INTEREST
How to get your bounce back
Claire Turnbull, Director of Mission Nutrition
Working in real estate can mean always being on the go, juggling deadlines, and working long hours – meaning burn out can be a real issue! Claire Turnbull shares her story and top tips and tricks to help manage the busy without breaking!
As a former rest avoider with two small kids and two businesses, it was a real shock to the system being diagnosed with post viral encephalitis (brain swelling) in January this year and being forced to find ways to integrate rest into my life, to manage extreme neuro-fatigue. I have to be honest, as a result of my upbringing with two working parents who also studied and loved to be busy, I just viewed rest and mental downtime as something that was a bit of a waste of time. I eat my own words now. How insanely wrong I was. There is endless compelling research that supports the fact that rest and giving your brain breaks is super important for both your physical and mental wellbeing. It helps you: - Have a clearer mind - Feel calmer - Be more creative - Feel less stressed - Get more done in less time - Improve your communication - Make it easier to make decisions. So essentially, taking time saves you time. While my problem was caused by a virus, not burn out, the issues I am managing are the same as many of you who are overloaded, your minds are too busy and you have way too much to think about.
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The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand
Enter microbreaks If you are thinking, come on Claire, you obviously don’t know how busy I am?! I don’t have time to take breaks. Yep, I hear you. But the types of breaks I am talking about here are achievable, no matter who you are and how busy your life is. Microbreaks are small gaps in the day to let your brain catch up! Ever wondered why you often get fantastic ideas and brain waves at night when you are about to go to sleep or when you are in the shower? It is because this is the first time your brain has had a chance to catch up and do what it is designed to do, given half a chance – solve problems for you and come up with new ideas. If you consciously create microbreaks in the day, you will be amazed with the results. Try these simple tricks to stop your brain from being overloaded: • Leave your phone behind when you go to the kettle and then notice your surroundings while you wait for it to boil. Just enjoy a few minutes doing nothing. You will be amazed, your brain can turn itself into problem solving mode when you aren’t adding more information to it and you might find you solve an issue while waiting for your brew! • Do the washing up or fold the laundry mindfully without the TV or other data going into your brain at the same time • Drive without the radio on or talking to someone else
