Lead Like You Magazine - Vol. 1, Issue 4 - April 2022

canva.com

Rest is relative. There are so many times I think about how tired I am. But, then I think of all of the things that need to be done. Those thoughts kept me from truly resting even when I was supposed to be at rest. Then when I do finally make the decision to drop everything and just take a real serious mental break, sometimes I regret it. The reasons for that regret are two-fold. First, sometimes it hard to come back out of that mode. Dropping everything is hard to do, but once I’ve let it go, I don’t always want to pick any of it back up. There is also the option to decide not to pick it all back up and then I have to go through the process of sorting what is worth it and what is not. Though it can be helpful in the end, that is HARD WORK!! Like every process, the first step is getting started which goes back to the hard time coming out of the drop everything and rest mode.

The second part of the reason for my rest regret is missing things while I am resting and having to play catch up. There are few things sucky-er than getting and feeling behind. It is the quickest way to make you feel like you should have just not gone anywhere. When you come back to 200+ emails, voicemails, and text from people at your workplace because everything kept going while you were out. But, you know what this reminds me of…that job will keep going whether you are there or not. Though there are some who will attempt to aggressively or passive aggressively remind you of what wasn’t done while you were out and guilt you for taking time off, there is so much that did happen. Leaders, we cannot talk out of both sides of our mouths (or necks depending on your cultural reference). We tell people that they need to take care of themselves and make sure they are trying to find some sort of balance in their lives. But, we also give them tons of work with lack of support. We give deadlines that sometimes would cause those under our leadership to work 10+ hours a day to meet and don’t provide them breathing room after that deadline is meet. Back to back projects are NOT a requirement for life and if they are…make sure that there are multiple teams/people working on those tasks so that a breather is not impossible or becomes a regret.

For those who don’t have to answer to anyone else or are the leaders in the organization but still run into this issue, we have to set ourselves up for success to take the rest and not return to a mess. Solopreneurs make sure you automate what you can and set up other things to be able to take a full stop and restart when your rest is done. For leaders of leaders, make sure that not only do you automate what you can, but that you also empower and train others to be able to keep the ship floating and moving forward while you rest. If you are the only person who can do what you do and those things must get done at all times, then your rest will always be regretful. Stop and think about that!

- Dr. Renita

Read more wisdom and inspiration in Lead Like You Magazine... leadlikeyoumag.com