Virtual Marketeers

You might know the saying ‘Stop, Revive and Survive’. It’s a well known motto in Australia that reminds us not to drive when we are tired. It reminds us to periodically stop, have a break, stretch and maybe even stop for a coffee so that we can last out the journey.

This motto made me think of work. In particular it made me wonder how many people sit there for 12 hours a day or longer, in front of the computer without barely a break. It also made me wonder how many people work seven days, burning the candle at both ends so to speak. We can sustain for a time, but where does this leave us long term?

It is important for our health in so many ways to take a periodical break.  It could be to break for morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea.  It might be to go for a walk to the post office to post or maybe collect the mail, or to drop by the corner store to stock up on our milk supply… after all plenty of exercise and fresh air is great for an active brain!!

You are probably thinking here, but wouldn’t this mean that I would be procrastinating?

Actually it’s not procrastinating at all to stop and take a bit of a break from work.  It’s actually a really positive thing done in the right way and for the right reasons.  Using the following excerpt from Wikipedia to help support my argument:

“Procrastination refers to the deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. Psychologists often cite such behavior as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting and/or completing any task or decision. ^[1] There are three criteria: for a behavior to be classified as procrastination, it must be counterproductive, needless, and delaying.^[2]”

1. Anxiety is not associated with this conscious choice.
2. It is not counterproductive, actually is should increase your productivity in the times that you are working.
3. It is not needless, it is important to take a break.
4. Although you could argue that taking a break is delaying, I would argue that it is not if you do it in the right way.  I offer my argument in more detail in the next couple of paragraphs, below.

It is interesting that the word ‘delaying’ is used to describe procrastination… it is true to a certain extent, but if we let it, this one word could make our lives all consumed with actions and activities, day in, day out.  I see it as being extremely important to both our mind and bodies to take a scheduled or sometimes even an unscheduled break.

If you have established a flexible routine, then you have made the conscious decision to take  a periodical break… to ‘Stop, Revive and Survive’.  We all need to eat, drink, exercise and breath some H2O to stay healthy do we not?  The trick is to not make this break all consuming of your day – in other words plan in a time that you are to clock in again.  When that time comes around on the clock, don’t procrastinate, make the conscious choice to get back to it.

I have some of my best ideas when my brain is taking a break from it all.

Now, I would like to wind the clock back a bit to first thing in the morning, as we first get up.  Plenty of people I know have made it a point not to rush into the day.  This is circumstantial for some.  If we have deadlines, or have to be someone at a certain time, then it might not work so well.  If you do have the opportunity to do this, then you might want to consider trying it. 

For me, in the morning, the most important thing is that I get up at a regular time each day – my body clock thanks me for this. 

You might decide to start the day by reading the paper, reading a good book or something else that interests you while you eat your breakfast and have your morning cuppa.  Others go for a jog or a bike ride before they even think about having breakfast, this gets their metabolism working really well.

All these mentioned can be really healthy things to do, the trick is to find something that relaxes you but also gives you a kick start ready to face the big day.  And the other important thing is to make sure there is some sort of start and a finish to this activity… not to rush you, but more to ensure that you don’t stay at that point, doing that activity for the whole entire day (imagine that, lol).

It is also very important to our health that we allocate at least one ‘Stop, Revive and Survive’ day in a week where we barely (if at all) turn on the computer. If we schedule in a break for ourselves then it actually increases focus on those days we are working, which invariably means that our output will be better and we achieve more and better results on the days that we  do work.

Being the beginning of a new year, now, is the perfect time to reevaluate what we do and how we do things.  This includes how we care for ourselves.

My question to you.  Does your current routine allow a rest period for your body and your mind, your two most important assets?  Does it allow for you to enjoy and sustain the next 10, 20, 50 years (whatever it is for you) both in business and also in life?!

Cheers now to longevity, good health and to a really good solid foundation in the years to come.