The Power of Recovery

Recovery is a word that most people think of as a sports term or after an ailment or illness. But the type of recovery I mean is Mental Recovery.

My Loyalty marketing business is all virtual it is all too easy to stay "on" at work because most of us work inside our own house. This does not allow for the "off" times that a commute allows where you can drive with your music blaring and forget about the day or travel on a train reading a book.

So it is critically important that you create recovery time in your daily schedule.

Recovery isn't checking Facebook for the latest baby photos from your friends or Instagram for photos of a meal at a restaurant. Your brain needs to do something else rather then go from one screen to another screen. Recovery is doing something completely different from what you were just doing, for example take the dog for a walk without your phone and give your mind and body different sensations. Go sit in the garden or on your balcony and read a book (not a kindle). Even just getting up and making a cup of tea and then NOT taking it back to your desk, but drinking it somewhere else, without your phone.

The main thing is you do something you truly enjoy that takes you out of work mode. An idea of how to do this is as follows, it is also called the Pomodoro technique:

Focus 100% on a task for 25 or 50 minutes and then take a 5 or 10 minute break away from the task. Schedule this recovery time into your calendar and make sure you do it.

Then at the end of your work day make sure you truly recover from it. Close anything to do with work down and turn it off and go and do something you enjoy for the rest of the evening. A hobby, an activity, reading, writing, drawing, Lego with the kids etc. Just allow the brain to relax and recover. Just like the muscles of your body after a hard workout, your brain needs to rest and recover, after all it is your most important resource.

You also need to ensure your days off are yours and not work's. You need to be present with your family or friends not half present with an eye on your phone checking emails.  This is important for you but equally important for them to know you are focused on being with them.

This goes for vacation time too. Schedule it in way in advance (not last minute) so it is on the calendar and plan all your work up to that point to ensure you can go on leave without having to worry about anything and truly recover ready to come back fired up and rejuvenated.

There are some truly amazing and extreme forms of this type of recovery, from Stefan Sagmeister who shuts his business down every 7 years and takes a year long sabbatical to people who take micro-retirements, even the famous Michael Jordan used to put a towel over his head during game time outs so he could refocus and shut out the distractions of the arena for those few moments. But for most of us just that five minute break every 25 minutes will be a good start. The main thing is that it is essential for your mental well being and to find one that works for you and becomes a habit in your life.

This maybe easier said then done, but even the 10 minute breaks away from a screen every 50 minutes or so will allow you to rest and then focus on the next 50 minute block with an increased focus and intensity that soon it will become habit. So give it a go for a whole day or two and see how you feel.

You may find this 10 minute Ted Talk video called 10 mindful minutes useful 

Feel free to comment below about how you switch off and recover.