Healthy People Rest

“I’m too busy to rest” or “I’ll rest when I’m dead”. How many times have you said that phrase in your life? in the last month?

If you’re who I think you are - I know this. You are busy. And you need more time to rest.

I’ve been there. I literally did not know how to rest until a few years ago. One of the small but subconscious things I did when I opened my first business was to vow to never open on Sundays (ding ding, Chick Fil-a anyone?). Through the years that decision has been questioned, re-evaluated and reinforced.

And for that - I am glad.

We all have the same 24 hours, but for busy people those 24 hours seem to go by even faster. I remember in my 6th year of owning a gym, I used to joke to my staff that I wish I could buy 4 more hours in a day just to give attention to things.

Everything and everyone is constantly fighting for your attention. Whether it be your phone, your spouse, your kids, your friends, your hobbies (that unfinished project in your garage you left in the dust three months ago)… ALL OF IT WANTS YOUR ATTENTION.

Rest becomes the most forgotten pillar of our lives. And when we do finally get some rest - maybe we feel guilty? Maybe we feel like we should be “more productive” or producing outcomes with our time. But we forget - production does not come without rest.

Today I want to share seven ways for you to create more rest in your life.

1. Plan your rest

   Plan my rest? That doesn’t sound restful at all. Plan a trip that gives you life. Plan a weekly rhythm that allows you to fill our cup so that you can pour into others. Two years ago I began to schedule my rest. Instead of planning my wake up time, I started to plan a bed time. What time would you need to go to bed by every night so that you could wake up feeling restored and ready to attack the next day?

2. Limit Screen Time

   Screens consume our every space moment and even keep us from getting enough rest. Why? The constant need to consume information, respond to a notification or god forbid, a moment of boredom. Set a time that you won’t use electronics. For me, it is when I get home from work for the day. I turn off my phone and won’t turn it back on until my kids go to sleep. Another way feel more rested is literally having less to feel restless about: delete apps you don’t use or suck up too much life. Cancel subscriptions to things that you know you will binge on. There’s a season and times for that, but making it a regular rhythm in your life destroys any chance of getting rest.

3. Organize your Life

   We rest better when life is in order. We stress when we can’t find things. The average person spends 5000 hours (WHAT??) in their lifetime looking for missing things around the house. That is 200 days…almost one year of your life looking for things!

   So organize your life. Organize your calendar, your meals, your budget, your house. When your house is in order, you will find it easier to rest.

4. Eliminate the Nonessential

   Audit and ask yourself this question. “Is it necessary for me to be doing this”? It can also sound like is it necessary for me to have this? If it isn’t - you’ll find it restful to find a way to cut it out of your life.

   One of the things I’ve eliminated in my life is having a very wide wardrobe. Instead of focusing on looking good in clothes, I just focus on looking good in general. I literally believe that I look good in whatever I wear because I’ve put in the work to make my body look good in those clothes. I save time not shopping for clothes but on top of that I feel no pressure to keep up with anyone’s closet.

   By eliminating having a huge closet - I wear the same clothes every day. This saves not only time but energy and allows me to focus energy on other things - or spend that time finding rest.

5. Automate

   This one is VERY important. Something I ask all the time is… “Can this be automated in some way”? If the answer is “yes” and the cost is feasible - it’s a no brainer.

   Here’s a practical application. Do you email back and forth to schedule meetings? This took a bit of a learning curve because I hurt some feelings initially (and intentionally). But one of things you’ll hear me say a lot to people I’m in regular communication with is “Do you have a calendar I can schedule on?” Or “let me send you my calendly”. This is not because I don’t value the communication with that person - it’s because I respect their time, and mine. This eliminates the need for both parties to go back and forth wasting precious time trying to find a amicable time for both parties to be available.

   Not everything in your life can be automated - but in today’s word, a lot can.

   What can you automate so you can have more time to find rest?

6. Delegate

   Yes. You are important. It’s why you lead the team you do. It’s why you serve you who serve. And you do it so well. But can you possibly delegate?

   One of the biggest changes I made at home a few years ago was hiring a cleaner. This was a HUGE (I mean, hugggge) discussion in our household. My wife and I both work and at the time we had just one young child. So instead of spending all of our nights and weekends cleaning - I asked the question “Could we hire someone to clean our house”?
   This allows us to keep our focus on things that produce results and outsource the work that drains you (don’t get me wrong I do enjoy a good cleaning and reorganizing here and there). This is two fold. You may be putting others in the right seat who enjoy that type of work and do a better job in less time than it would take you, anyway.

   What can you delegate so that you could find more rest?

7. Say No

   One of the fastest ways to find more rest is to start saying no to things. If you’re like me - you’re probably guilty of saying yes to anything and everything. But here’s the catch. Every time we say yes to something, we say no to everything else. Saying “yes” to working on that new project at work might mean saying “no” to some family time on the weekend. Saying yes to a new job with new title, new responsibilities might mean saying no to more time developing yourself outside of those hours. There is a cost to every yes. Weigh your “no’s” and “yes’”.

Which one of these seven practices will you employ to find more rest this week?