Andy’s Nationally Published Articles :: The Power of Playing Smart
Sharon’s life was becoming fragile. A convention specialist, she returned home from a week long trip to find she was scheduled to leave again in two days. She will miss her son’s first little league game and her in-law’s summer party. During times of extensive travel, she feels guilty for not being home with her family. However, when she is home, her mind wanders back to the office and fast approaching deadlines.
Sharon complained about her non-stop schedule, but there was a part of her that wore her work ethic like a badge of honor. Sharon relied on caffeine and adrenaline to fuel her sixty-hour work weeks. And the cost of living on stress, caffeine and adrenaline? In the past five years Sharon had gained twenty five pounds, started having migraines, depends on a “couple” glasses of wine to settle down at night and feels the rift between her and her family widening.
Working in the trade show and meetings industry is like living on a roller coaster. At one moment you feel the exhilaration of putting together a great event, and the next moment you feel the pressure of your schedule push your mind, body and family to the limit. In this fast paced industry it is easy to hit the wall, and when that happens it is not pretty.
Like many over-committed professionals, Sharon wanted to know she could better balance her life, but at the same time squeeze in more work. She believed the logical step was to focus on time management, eliminate dead spots in her schedule so she could make a few more calls or emails. Unfortunately, that’s the wrong answer. For Sharon and many like her, working more will only further deplete energy reserves, worsen problems at home, and produce mediocre performance at work.
It was not a lack of time that was causing her problems, it was a lack of recovery. Sharon needed to learn how to play smarter.
PLAYING SMART
Playing smart is knowing how and when to shift gears. Professional racecar drivers know that shifting gears at the right time gives them an amazing acceleration in performance, however shifting to late could mean they have lost the race and maybe the car.
The first step in learning to play smart is to assess the breaks already in your life and determining if they are restoring vitality or causing more stress.
1. Do you sit down to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner?
2. Do you engage in any other activities while you eat? i.e. watch TV, read, work on your computer.
3. Are you eating to finish fast and get back to work or eating to restore your energy?
4. Are the foods you eat:
a. High sugar, high fat and highly processed foods?
b. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low fat dairy and proteins?
5. Do you take a conscious break every hour at work?
6. How much personal downtime do you take?
7. How many vacations do you take that require nothing more than relaxation?
In the drive to do more with less time, trade show and meeting professionals neglect the one thing they need most to succeed.
AUTHENTIC RESTORATIVE TIME
Logically, busy people think that rushing through meals, especially breakfast and lunch, will give them more time to get more accomplished. However, this logic does hold up. Rushing through or skipping meals can give you more time for work, but has been shown to decrease mental, physical and emotional energy and erode your ability to concentrate, especially in the afternoon. The bottom line is that impaired concentration and failing energy mean you will work more and get less accomplished.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are breaks already built into our day and we only need to take advantage of them. The challenge with meals is not to see how fast you can eat. The challenge is to see if you can make eating last 30 minutes, and do so without multitasking. Slowing down, chewing your food the recommended twenty times per bite and being fully present in your conversations will recharge your batteries, improve digestion and help you eat less and lose fat.
What foods you eat also influences how restorative your meal breaks are. Highly processed foods, refined flour and foods that are high in sugar or fat can give you an immediate blast of energy, but are followed by the well known 3pm lull. In contrast, eating fruits, veggies, lean proteins and whole grains high in fiber will provide energy to keep you at your peak energy and concentration level even until the end of the day.
Most people do not know they need restorative breaks WHILE they work. Logically, they think if they break up their work flow they lose focus and concentration. Again, logic does not apply here. Taking mini-breaks every hour at work has been proven to stimulate creativity, productivity, critical thinking and even one’s ability to add and subtract. A quick trip to the water fountain or even a walk around the office can give the brain a new focus and the restorative relief that comes with it. Taking mini-breaks will jog your brain, increase concentration and restart your momentum.
When people in the trade show and meetings industry talk about vacations you will hear about amazing locations like Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Orlando, Cancun, etc. But you will also probably hear “I typically work in the morning, but have some fun time in the afternoons, and I will usually stay a couple days after the meeting to see the sights.” The problem with working vacations is that the phrase itself is an oxymoron. Vacation is defined as “a period of exemption from work granted to an employee for rest and relaxation.” The real benefits of vacationing comes from being totally disassociated from the stresses of the real world. Working vacations as long weekends, but they are not true vacations. The bottom line is If you are working, you are not on vacation.
PERSONAL DOWNTIME
When most people think about taking personal downtime they think of “vegging out.” Vegging out can mean many things and while some forms, like reading for pleasure, taking a bath and listening to relaxing music can be restorative, others like “flipping channels” while watching TV, stress eating and abuse of alcohol can leave you worse off than before.
Vegging out is a passive form of downtime and while some forms are good, there are better ways to regenerate your mind, body and soul.
THE POWER OF ACTIVE RECOVERY
How many times after you watch television have you gotten up and said “I feel great!” In contrast, how many times have you gone for a walk or run and returned feeling great? Expending energy in pursuit of personal regeneration can be most restorative form of break and it is called active recovery. And just as in many challenging areas of life, the more you put in, the more you get out.
There are many forms of active recovery. Being active with a hobby is a wonderful way to change focus and gain personal satisfaction. Being involved in charity or community work can also be incredibly rewarding. The feeling of giving back, helping others or just making an honest, caring gesture can revive parts of you that may be long since forgotten.
Physical activity is also one of the best forms of active recovery. NASA found that people who exercise improve their stamina and work performance, as well as enhance their concentration and decision-making power. When compared to the average office worker, whose efficiency decreases by 50% in the final two hours of their day, exercisers were able to maintain 100% productivity throughout the entire day, producing an amazing 12.5% increase in productivity. In a “performance based earning” world, a 12.5% increase in productivity is worth its weight in gold. Even quick trips to the copy machine can be enough to jog your brain and clear your head, but the biggest benefit comes are with being active for as little as 15 minutes.
Another example of where a little effort can pay big dividends is planning a restorative break with your significant other. Work, children and the many other areas of life that each demand 100% of your time can easily put the squeeze on your relationship. Andrew, a small business owner who is equal partners with his wife, offers this suggestion. When you know that you are entering a phase where work will have to precedence over family, take five minutes from your day and write a real, send through the postal system letter to your significant other. In that letter enclose an invitation to a dinner date, get-a-way weekend, lunch at their favorite place or anything where you can spend time just the two of you and date it for immediately after your heavy work period. A little forethought and a light at the end of the tunnel for both of you can bring comfort through the trying time and restoration afterward.
Many of us struggle to maintain 100% production. We are not machines. We are not capable of being everything to everybody all the time. Humans must have stress, rest and play and if we neglect rest and play we fail to reap the rewards of our hard work. Remember that being smart is playing smart and planning restorative breaks throughout your day, week and year.
Andy Core is a professional speaker who helps busy people beat stress and live life with maximum energy and health. To have Andy speak to your group call (479) 582-2639 or go to www.fittraveler.com.
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