Welcome to the April edition of The Inbox Coach. Succeeding in your career requires hard work but it also requires you to know when to take a break.
I have a busy few months coming up, so top of my to do list is planning in time to take a break and rest. When you think of career development, you probably think about all the things you need to do, but just as important is thinking about when you are going to stop and take a break.
Burning out
My approach to my career shifted in 2010 when I burnt out at work and developed a chronic illness. I realised that my health was not guaranteed, and my career needed to support my health rather than negatively impact it. That experience has shaped all my work and I make sure that rest is part of my career plans and not just an afterthought. I’ve realised that taking a break, whether that is 15 minutes during the day, or taking a longer period of leave from your work, can make you more effective at what you do. It might be counterintuitive, but the busier you are, the more important it is to prioritise taking a break.
Setting yourself up for success
Something I talk about a lot is how to be your best self at work. We are all unique and need different conditions to thrive. However, feeling well rested is something that everyone needs. When you are tired you don’t perform well, which on a personal level won’t feel good as you won’t be doing your best work, but it has a wider impact for your colleagues and organisation.
When you are tired your decision-making skills aren’t as sharp. Depending on what your job is, you could make a costly financial mistake or even put people in harms way. None of these are good outcomes. We have a tendency to see taking a break as low down the priority list and yet it is one of the most important things you can control which will help you to be your best self at work.
As someone who has burnt out, the message I have for my past self is that it’s better to take a small break now, rather than pushing through and having to take a long time out to recover from being unwell.
Reflection
*If you can’t do the exercises from this email now, then don’t forget to pick a time when you are going to do them and add this email to your calendar
Despite many people agreeing that they would want to take more breaks, the pressure to push through and sacrifice your own well-being to hit a deadline or avoid saying you have too much work on, is a lot. A good place to start with prioritising your well-being is to spend some time reflecting on how you are feeling and what you need. Try asking yourself these questions
How are you feeling?
When was the last time you thought about your needs for resting well?
What would planning rest into this week look like?
What do you need to feel well rested?
How would you like to feel about your relationship to taking a break from work?
When you understand why something is important to you and the specifics of what it would look like it becomes much easier to take an action. If you can appreciate how much more effective you would be when you take a break, then it becomes much easier to hold yourself accountable and do it.
Action
The simple action to taking a break is to just do it, but I know that is easier said than done. When you are in the middle of a big project at work, with demands coming from lots of different people, taking a moment to stop and step away from your desk can feel like the last thing you want to do. I find it helpful to think about what taking a break would look like when you are not in the middle of something. It allows you to remind yourself about why taking a break is important and to think about what prompts or support you might need to do it.
Task
Take a moment to look at your diary (or whatever you use to plan your week) and think about where your time to take a break is. It might be on a small scale, such as booking out time for a lunch break, or planning some annual leave for a longer break. Think about what prompt you can set up to help you to take the break. Don’t forget to ask yourself what you need as the starting point rather thinking about the minimum you could squeeze in to your day.
Inspiration
“Feedback doesn’t tell you about yourself. It tells you about the person giving the feedback.” – Tara Mohr
Playing Big by Tara Mohr was a book that changed me and one I go back to again and again. So much of what the book says about how women feel was me a few years ago. I knew that I had something important to say but I was held back from putting that message out into the world.
The section on feedback really resonated for me and made me realise that I need to pay very close attention to who I accept feedback from and who I need to ignore. It flips the idea round that feedback isn't about you and your worth, but whether or not your message is getting through to the right people. If the person for whom your work is for doesn't understand you, that's a problem and you can respond to their feedback. It's not about how good or bad you are, it's about paying attention to who your work resonates with and adjusting accordingly.
When it comes to taking a break, you will undoubtedly feel feedback from your colleagues in how they respond to you. If your workplace has a culture of meetings at lunch time, staying late into the evening or encouraging you to reply to emails when you are holiday you may feel their judgement on you if you choose to prioritise your own well-being. It can be hard to push back against that culture but you if it helps you to feel better and work better it’s got to be a good thing. I had to learn how to feel comfortable taking a break at work and I rarely feel any judgement for doing so. And if I do, I know I am better able to deal with that criticism because I am well rested. The person judging me is probably tired and not showing up as their best self.
I’m not going to tell you my illness is a blessing in disguise, as I would much rather I had never developed it. What I am proud of is how I’ve adapted to it and made it a priority to learn how to take a break. I’m proud of how I put myself first when I need to rest, and don’t feel guilty about saying no to other people. I’m also proud of how my behaviour empowers other people to think about how they take a break from work.
I’ve shown that you can be successful (however you define that) without sacrificing your health or well-being. I hope this month of reflecting on the importance of taking a break from work encourages you to make rest a part of your career development plan and you can take a moment to look after yourself.
I’ll be back with more career development thoughts next week
See you then
Laura
P.S. I’ve listed all the previous editions of The Inbox Coach emails on my website which you can find here. Each email has reflection questions and action tasks, so if you need to revisit a topic you can now browse them all in one place
