It is funny, on my journey I learn things every day. It is really frustrating when I learn things on my own that I could have learned WAY earlier if I just listened.
I wrote a post a few days ago about resting and actually scheduling time to relax. It was a result of frustration and lessons that I learned hard. If you remember back in June I signed up for an online course from Darren Hardy, the editor of Success Magazine, called Insane Productivity. I have been so busy lately that my studies have been put on hold.
I have been literally overwhelmed with work and tasks and have teetered on the edge of insanity. I have suffered a huge level of anxiety and lost sleep and actually gotten a bit unhealthy. Today I got back on track and basically re-booted. I took time to get back into the study program and dove into the next module. ( I am 4 weeks behind).
Guess what the subject was on.
Yes, it was on relaxing. I sat and listened to why it is important to not only relax but, to actually schedule it. If I had just stayed on course I could have saved myself some sleepless nights and a lot of anxiety.
I learned about not only about business people that have to take time to relax to increase their productivity but, also that athletes follow this apparently obvious practice.
One can only work for so long relentlessly toiling at any given task. There was a study done by the US Army in 1998 on productivity. They separated sharp shooters into two groups. Group one was allowed to shoot as much as they wanted and as many times as possible. Group 2 was ordered to take intermittent breaks and naps. Day one showed group one in the lead in targets hit over group 2. On Day two group one’s accuracy started to fade and by day three Group two took the lead on hit targets and actually won by a significant margin. By taking rests, the second group was rested and remained accurate and out performed the group that was able to shoot at will.
Fred Shoemaker of “Extraordinary Golf” compared amateur swings with Pros with ball and without. Amateur swings closely resembled the Pro’s swing with no ball present. The difference was that the Pro can swing “relaxed” when the ball is on the line.
To sum up I think that Leonardo Da Vinci said it best in How To Think. “It is a very good plan every now and then to go away and have a little relaxation . . . when you come back to the work your judgement will be surer, since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose the power of judgment.”
Take breaks. Schedule them and refresh yourself. Your productivity will go up.
365 Days To My First Million. 