2013-03-08

The value of rest and review

I remember a time when my days were less full of action and todos. One habit I had back then was to sit down for about an hour and review the day.

I miss that opportunity to learn each day everything that can be learned from that day. How you look at people when they are telling you something or how you respond; what decisions you take and even what you are ignoring - there is so much that can be improved. But without reflection the chance is so high to make the same mistake a hundred times before even getting aware of a problem.

More than a year of very intensive work has been passed by running at full power and I can't even recall most things that happened.

When running at full speed for too long a few things happen:
  • Efficiency and productivity is reduced because
    • You get slower
    • You get easier distracted
    • Getting back to focus gets more difficult
    • Frustration about the reduced productivity drags you down even more
    • Trying to compensate by drinking more coffee and the like after a while that will just make you nervous but not more productive or simply doesn't work any more.
  • Interests drop down sleeping and eating
  • Fallback to old well-established core habits
  • Health problems
    • Headache
    • Pain in the back
    • Muscle tensions
    • Muscle convulsions
    • ...
All this makes it quite impossible to grow and instead sooner or later you are exhausted and remain with the brain content of a street dog.

In extreme situations only the habits and philosophies remain that are very well established and implemented.

On the other hand if you have a lot of time and can do everything slowly, you have more control of fine-tuning in everything you do - ranging from your big life-plan (if you have one) to the dialog with the cashier at the local coffee shop. You will be more present and everything will be of better quality. And when you review your day, you can think about situations where you could not get the best out of it and elaborate better approaches. While having enough rest and enough sleep you can even elaborate topics in your dreams.

Related posts: Getting up early and quality, Distractions and sleep, Who cares?, Get focused with 3 questions.

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