Good morning, everyone. And welcome to the Bed Head Chronicles. Today I want to talk about intermittent recovery, something that is so incredibly important, not just for athletes, but for every human being. We all have four energies that we have to be super consistent about taking care of. That’s our physical energy, our mental energy, our emotional energy and our spiritual energy.
Now, oftentimes we think that mental energy we don’t need to take breaks from, that’s simply not true. In this day and age, there’s a culture in a lot of businesses where you just work until you get it done. Even if that means working all night every night for a week to get a certain project done, it’s kind of rewarded if somebody does that.
But the the fact of the matter is that you have to recover. You have to schedule in moments or minutes or hours of recovery so that you can replenish mentally restore, physically, perhaps going for a walk or going for a run. Emotionally disconnect from the project or the work at hand and spiritually take care of yourself, whether that’s through meditation or breathing or whatever it is, but just like an athlete.
As a professional athlete. Yes, I trained six to eight hours a day and it was brutal. It was hard work because in order to strengthen physically or strengthen mentally or strengthen emotionally or strengthen spiritually, you have to do the work. You have to stress your body, your mind, your spirit and your emotions.
But that being said, you have to recover. Intermittently, so that you can continue to strengthen and make progress rather than burn yourself out, hit a plateau and eventually fall. So as a professional athlete, even though I was training six to eight hours a day in between sessions, I would completely disconnect.
I would take a bath. I would do some meditation. I would read a book. I would call someone I love, I would did some, I would do something that would fill me up with energy and help me recover and rejuvenate. So I’d be ready for the next session. So in order to achieve the results that I did, yes, I had to hammer myself every single day, but in between I was recovering, not just physically through, you know, whatever practices I used, Epsom salt bath or massage or whatever it was that I use to recover my body.
I also took time to relax my mind. I’d say, I’m not going to think about my training. I’m not going to think about my next session. I’m not going to think about my next race. I’m going to do something else that fills me up emotionally and spiritually and mentally so that I not only step up to that next physical session, physically recovered, but I’m also mentally strong, emotionally strong and spiritually ready.
So those of you that are workaholics that work from the moment you get up to the moment you go to bed, please. I promise you that if throughout the day, maybe every 60 to 90 minutes or every two hours you take 15 minutes for yourself. Leave your phone at the desk. Leave your computer. Leave your work behind.
Go outside, take some deep breaths. Take a short walk, rejuvenate disconnect for 10 to 15 minutes. And I guarantee you that your performance is going to be so much better than if you just hammer through the day. From the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed. Intermittent recovery is so crucial.
Crucial to not only individual success, but a business or a company success, you have to take that time. It’s also rewarding in some businesses, you know, people don’t want to take care of their bodies because if they go to work out at lunch break, people are going to think they’re lazy or they don’t care.
That’s a story. That’s a story that you’re telling yourself. That’s a story that other people in the company may be telling you. But the truth is that if you take that time for you, if you take that time to go out for a walk, to go out for a run, to do a workout of some sort, that you are going to be better physically with more energy, better, emotionally, better, mentally, better spiritually.
Your performance will be that much better. When you get back to work, you’re going to be healthier. You’re going to be sick less. You’re going to have fewer days away from work. And because you’re going to be happier. You’re going to last a lot longer at that job. So guys, you’ve got to take care of yourselves, intermittent recovery isn’t just for athletes. It’s for every single human being. Yes we need to stress our bodies, our minds, our emotions, and our spirit in order to strengthen in those areas. That is true. But you also must allow for recovery in all four of those areas. Thanks for listening and have an amazing day.
Have an amazing day!
Siri Lindley
