Rhythm Of Life – How It Works For Me!

Rhythm of Life (ROL)

Rhythm of Life is based on the thesis that every person has natural rhythms of energy for living and working. The more we are aware and cooperate with our natural rhythms the more energy we will have available for high impact times and the healthier and less stressed we will be.

ROL is based on the following assumptions:

  • No-one is a machine.
  • Everyone has natural rhythms
  • Everyone needs rest and time to replenish
  • We work to live rather than live to work (even when work is a huge passion)
  • Everyone needs time to build the relationships in their world.

ROL – How It Works For Me!

How does ROL work? Well, since everyone is different there will be variations but this is a framework that works for me.

One of the first things I had to deal with was my guilt. I had to admit that I felt guilty paying attention to looking after me. It took me a while to realise that looking after me is important and is actually the starting point for looking after the organisation/business. If I don’t look after me then that somehow gets communicated non-verbally to everyone else in my world in negative ways.

Start with your annual holidays. I learned the first thing to put on the calendar every year should be my holidays, usually 3 weeks after Christmas and then another week mid-year.  You can take all 4 at once though I always found it best to have a week away about 6-8 months apart from the longer holiday. ROL teaches that you do not fully unwind  from work and have time to refresh if you take less than 3 weeks away. And, ideally you do not stay in touch with work via Smartphone or email.

Plan travel carefully, especially getting away and re-entry. The second day after a trip or any energy expending activity should ideally not be a high demand day because that will be when energy levels drop and peak performance becomes difficult. If you don’t guard this, what suffers will be your health and your relationships with spouse and family.

Normal week:

  • At least 1 day off completely from work, (ideally 2)
  • At least 4 nights without meetings or work in which to relax and relate to family and friends
  • You map the high energy times in your week and make sure you rest before them
  • Do something relaxing on the night before your day off E.g. Friday night before Saturday. (The key to a good day off is winding down the night before.)
  • Have some activity in your life in which you can relax and totally lose yourself (sport, reading, gardening).
  • Make sure you are eating healthy nutritious food 80% of the time
  • Make sure you are getting some regular exercise (at least walking 30 minutes 4 times per week)

25 – 35 day Cycles

High energy people can work hard for up to 35 days (5 weeks) before they find themselves tired and not performing at their best. Others will start to fade a bit earlier. It is a matter of genes, family demands and mental and emotional capacity. No-one can keep on going forever or they will get sick, make poor decisions, put pressure on relationships, find they forget how to relax or can even become addicted to adrenalin.

To determine your work capacity you need to monitor yourself carefully and also ideally have a mentor who helps you to be self aware enough to realise when you are starting to fade. Don’t be like me and try to prove to everyone that you are a high capacity 35 days type when your natural rythm is more like 28. This is about self discovery and,with time and practice, self-empowerment.

So, every 25 – 35 days (whatever number fits you) plan a long weekend (3 nights) in which you take time out and do something different, something that you look forward to and get your mind and emotions away from work.

Rhythm of Life is very challenging for those who have allowed themselves to become defined by their work. Workaholics struggle not to work. They are energised by work. Often they are addicted to the purpose and adrenalin rush that their work gives them. However, it is rare for such people to have health happening across their life. The cost they pay for ignoring their Rhythm of Life is measured in poor health, weight problems, family relationship conflicts, inability to relax and often a lack of close friends.

If you are married as well as all of the above, you need to factor in at least 2 and ideally 3X2 night breaks (mini honeymoons, just you and your spouse) away from children, home and work throughout the year. The pressures of senior management positions takes more of a toll on marriages than anyone realises and these ‘honeymoons’ will go a long way to safeguarding the most important relationship in your life, your marriage.

     How have you learned to become aware and co-operate with the natural  rhythms of your life?

 

Rhythm Of Life In The Workplace

Rhythm of Life In The Workplace

I doubt that any of this Rhythm of Life (ROL) information is relevant to many under 35. It was around that age that I first noticed that my pants were a little tighter than usual and for the first time ever I thought about having to watch myweight. I also noticed my hair receding and that Idid not bounce back as easily from 3 post-midnight bedtimes in a row. My wife and I had 3 children, work was very busy and life was very full. For me it was the onset of middle age and I have to admit it was a little scarey!

It was in this period that I began to develop bad habits. Between work and family commitments I had no time for myself and so my emotional and physical health suffered. I stopped doing any regular exercise, I put on weight and found myself continually tired and often just functioning. I just put it down to busyness and having a young family but patterns were developing that became quite disastrous for someone like me with a strong work ethic who wore his busyness as a badge of honour.

Mostly ROL is something that business and professional people become interested in in their 40′s and particularly in the 5 years leading up to 50. It is said that how you prepare yourself in the 5 years leading up to 50 will determine the success or otherwise of the rest of your life.

Rhythm of Life refers to the unique natural rhythms that are part of all our lives. The more aware you are and cooperate with your rhythm of life the better you will manage your energy levels for peak performance at work and to enable you to have energy for your family and for things you love to do.

Rhythm of Life in the Workplace

The core of this concept is that each person has capacity to work hard for between 25 and 35 days (assuming at least one day off per week is maintained, regular sleep and exercise, and normal annual holidays are taken). After the 25 – 35 day period it is important to have a 2-3 day period where there is low demand so you can relax, disengage and replenish at a deeper level. Without this extra mini break it becomes harder to replenish in sleep and regular days off, and without doubt productivity at work is diminished.

Everyone has a rhythm of life!

None of us is a machine. Even people of high capacity who seem to be always on the go have days when they have less energy and less ability to focus than they would ideally like, while on other days they seem to have limitless energy.

I realise that each of us has a unique journey of self discovery. Your rhythm of life will be different to mine. However you do have a rhythm of life and my belief is that the more you are aware of it and as much as possible cooperate with it, the more productive you will be. Also you will be less likely to suffer from burnout or other stress induced illness.

This is a journey of self discovery which will allow you to become more self aware, more emotionally intelligent and more personally present in any given moment.

In my experience this journey requires: a willingness to grow and change, a skilled mentor to assist you, a commitment to self reflection and time. If you are in a busy leadership role  it could take you up to 2 years to be able to read and fully cooperate with the rhythms of your life.

For me, this has been quite a journey, but well worth it for the outcomes I have seen some of which include: greater capacity and energy for peak performance, energy to enjoy family times, able to get to the end of the year and enjoy a fun holiday rather than being totally exhausted, greater creativity, finding regular ways to replenish physically and emotionally, and the ability to be far more emotionally present and focused in any given situation.

I’d love to hear your comments and questions about your Rhythm of Life.

 

5 Dangers Of 21st Century Living

If the only time you give yourself to really unwind is on annual holiday then the chances are you will never really unwind. Digital mobile technology, with iPads and Smart phones, has made it harder to get away from work and relax. I read today that by 2014 more mobile internet searches will be done than from a desktop. Many people are potentially addicted to being connected to the internet (and therefore tied to work) and feel incomplete if they are out of contact even for a day.

SmartphonesThis idea is starting to gain some traction as seen in a recent article by Scott Belsky in which he raises some powerful questions including ‘What has happened to downtime?’

What might happen to our world if we forget how to take time out to stop, to replenish and just be still?

We are in a cyber age with a 24 hour news cycle, 24 hour money markets and a global economy where national identity and issues are often dwarfed by multi-nationalism and advances in technology with which noone can keep pace.

As a keen observer of 21st Century life I detect some dangers and some potential answers which I would like to flag in this article.

5 Dangers Of 21st Century Living

  1. A loss of thinking time – by this I mean time to reflect, to grapple with issues until we get to the heart of a problem to truly solve it. We have computers to do the analysis of a zillion facts and we think once the facts are analysed and we have all the data then we can make decisions. But statistics and data needs to be interpreted by careful critical thinking of which there is a dearth. The dumbing down of journalism, education, philosophy and of belief systems in a highly visual entertainment age is producing a populace who are technically advanced but do not necessarily have the guiding principles by which to assess whether something is good or bad, helpful or harmful, important or worthless in the long term.
  2. A loss of the sense of wonder of being human – This is a by-product of the speed of change and technological advancement. Despite all the incredible advances, social demographers tell us that the gap between rich and poor is widening. More people are struggling to make a living and feel that they are falling behind in lifestyle choices and opportunity. There is an underlying stress building up across humanity, especially in the Western world, which has the effect of eroding hope and undermining a sense of wonder. While there are amazing developments happening in our world much of humanity is feeling more vulnerable and less valued.
  3. A loss of understanding of the processes of life – Some otherwise natural things can be sped up a little, e.g.  the growth of a chicken from egg to when it is ready to be eaten. However many natural aspects of the human condition cannot be lasered or microwaved into being.  There seems to be less understanding of how life really works, how character is formed, what it takes and how long it takes to build a strong relationship or to heal a broken heart. Increasingly people want things instantly. Childhood innocence has been eroded and sexualised by marketers and movie makers, with parents left unsure of clear guidelines.  These and many other aspects of healthy human development take time to develop; more like the pace a tree grows than a production line producing another car or blueray recorder.
  4. A loss of understanding of the natural rhythm of life – We try to cram so much into our lives somehow afraid that we may miss out, and we often do not understand the need for downtime, for breaks, to relax and unwind, to replenish our soul. The crazy busy lives many lead come with a toll which is being paid in medication, various kinds of illegal and prescription drugs, relationship breakdown and other kinds of inner turmoil.
  5. Increasing mental health issues - 25% of all Income Protection Insurance claims in Australia are now due to psychological injuries (such as depression, stress, panic attacks, etc). Experts tell us that 1 in 4 will suffer from mental illness at some period in their life. So many are overwhelmed by life, by information overload and by the stress of going for more success.

Are there answers and where do they lie?

