When you're feeling stressed and your head is spinning. Tried this out because the Journal of Psychology in twenty twenty found that mindfulness reduces anxiety by up to fifty eight percent. Imagine if you were fifty eight percent less anxious. The number one health and wellness podcast, Say Sety Jay set Jay Sious, Hey, thank you so much for coming back to on Purpose to listen, learn and grow today's episode.
As you know, it is all about finding that reset, finding that deep rest, that boost that we so need. Let me start by asking you a question, when was the last time you truly felt rested, That you truly felt relaxed, he felt free, not just sleep, but real, genuine rest, that low heart rate, that calm, that deep breath. Naturally, I want you to try and lock into it right now.
In hell and exhal we all need rest, But in our hustle centric culture, it's become harder and harder to find deep rest, and in our stressful schedule, it can be so manic to try and find rest or a boost of energy even in the day. It's become so hard that in the United States, a significant number of
workers don't fully utilize their annual paid vacation time. According to a twenty twenty four study, sixty two percent of Americans with paid time off did not use all their vacation days, with five point five percent not taking any time off at all. Access to paid vacation varies across different sectors. In twenty twenty four, eighty eight percent of full time employees had access to paid vacation, whereas only forty percent of part time employees had the same benefit.
But here's the interesting part. The underutilization of vacation time is often attributed to workplace culture. A Pew Reset Center survey found that more than four in ten US workers don't take all their paid time off, with reasons including concerns about falling behind at work or feeling guilty about co workers taking on additional work. And this, my friend, obviously, highlights the importance of encouraging a healthy work life balance and promoting the use of earned vacation time to support
employee wellbeing. Now here's the top line. We all need vacations, we all need breaks, and I encourage you to take those and at the same time, in this episode, I want to give you practical, actionable steps to find that break, find that relief in the every day while you're building up and waiting for that vacation. It's so important to find that rest in your day. We all know that there's a big impact and correlation between daily rest and productivity,
mental health, and physical health. Harvard Business Review in twenty nineteen found that regular breaks increase productivity and creativity by up to forty percent. Just think about that for a second. If you were forty percent more productive and more creative, what could you achieve? What would the difference be in your output? What would the quality of your output be?
That's nearly half more productive and creative. You could save half the time that you spend struggling, feeling overworked, feeling overwhelmed, feeling stressed, to actually be more effective. Right, Think about that? Forty percent more productive and creative. And according to the American Psychological Association, just fifteen to twenty minutes of daily rest can reduce stress hormones significantly, just fifteen to twenty minutes. But,
as I said earlier, we're blocked by something. We're blocked by the shame and guilt. Do we deserve rest? Have we earned it? Have we done enough? We're worried that our coworkers may take on more work, and some of us are worried that when they travel, we take on more work. So we're blocked by these ideas, these mindsets that we've created, that we need to let go of, that we need to push away, because without rest, without recovery,
it's extremely, extremely difficult to make a difference. So imagine if fifteen to twenty minutes a day could change everything, And imagine if you had forty percent more creativity and productivity. What could you achieve? But where does that pressure come from? The fact that we think we need to achieve rest is the challenge, that's the problem. The fact that we believe we need to earn rest. Rest is not something you earn, it's something you need. It's something you actually need.
It's almost like saying, does your phone get charged and it's earned the charge. No, it's used energy and therefore it needs to charge. You don't look at your phone and say you've earned a recharge today. You've deserved a refuel today. You've worked for it. Right, you've worked so hard today, I'm gonna put you on charge. No, we know that our phone needs charging. We're aware that our
phone needs recovery. We're aware that our phone needs an update or a refuel, or whatever it may be, but so many of us will spend so much time and energy feeling shameful and guilty for giving ourselves a break, for giving ourselves a moment of rest or recovery. I want you to remove that guilt. I want you to remove that shame. You don't deserve rest, you didn't earn it. You need it. Your body physically needs it, your mind mentally needs it, your soul spiritually needs it, your emotions
need it. Right, we actually need it. So I want to start there, and I want you to almost repeat after me. Rest is something I need, not something I need to earn. Rest is something I need, not something I need to earn. Rest is something my body needs, not something I need to earn. We need to get really, really clear on that, because when we get clear on that, we don't cancel our vacations, we don't skip rest, we don't compromise on sleep because we realize our body and
mind need it. Now, what I want to share with you are some practical tips as to how you can do that in your day to day as you're building up towards a vacation. As you're looking forward to something in the summer, what do you do on a weekly and daily basis. Here's one that's really important. I want you to set a habit of a micro break. Think about your calendar. In your calendar, you're constantly putting in meetings, and if your calendar looks anything like mine, it's meeting
after meeting after meeting. Here's an actionable tip. Every sixty to ninety minutes, take a two to five minute break and put it in your schedule. Literally, put a scheduled five minute break in your calendar every sixty to ninety minutes. And in this break, you're gonna walk, look out of a window, and you're gonna drink some water. You're gonna get hydrated. You're gonna look out into the distance, not look at your phone, look outside of a screen, and
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the end of the quarter. In sometimes you can be waiting forever. We have to train ourselves to create regular breaks. And I would even argue that when you're planning your year out, you need to schedule your vacation time, even if it's a long weekend, even if it's just a daybreak, whatever it's going to be for you, we need to schedule it out. You need it every quarter to take a small break. You need that vacation once a year right to be totally switched off. It makes a huge difference.
