In weight lifting there is a strategy called the “deload week.”
It’s simple - once in a while you do about half of the work you normally do in the gym. You still go to the gym, you just lift less weight, or lift the same weight fewer times.
The idea is to give your body some rest so that it can recover. You come back with more motivation and energy to punch through plateaus - and avoid the burnout that comes with hard training every week.
During the ritual that spawns all good ideas (taking a shower), I realised the same thing applies to business.
We all drive ourselves so hard every week trying to grow our business and keep clients happy. Yes many of us never stop and chill for a bit.
It’s even worse during COVID, when travel isn’t as common and most trips (breaks!) have been cancelled.
For me, this week is a gym deload week. And now it’s also a mental deload week.
Like a gym deload, work is still being done - it’s just the work with lower mental impact. Things that don’t require intense concentration, and that don’t get my heart rate up and increase anxiety.
I’m picking off all these tasks that have been sitting on my to-do list for ages, but never made the cut because something else was more important or urgent.
Those big or “urgent” tasks (that are always more urgent in our minds) are not an option. They’ll be done next week.
Many of my deload tasks are actually fun. And I’m finding that even just the decision to chill and avoid hard things is making me happy and more relaxed.
I reckon you might also benefit from scheduling a deload week :)
And if you need a schedule, in gym land it’s usually 6 weeks on, 1 week off.
