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Category: Inspiration

Rest days

Athletes and bodybuilders know that taking rest days helps muscles recover. In fact, days of rest are seen as equally powerful as training days — necessary to increase strength and endurance. These “off days” are scheduled into physical training regimens.

Rest days aren’t just for the body; they are important for the mind. Days away from training and routine refresh the psyche and prevent burnout.

Whether or not you’re an athlete, your creativity and ability to plan is enhanced by taking days off. Sleep in, go for a leisure walk, schedule a massage, or pick up a good book.

Schedule at least one rest day each week and allow yourself to enjoy.

The unusual gift of fear

If you feel afraid, there’s a good chance something big is about to happen. You have a choice: run away or step towards it.

With fear resting on one side of the scale, desire to change sits on the other. Either you desperately want something different or a situation has become so unpleasant it leaves no other possible choice. If you let fear win, you may find yourself in the same position next year, or even five years down the line.

Fear forces you to prepare and plan, to collect information, and to consider possible outcomes. But giving too much power to fear welcomes anxiety, lets the mind to travel to far too distant places, and distorts your perspective. From an evolutionary perspective, fear triggers fight or flight. Your heart rate quickens, breathing becomes shallow, and your vision narrows. Unknown situations and unfamiliar circumstances trigger the responses our ancestors once had at the hiss of a snake or bear or enemy.

Each time you embrace fear, you become stronger. The spaces fear once lingered become smaller, and in time, you’ll have so much light that only a small shadow is cast. The next time fear creeps into shadowy places, you’ll know how to cope.

Recognize fear for what it is. Write down all of the possible situations that might occur — the mistakes you’re afraid of, the “maybes” that might happen, the potential disasters (yes, even the ludicrous ones), your fears of success.

Then get ready to act. Committing to a decision will increase your confidence, and fear will be the one that begins to tremble.

Breathe deep and go.

24 ways to hit reset

1. Take a walk around the block.
2. Sit in the park.
3. Pick up a book you’ve been meaning to finish.
4. Play a favorite song.
5. Google photos of your next vacation spot.
6. Find a new route home.
7. Order take out.
8. Have lunch at a nearby hotel.
9. Surprise a friend.
10. Buy flowers.
11. Color with markers.
12. Set an alarm for a twenty minute nap.
13. Chug water.
14. Schedule a massage.
15. Follow an online yoga class.
16. Play with your dog (or your friend’s dog).
17. Don’t go into work — and don’t feel guilty about it.
18. Dance in your living room.
19. Wear something fancy.
20. Netflix.
21. Download a new podcast.
22. Reach out to an old friend.
23. Write a thank you note.
24. Plan a “staycation.”

Stay in the mud

We try to get out of uncomfortable moments fast — moments when we feel like frauds and failures and disappointments. But these moments are teachers, there to help you ask questions and sort through your most difficult, persisting views about yourself and the way the world works.

It’s tempting to race past boredom, to distract yourself from insecurities, to run from uncertainty.

Try to sit with those moments when you don’t know all the answers. Sit quietly and listen softly. The answers will come.

Priorities and time management

How you choose to spend your day reflects the priorities you’ve set. Where you direct your focus, who you spend your time with, what you do after work — these are decisions that show what is most important to you.
Parcel out the goals you’re hoping to accomplish and block work into manageable chunks. Sometimes you’ll need to turn off your wifi, or say no to lunch dates, or even place a project higher on your list of daily to-dos.
Your priorities may shift, but your core values direct your time.

The long or short game

It is tempting to choose the fast, easy route. Everyone wants to win big, and they want to win quickly. But those who work steadily, slowly, piece by piece build solid foundations. When market fluctuations and economies are unpredictable, daily decisions add up to create something that matters in the long term.

Ignore those who fail to see the long game, those who try to push you into playing short. The best fruit is not always on the bottom of the tree.

Play long.