like a lifetime ago but it was reality at one point and we need to remember that we need to give ourselves time to shut down and simply rest.

And if you’re worried about employees not being able to contact you then just remember that chances are when you’re not available, whoever it is that thinks they need you will figure it out themselves. And what a great leadership tactic, right? Having your employees trying to figure out something themselves.

4/ Self Care - This will look different for everyone. Maybe for you it’s reading a book, going to play golf, going for a massage, whatever the activity make sure that you do it with technology off! This is an essential time for you to fill your cup back up because as the saying goes, you cannot give from an empty cup.

We have to give back to ourselves. If we want to show up the best, brightest and happiest fullest person, to our employees, to our staff, to our families as well, it requires us to fill up our own cups and not just be in a state of constant giving. 

Because eventually, you know what's going to happen? You're going to burn out. And eventually that cup is just going to be empty.And you're not going to be able to fill it back up again. 

One of my clients who I have been working with on this exact issue had a really great idea to make sure she was filling up her cup regularly. She took a red solo cup and every time she did something for herself she would write it on a post it note, fold it up and put it in the cup so she could literally see herself filling up her cup! What an amazing idea right? Plus having the cup placed somewhere she would see daily served as a reminder to keep filling up her cup.

With the changing landscape of the working world, where a lot of us work remotely and across different time zones we can feel like we have to be available 24/7 for the privilege of being able to work from home. But we also need to set boundaries - it’s essential and vital not only to our wellbeing but to our success. If you're a CEO, you really have to set boundaries for yourself and for your staff, or burning out is inevitable. And life is too short, not to enjoy along the way. 

Watch my YouTube Video on this topic: