I’m extremely tired today. I’ve been working very long days and yesterday I drove four hours each way to spend the day (nine hours) with my best friend. I’ve had some things to catch up on today, but I’m sitting at my computer, eyes crossing with sleepiness, thinking, “I have to get focused and get to work.”
But you know what? I don’t. I have several projects underway, but the truth is, I’m so sleepy and so fatigued in my muscles that I can’t think straight.
Anything I do right now is going to need revisiting and possibly completely reworking.
Yes, I’m writing this blog entry now but I intend to finish and revise it later.
Because something came to me just now that I want to capture before I go take a nap.
As marketers, we hear so much about focus and hard work.
Sure, we all occasionally look for something that “requires no work,” but we know that the path to success is paved with hard work and lots of it.
But think about this.
What’s the mortar that holds those paving stones together?
It’s knowing when to take a day off, or an afternoon, or a couple of hours. It’s knowing when to take a nap.
It’s knowing when you’re working too hard and stopping that.
Not because there’s anything wrong with hard work. Work is the only way to accomplish what you really want. But our bodies sometimes can’t keep up with our minds. We have all these ideas and if we only put in 12-hour days or 14-hour days we can get there.
But physically we wear ourselves out, and then our minds start to get fuzzy, and we start feeling discouraged and distracted.
We burn out because we work too hard, and a burned out candle gives absolutely no light.
One of my resolutions for 2012 is that I will work only to the point that I can physically, mentally and emotionally function at my best.
Okay, it’s tomorrow, and I’m reading through this, and I agree with me. We focus so much on doing sometimes that we don’t spend enough time just being. Whether that’s taking a nap, going for a walk, or yes, just watching television, we all need that.
With Christmas and the new year coming up, what are you going to do to balance your life more in 2012?
Angie,
I could not agree with you more. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed when something does not work out as planned despite me going at it with little sleep for days un-end. I start to get frustrated and emotions are starting to run high. It is usually at this point where I decide to take a break and walk away from the entire project for a while.
Sometimes a nap or good long walk gets me back on track and I get a renewed, re-energized perspective on what I was working on. Sometimes it takes a couple days or even a couple weeks before I get a new sense of purpose with a project.
In fact, my biggest online launch took place a couple days after a week long vacation in Mexico – and it was a project I had worked on for months (and almost gave up on a few times).
Anyways, my comment is getting longer than your post. I’m gonna take a break now 😉
Awesome post though Angie. We need proper rest just to stay sane!
Konrad
Thanks, Konrad.
I used to have a friend who would say to me, “If you don’t take care of yourself, who’s going to do it?”
Just yesterday, after writing that post, I had to admit I wasn’t as rested as I needed to be after pushing myself to get ready for my trip and then taking the trip.
Glad you found it useful!
Angie