I feel guilty for resting,

Be that from my business,

Training,

Anything that involves doing,

I hear you,

You feel guilty.

Let me take a minute to reframe this for you,

And tell you that actually,

Working too much has become a selfish act,

You’re doing it for your own sense of self,

Your ego,

As opposed to the benefit of others.

Last week some research was published,

It looked at over 2500 workers in Iceland,

And compared the effect of a shorter vs. longer working week,

4 days instead of 5,

36 hours instead of 40,

Over 4 years.

That’s a hefty study.

The result of working fewer hours?

“Worker wellbeing dramatically increased across a range of indicators,

From perceived stress and burnout,

To health and work-life balance.”

Productivity rate was increased,

And the same amount of work was done,

In fewer hours.

The workers reported feeling less stressed,

Had more time for life and health,

And that stress translated into better work.

Not to mention they were more present with their families,

The heterosexual men emptied the dishwasher more often,

Can you imagine the impact that had on household happiness across Iceland?

And of course,

They had more time to exercise.

Your drive to do more is stopping you from doing more.

Your hatred of rest is impacting your productivity.

Your refusal to acknowledge that rest is an active process,

That it increases your creativity,

Productivity,

Efficiency,

Personality…

Is contradictory to your ideations.

Your grind harder outer shell is no longer enviable.

Often,

Those with a perfectionist mindset struggle to stop,

Because the more you achieve,

The more you think you’ll feel good enough.

Problem being of course,

The driver for perfectionism often comes from the core belief that you’re not good enough,

And changing the symptom isn’t going to impact the cause…

You will never reach perfection,

It’s all just a façade,

A perception,

You can never feel good enough by that goal post.

Burnout doesn’t solely affect you,

It affects your work,

Your customers,

Those around you.

Rest is an active process,

Don’t let your martyrdom,

Your ego,

Ruin your work,

Your health,

Your business,

Or your life.

Disclaimer.

There will be times in life you have to work your B-cup tits off,

Especially if you’re self-employed,

But there has to be an end point,

Or everything will suffer.