I am not advocating going back to the 1950′s when life was simpler and much slower paced. I love technology and the incredible advances that are being made every day.

However, I believe that to be truly human it is necessary to learn to disengage, unwind and replenish regularly. E.g. I’m switching my BlackBerry off on Sundays, and not having it in my bedroom at night. This goes back to old concepts of one day a week to rest and renew, like the sabbath rest in Judaism. In a highly automated and now digital technological age we are deluded if we think we can treat oursleves like  mechanical automatons. We are human beings not machines.

Other answers include: learning how to build strong relationships, belonging to healthy community, having clear values to guide your life and decisions, and learning to uncover and work with your natural rhythm of life.

 

What do you think about these issues? I’d love to hear your comments.

 

 

Rhythm of Life – A Journey of Self Discovery

I came across the concept that there are rhythms to my life when I was working as a busy CEO of a large Not-for-Profit organisation, with a staff of 40, 1000 members, 3 – 5 public presentations per week to prepare and deliver, 5 overseas trips per year to build strategic national and international partnerships.

I am an introvert. By that I mean I replenish on my own, alone. Being with people is good and important and enjoyable for me, but also exhausting and draining emotionally. (An extrovert is someone who replenishes best with people. It is interesting that most significant leaders are introverts.)

I was passionate about helping people and it was my pattern to throw myself into my work with little consideration of myself or my family. After a few years I found that quite often I would come to days off or free evenings and be too tired to enjoy relaxing with my family. I would sit down to watch television and feel all the energy draining out of my body, often sitting in the same position for an hour or more without moving, almost frozen. I would sometimes find it difficult to enjoy animated dinner conversation with my family.

As you might imagine this state of affairs was not conducive to building a great marriage and family life. In the process of working so hard over 15 years to build an organisation to help people, I had forgotten how to fully relax. Often when I did have time to myself, I would not know how to spend it productively. The only time I fully stopped was on our 3 week annual holidays (and that was not always fun).

I engaged a mentor

The organisation I was leading was going very well but the cost to me and my family was too great. So, I engaged a mentor who introduced me to new ways of thinking about organising my work. His philosophy was that the health and well being of the key leader is critical to the overall health of the organisation. He encouraged me to see the benefits for everyone if I planned my worklife so that it revolved around self care strategies. I remember how strange (but good) it felt the first time I started planning a year by marking down our family holidays.

My mentor encouraged me to become aware of any patterns to my energy levels. I mapped out the high energy times in my week, or month. It took time to tune in and become aware of myself, but over a year I began to become more self aware. I started to reflect more about what I had done if I became super tired. I identified that I found certain situations more emotionally taxing than others. E.g. dealing with difficult people and counselling people with problems.

I began to discover a lot about myself:

  • That not every week is the same therefore the energy required was not the same.
  • I had established patterns of daily and weekly behaviour which were not all helping me.
  • I had no regular commitment to self reflection which is crucial for personal growth and change.
  • Only I could change my daily and weekly patterns.
  • I did not get much exercise and so was unfit which often limited my capcity to focus.
  • I learned a lot about how my work patterns affected my health and relationships.
  • I learned that big results can come from seemingly small changes. E.g. I learned that one of the keys to enjoying a good day off was to wind down the night before. So, I cancelled all meetings on the night before my day off. It was amazing how winding down and getting a good rest enabled me to wake with energy so I actually felt like going out and doing something recreational with my wife and family on my day off.
  • Much much more

What is Rhythm of Life?

Rhythm of Life refers to the unique natural rhythms that are part of all our lives. The more aware you are and cooperate with your rhythm of life the better you will manage your energy levels for peak performance at work and to enable you to have energy for your family and those you love.

The core of this concept is that each person has capacity to work hard for between 25 and 35 days (assuming one day off per week is maintained and normal annual holidays are planned). After the 25 – 35 day period it is important to have a 2-3 day period where there is low demand so you can relax, disengage and replenish at a deeper level. Without this mini break it becomes harder to replenish in sleep and regular days off, and without doubt productivity at work is diminished.

In a future article I will outline more specifically the way Rhythm of Life has been working for me.

Everyone has a rhythm of life!

None of us is a machine. Even people of high capacity who seem to be always on the go have days when they have less energy and less ability to focus than they would ideally like, while on other days they seem to have limitless energy.

I realise that each of us has a unique journey of self discovery. Your rhythm of life will be different to mine. However you do have a rhythm of life and my belief is that the more you are aware of it and as much as possible cooperate with it, the more productive you will be.

This is a journey of self discovery which will allow you to become more self aware, more emotionally intelligent and more personally present in any given moment.

In my experience this journey requires: a willingness to grow and change, a mentor to assist you, a commitment to self reflection and time. If you are in a busy leadership role  it could take you up to 2 years to be able to read and cooperate with the rhythms of your life.

This has been quite a journey, but well worth it for the outcomes I have seen.

 

I’d love to hear your response to these thoughts in the comment box below….