Stress
Scripture
“And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to your lifespan?” (Matthew 6:27)
Thought
About two years ago, I wrote an article about how the theory of periodization can transform the work of leaders.
In short, periodization is a philosophy used for physical training in exercise physiology. It is in the backbone of research for how muscles grow and how we develop physical strength over time. The process of periodization goes like this:
Isolate the muscle you want to grow
Stress the muscle - (put it under weight)
Rest and recover
Repeat - (adding a little more weight each time)
As you read this email every week, you are a part of a community of leaders in a variety of industries who fully understand STRESS.
Everyone in this group knows what stress feels like. Your job is stressful. Your objectives are stressful. Your plans for the future are on the other side of stress. Leading the operations is stressful. Leading people is stressful. There’s not a single person reading this email who will sidestep stress this week. It’s become such the norm, that we’re forgetting how we ever lived without it.
The youthful part of us would love to never experience stress again. We wish we could go back to simpler times, stress-free living when we didn’t have so much responsibility or awareness of everything going on.
Our perpetual stress is likely more a symptom that we’re missing a step in our own periodization process. There is a key step for all leaders to sustain our pace and our growth.
We’ve got to rest.
Hubris would say you can keep running at blazing speed forever. Wisdom would say you need to pair blazing speed with purposeful rest. The combination of both will take you further, faster and most importantly will preserve your health on the inside so you can lead with longevity.
Everything on your calendar is important - we get that. But who is going to take care of those things when you are burned out on the side of the road soon?
Prioritize rest this week. If you think you can’t afford it, you really can’t afford not to do it.