The second one that's been huge for me is intentional breathing exercises. One of my favorite actionable tips is the box breathing technique where you in helle for four seconds, you hold for four seconds, you excel for four seconds, and you hold for four seconds. Let's try it out together in hell two three four, hold two three four out two three four hold two three four. A simple exercise like that. The NIH research shows it immediately reduces
cortisol sometimes. What's really interesting about our overwork and not taking a break is our cortisole levels are going through the roof the reason we're struggling with weight loss or weight control, the reason we're struggling with the tension in our body. So much of it comes down to stress and a few simple breaths can begin to relieve you of that stress, to relieve you of that pressure, to relieve you of that tension. And I would encourage you
to try it out simply when you're feeling stressed. You know you can't take a long break right now, just try box breathing now. One of my favorite personal techniques when it comes to this is to spend time in a mindfulness practice. And my favorite favorite favorite technique is called the five four three two one technique. In this technique, when you're feeling stressed and your head is spinning, try this out. Five things you can see. Observe the colors,
the shapes, the sizes, the shades. Look around at five things you can see. What are four things you can touch? Notice the textures? Is something harsh or is it soft? Is it rough or is it seamless? And at the same time, is it cool? Is it warm? Allow the sense of touch to bring you into the present moment. What are three things you can hear right now? What are two things you can smell? And what's one thing
you can taste? What's so important about this is you can bring yourself back to the present moment with the simple five four, three to one technique. And why is this even more powerful? When it comes to rest, you automatically feel like you've taken a little break, You've made yourself aware of your surroundings and brought yourself into the moment. Try it out, because all the studies show that mindfulness
reduces anxiety by up to fifty eight percent. The Journal of Psychology in twenty twenty found that mindfulness reduces anxiety by up to fifty eight percent. Imagine if you were fifty eight percent less anxious, what could you achieve? What could you do? Who would you be a simple five four three two one technique can bring you back into your body and make your mind feel rested. What I'm sharing here are really simple, actionable, practical techniques that you
can start doing right now. These are simple practices that any and all of us can easily experience today. One of my favorites. The next one is tech free zones. This is something I recommend to parents with young kids, and it's even something I recommend. A cup study by Sleep Health in twenty eighteen found on improved sleep and reduced anxiety with less screen exposure. Establish one hour per day as tech free and one zone in your home as tech free. So let's say the kitchen table, the
dining table is always tech free. That is your tech free hour to sit, connect, talk to your partner, eat, digest your food, spend time with your family, and make it meaningful too. Don't just make it a negative au we can't use technology here. Make it a positive. Maybe you're going to discuss the funniest TikTok you saw today and you have to describe it to each other without showing it. Maybe you're going to talk about something that happened as a highlight in each of your days today.
Maybe you're going to take this opportunity to share something you really appreciate about each other. This habit, it boosts energy and makes us feel rested in the most incredible ways. We are overwhelmed, we are over consuming, we are oversubscribed, and therefore we are exhausted. If you had one hour of your day that was tech free and one zone in your home that was tech free, you would feel so much more rested. On a daily basis, you would find a whole new influx of energy that you never
knew existed before. And so many of us are missing out on this. So many of us don't realize the value of this because we can't remember the last time we were without our phones for an hour, just an hour, and the day. It could be in the morning, could be in the evening. Whatever works for you, but it will give you such a break. Give it a go, and for those of you who really want to take
it to the next level, nature exposure. A Stanford University study in twenty fifteen found that nature walks significantly low anxiety and depression. Last night, min RADI went on a one hour walk in the evening, and I can truly say that it was so beautiful. I rested better, felt calmer. It was a great end to the day. And hey, I can't do that every single day. I can't do an hour walk every single day. But an actionable tip is a ten minute walk outside daily. A ten minutes
walk outside will relax you more. Movement can actually help you rest if it's outdoors and you're allowing yourself to just experience nature, whether it's looking at trees and marrying the birds, whatever it may be. These are simple habits to find rest and refuel throughout the day as you're waiting and looking forward to that vacation, as you can't be more than excited about it. This is a really,
really simple step. Now we've talked about the practical habits, but let's talk about the shame and get of rest again. Maybe your parents never rested, Maybe they're always working. Maybe they're pressure on you to do the same. Maybe you're scared of falling behind. Well, whatever it is, here's the reality. You're more likely to fall behind if you never rest. You're more likely to lose focus, if you never take a break, You're more likely to be less productive and efficient.
If you don't refuel, recovery is part of an athlete strategy. Recovery is part of an athlete's ability. You've got to be good at recovery in order to be good to play. So, for those of you that want to win, that want to hustle, that want to achieve more than everyone else, imagine what you could do with rest. Not over indulgent rest, not laziness, but the ability to refuel, refine, and renew
will actually make you more successful and effective. Now, for those of you that feel you have to earn it, that feel that you don't deserve it, that feel that there's shame and guilt attached to it, ask yourself, where does that come from? Did you always feel that if you didn't work hard you were lazy? Did you feel that people who take breaks are less effective and productive?
What was it for you? Get to the root of it, And as I was saying, for a lot of us, it's just shame and guilt of I haven't earned it, I don't need it. I've got to do something for everyone else. So many of us are good at solving everyone else's problems but not paying attention to our own. So this is a way, and this is your reminder, it's just something your body needs. Think about your laptop when it's on low battery again. It will remind you
to never compromise on rest. Rest is productive, Rest is effective. Rest is a necessity, not a luxury. When you compromise your rest, you compromise everything else. You can't bring your best to everything if you didn't make time to rest. I want you to remember that. Hope that helps you. I hope it serves you, and I hope it makes a difference in your life. And I'm so grateful that we've got to spend this time together today. Thank you
for listening. Thank you so much for listening to this conversation. If you enjoyed it, you'll love my chat with Adam Grant on why discomfort is the key to growth and the strategies for unlocking your hidden potential. If you know you want to be more and achieve more this year, go check it out right now. You set a goal today, you achieve it in six months, and then by the time it happens, it's almost a relief. There's no sense
of meaning and purpose. You sort of expected it, and you would have been disappointed if it didn't happen.