Switch your brain off
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As we're well and truly in the summer holiday season, I thought I'd use the next few weeks to discuss how I'm using the time to reset and reconsider how I'm approaching my work, in the hope that it inspires some of you to do the same.
I spent most of last week in St Malo, Normandy. Not physically, you understand. Given the ever-shifting Covid travel rules in the UK, I'm not even sure whether a week would be enough time to outlast the required quarantine period in France right now. No, as the saying goes, I was transported to another place and time through a novel I was reading.
It dawned on me a few pages in that it was the first work of fiction I've read for as long as I can remember. A sad realisation in a sense, particularly given how much time I spend reading. On reflection, though, it's an insight into my mild obsession with searching for new information and ideas, leading me to err towards non-fiction.
Of course, with some renewed perspective, it dawned on me that this notion is flawed. As someone who believes in the power of narrative to explain and convince, why couldn't a novel educate just as well?
Aside from providing type of stimulation for my brain, it provided me with something much more important, and that I haven't got from the hundreds of books I have read since that last novel - the power to switch off from day-to-day life.
It's incredible how a relatively short period of rest and recovery can offer some clarity. In my case, it illuminated that while I've got significantly better at creating time for exercise, short periods of meditation, and opportunities to read and write, I never switch off entirely. My brain is always ticking over: thinking about the next meeting, considering how this whole work/life design thing fits into the challenges of the various businesses I'm speaking with, or contemplating what to write in this newsletter.
I bet that sounds very familiar to many of you. As I'm sure, does the work pattern before and after a break from work - squeezing in as much as possible beforehand to ensure my absence isn't an issue before returning to a backlog of emails, instant messages, and decisions to be made.
Sometimes, it seems easier to not switch off entirely at all. If you keep an eye on your emails, perhaps it'll make it easier to get back into productive work when you return.
WRONG.
Switching off from work is vital to recovery and critical to productive, creative work. In contrast, chronic stress interferes with our cognitive function leading to sub-optimal outcomes and low quality work.
Don't let yourself or anyone else convince you that you should keep your work emails on while you're on holiday.
As Stephen Kotler writes in The Art of the Impossible:
“Burnout has permanent neurological effects on everything from problem-solving to memory to emotional regulation.”
In other words, if you keep going without a proper break, you'll be shittier at your job, you'll struggle to remember stuff, and you'll be an arsehole to those around you.
In short, it's crucial to engage in some active recovery, which, as Kotler explains:
"Ensures that the brain stays off and the body can mend. By flushing stress hormones from the system and shifting brain waves into alpha (first), then delta (later), active recovery practices allow us to reset. Sure, peak performers take this to considerable extremes: hyperbaric chambers, sensory deprivation tanks, nutritional specialists micro-counting caloric intake. These are useful tools, and go this route if you're interested, but the research shows you can get gritty about recovery in three simpler steps."
I'll paraphrase from here:
Quality, delta wave sleep is vital for recovery and learning and is when memory consolidation occurs - a dark, cool room with no screens is recommended.
Focus on active recovery activities like yoga, massages, long walks in nature, or a relaxing bath.
Take the time for a total reset. Stepping away for a few days is a good start, but if you're anything like me, a week plus is ideal.
As the name of my podcast suggests, I certainly haven't mastered this and am not pretending it's easy. I happen to find it worryingly challenging to switch off - due partly to technology, but much more significantly to established habits (not all of which - like voracious reading of non-fiction books - are bad, by the way). However, I have found some holiday-based practices that eventually assist me with incorporating those three essential steps to recovery. Next week I'll share some of these insights, not least the significance of that trip to France.
Have a nice, relaxing weekend.
Ollie
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If you're interested in the themes I've written about today, you can read more in these articles:
LinkedIn addiction and the battle to 'un-hook'
When it comes to work, less is more
Strange dreams and creative things