This blog is going to be posted while I am on vacation with my family.  As such, I thought that I would use this post to reinforce the importance of taking breaks.

As technology and the market continue to try to squeeze more from less, each and every one of us needs to make sure that we are leaving space for ourselves to recharge.  Stephen Covey used the phrase “Sharpening the Saw”.  Even the sharpest saw will eventually become dull if the craftsperson does not take time to sharpen the blade.  The same is true for us.

I absolutely love what I do.  I don’t love everything about what I have to do, but overall I am one of the lucky ones that wakes up every morning excited to get to work.  Despite this, there are times when I feel myself getting dull and in need of time to recharge.  The key thing is to identify the signs that you are getting dull, and figure out the ways that you get sharp again.

 I try to avoid becoming too dull, thereby requiring a “major” recharge and so I  build little opportunities to recharge into my day-to-day activities. For me, cooking and reading are things I try to do every day to recharge.  I am not an artist in the traditional sense but I see cooking as  my art.  I love to play around with recipes and ingredients to create something new.

I also try to be reading two books at all times.  One is a business/leadership/personal development book and one is either science fiction or fantasy.  The business book is all about making me a better person and a better leader, getting me sharp to get back into the arena the next day.  The fiction books are pure escapism that allow my brain to go far away to fantastical worlds, which re-energizes me when I come back to the real world.

I will admit that I spend around 30 to 60 minutes a day playing mindless games on my phone.  I try to play games that require strategy or pattern recognition so that I am still working different parts of my brain, but that is most likely just me trying to justify “wasting” some time.

I know that I feel 100% better and have more stamina and stay sharp longer when I am getting regular exercise.  This is something that I  struggle to maintain momentum with over time.  With the travel that I do and the schedule that I keep I tend to get into a routine but then I let myself get thrown off course.

Finally, when I need a bit of a longer term break, I love to take cruises and resort vacations.  There is only so much “sitting still” that I can do before I get restless, but finding a new location and environment really gets my creative juices flowing.  Some of my best business ideas came to me while I was walking on a beach or staring out at the ocean as we sailed to our next island destination.

I am not suggesting that you do what I do.  You need to find the activities, both big (events, vacation, etc.) and small (things you can do every day) that will recharge your batteries, sharpen your saw and keep you at peak performance in today’s fast-paced, ever changing world.