Time to Breathe: 3 Daily Habits

Multi-tasking, for all its hype, is not what it was made out to be. The work-until-you-drop system hasn’t paid off either. What good are you to anyone – including yourself – at the end of a long, non-stop day?

You may not be ready for a dramatic change of pace, but what about experimenting with a few simple changes?

What if you tried to:

• Remember that work never ends, but your energy and ability to focus are not limitless. Keep a realistic perspective on what needs to be done daily.
  Know when good enough is good enough, and let it be. You can always come back to whatever you’re working on with a fresh perspective.
• Schedule mental health time. Start small. Maybe one hour each week when you choose to be with yourself, doing what pleases you.
  What relaxes you? Is it walking, exercising, sitting down and breathing consciously, reading a book, writing, or having a leisurely lunch?
  Start small and take it from there. See how it feels and stretch the boundary.  Keep a running list of what you can do on your “mental health” break. Make this a sacred time and tell yourself it’s not negotiable. After all, your sense of well-being depends on it.
• Schedule technology black-out times! Chances are the internet cannibalizes more of your time than you care to admit or accept. Why not schedule time every day to unplug? Use the black-out times to recharge, reconnect, and reflect instead.

May the following words of Leonardo Da Vinci be of inspiration to you.

“Every now and then go away,
have a little relaxation,
for when you come back
to your work
your judgment will be surer;
since to remain constantly at work
will cause you to lose power
of judgment. . .

Go some distance away
because the work appears smaller
and more of it
can be taken in at a glance,
and a lack of harmony
or proportion
is more readily seen.”

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Photo by Simon Migaj on Unsplash