I bet throughout your life you have heard one or more of the following:
- Aim for the stars
- Go after what you want
- Don’t settle for second best
- Hustle, hustle, hustle
- You can be anything you want to be
- Work hard and reap the rewards
While this is well-meaning, it also puts pressure on all of us to be high performing with a lazer focus on productivity and achieving things along with consistent growth as we continue to DO, DO, DO going after what we want, hustle and aim high – all the time!
When you are feeling this kind of performance pressure, it makes it tough to take a break, to stop and just BLOB……. Why? Because you have also likely heard, throughout your life, that stopping, taking a break, resting [whatever you want to call it] is the equivalent of being LAZY……and none of us really want to be seen as being lazy, do we?
Let’s take a look at what it might take for you to give yourself permission to take some down time hey? To start I recommend reframing your thinking. What if you reframe Lazy as one of these options:
- Choosing to take a rest
- Relaxation
- Investing in yourself – sometimes called self-care
- Taking time out from your work obligations
- Time to clear your head and have some fun
- Working on your fitness
Spending time relaxing, away from work, is just as important as your productivity. If you don’t take time away, you can be heading straight towards Burnout which will have longer term implications for you.
What will it take for you to give yourself permission to be Lazy?
Taking a Lazy Day [or if you are more comfortable with it, a Lazy Hour] will enable you to focus on:
- Breathing – deep and slow from your belly to reduce stress and your blood pressure as well as feeding your body and mind
- Slowing down your mind – “Be-ing” rather than “Do-ing” all the time as you learn to accept things in your life as they are rather than frantically trying to solve or fix or analyse or change or deny everything.
- Building your creativity – the best ideas pop into our minds when we least expect it and usually when our mind is open to possibilities rather than focused on solutions.
- Taking Power Naps – not only can you make up for any lost sleep, you will also restore energy levels for the remainder of your day without the grogginess that can come from extended sleep. 10 to 20 minutes is all it takes.
- Listen to Music – loud, medium, soft, whatever genre you desire. I love listening to music as a way of energising my brain and my body and truly relaxing. When my mind is very full, I play it loud, really loud and dance around singing [badly] along. For me, this really re-focuses and relaxes my mind. Give it a go – it doesn’t matter if someone else hears you.
- Reading or watching something effortless – not work related, not technical or news or anything that requires you to think about what is happening. I find this focuses my mind, allows it to rest and takes no effort at all on my part. Because I do so much specialised reading as part of my work, I enjoy reading effortless fluff – because it chases the cobwebs away.
Go on – I dare you!! Give yourself permission to take some time out – for you!! To actually be lazy. xx