Four weeks in and I’m sitting in the woodlands with cool air running through my flowing beard (not the nicest thought, but a lovely L’Oréal feeling).
The theme for this week is the importance of taking time off from work and recharging your batteries.
In the past week I managed to switch off from work, it has been the first time in some time where I turned off my work phone, disabled work communication apps and relaxed my brain. 🌴 How do I feel right now? Well, great…
To add, as it was my wife’s birthday, I could not be thinking of working whilst away, otherwise I would most probably be sleeping in the garden and ran the risk of some more silent treatment. 🚙
No matter what your role is, a chance to relax and refresh is important. Far too many times in the past I have been on holiday, yet I have been disturbed and had my mental balance broken with the distraction from work. If anything, this caused me to be mentally burned out, which meant that I was not working to the best of my ability. 🥱
As a leader it is important to model the benefits of time off, showing an example to your team to do the same. The other key aspect is to recognise that the company will not fall apart and the team will step out of their comfort zone. 🌟
Meerkats also like to have some time off… they love to dig and enjoy play fighting. An interesting fact – they can tell the difference between play and real fighting by their facial expressions.
Fun fact for the week – Timon from ‘The Lion King’ is a meerkat. 🤯
The benefits of time off for leaders:
- Enhanced brain performance 🧠
- Improved physical health 💪
- Improved emotional health 💆🏾♂️
- More innovative thinking 💡
- Improved team performance and growth 📈
Switching off can be hard – some tips that have worked wonders for me include: before going off remember to be clear on who does what in the team; when you are off detail what is an urgent situation and when you can be contacted as a last resort, hide your inbox/work messaging apps on your phone to break your work behavioural patterns and put your work equipment away.
Celebrate time off to recharge and do book in holiday breaks. Like taking a training course will help you upskill, taking a holiday will have the same effect to improve your career journey. We all need time off to be the best possible version of ourselves. Plan the time off and then enjoy! 🍹
So, while I have had a countryside retreat (lots of selfies 🤳🏾), went to the Harry Potter studios (I’m not a big fan though 🧙♂️) – a break can be anything as long as you switch off from work (phone in the bin 🗑).
Have a great week all and stay happy. 🌈