Radical Recovery

by Deanna R. Davis, Ph.D.

I'm sure I am not alone. Others have, no doubt, experienced a fate similar to mine at some point in their lives. Here's what happened: My husband and I had traveled to one of our favorite cities with my sister and her husband to spend two days painting the town a rather striking shade of red, which I have dubbed "crimson with brick undertones." We were concluding our stay with a fabulous evening out--dinner and a trip to the theater.

The previous evening's festivities had ended at around 3:00 a.m., understandably compromising the potential for a good night's sleep. And, as is often the case during town-painting marathons, none of us had been adhering to a healthy diet by any stretch of the imagination. Likewise, we were having way too much fun to take a break for our accustomed workouts. But, life is short and so are weekends away. So, we valiantly charged ahead with the evening's plans, lacking a certain amount of energy and focus.

We felt exhausted and it showed. Truth be told, we looked like something the cat had only considered dragging in, but after careful deliberation, had decided to leave in a distasteful and unflattering pile out on the lawn. I guarantee you that my sister and her husband will be calling me as they read this, objecting to this unfair representation of their appearance that night. That is why I'm not answering my cell phone now or ever again. But I know the truth of the situation, and now, so do you.

Despite our ragged appearance, we had committed to our final tour through the night life, so we set out on our journey. We started at an artsy little Italian restaurant, where we consumed what I can only describe as a bakery case full of artisan breads, which we washed down with heaps and heaps of pasta. We left for the theater full, happy, and a bit tipsy on carbohydrates.

Since it was our last night together, we shared a toast to one another and headed in to see the show. We were awestruck by the theater itself--ornately decorated and a sight to behold. We eagerly anticipated what we knew would be a memorable performance. And indeed, the first fifteen minutes of it was extremely memorable. Great music, dancing, and special effects. I was intrigued, then impressed. And then, I was unconscious. In fact, we all were.

Well, maybe not totally unconscious. We had all entered that state you might recall from middle school when your history class was held right after lunch and you had the frequent privilege of watching dry black and white films in a warm, dark classroom. Such situations are no friend to alertness or attentiveness. We bravely, and collectively, fought off sleep. After all, the show was great, and this was our last big hurrah in the big city. Even more motivating was the fact that we had nearly required a co-signor to afford the tickets in the first place.

That being said, just think for a moment about the math equation here. Four exhausted people minus sleep, healthy food, and workouts, plus six thousand tons of carbohydrates (more or less). Add to that one glass of good cheer each, subtract every molecule of light in a dark, warm, cocoon-like theater, and what is your result? It equals four reluctantly slumbering show-goers. We had effectively emerged as the world champion head-bobbing team.

You know what I'm talking about here. It was one of those times when you think you're awake but you actually

keep hopelessly sinking into mini-coma states, much to your dismay. So, we would begrudgingly alternate between what felt like an REM sleep cycle and a startled state of semi-consciousness. For all I know, Beethoven's Fifth could have been booming in the background, with each of our heads taking part in an intricately, if not disturbingly, choreographed ballet. One that no one would really want to see.

When the show was over, we stumbled from the theater in a mass of yawns and blinks. Through drowsy eyes, we looked at each other saying, "That was good. I think." That night, we learned a valuable and rather unfortunate lesson. Both the body and the brain require recovery time, whether you're working hard or playing hard. And, if you don't provide them the necessary rest and rejuvenation they need, they will seek these things out at the most inopportune times, like during a highly anticipated evening out.

Building adequate recovery time into your life is one great technique for supporting peak performance and yielding better results in your life. It is just one of the many topics covered in Chapter four of Living With Intention. Here are a few ideas for building more recovery time into your life:

1) Time-outs

Time outs, or regular breaks throughout your day, are one of the most basic forms of recovery. They help you calm your mind and relax your body. You may have heard of the term "circadian rhythms," which are the body's natural system for regulating your sleep and wake cycles. You are probably less familiar with the term "ultradian rhythms," which are the energy and focus cycles you experience throughout the day. Research shows that your body experiences about 90 to 120 minutes of strong focus and high energy, followed by a 20-minute low point where you may feel less motivated, less energetic, and have difficulty concentrating. These rhythms are built in to prompt us to take a quick break from whatever we are doing to refresh ourselves both mentally and physically so that we can continue to perform well and yield positive results.

Start taking "time outs" every 90 to 120 minutes throughout the day, even if they are brief, seemingly insignificant amounts of time. Take a walk around the office. Practice deep breathing for a minute or two. Step outside and chat with a co-worker. Actually take your lunch break. Tell a joke. Read a quick article. Make a phone call to someone you care about. Whatever you can do to separate yourself from your work and your stress even for a few minutes will help refresh you, recharge your batteries, and reorient your mind to what needs to be done.

2) Reset Buttons

It's true that sometimes you will be absolutely be under the gun with a deadline, a crisis, or an overwhelming volume of deliverables. That is what can make life both exciting and challenging at times. What do you do then, when it's not practical to take structured recovery time? First, you need to evaluate whether this is truly one of those circumstances, or whether you are just falling into old patterns by thinking, "there's no rest for the weary." If you truly have to push through a period of time without significant recovery time, and you have made a conscious decision to keep going while the going is tough, it's time to turn to rituals or habits that provide built-in recovery time for your brain and your body.

To do this, just

identify one or two positive, energy-enhancing rituals that you can perform without thinking or needing to exercise any free will. These will be your reset buttons. Then, over the course of three or four weeks, practice your reset several times a day to make sure that you have mastered it and that you can utilize it any time you need a focus or energy "pick me up." Your ritual might be stretching or breathing in a certain way, saying a calming phrase to yourself several times, or performing a simple movement. You can choose any action that will work for you as a reset button. In general, reset buttons take less than a minute. Let's get real--if you can't find a minute to recharge your batteries, you are really in trouble.

I have had clients whose reset buttons involve lying on the floor for one minute with their feet on their chair, running in place for 15 seconds when they feel like...well...like they're running in place, or saying a mantra or singing a few bars of a motivating song in their mind. Whatever it is that serves as a reset button for you, choose one or two rituals that can help you use that reset today. Within a couple of weeks, with regular practice, your reset button will be both automatic and renewing.

3) Work-free Zones

The final practice of building recovery time into your life is setting iron-clad times and spaces that are work-free zones. You get to decide what that means to you but, in general, everyone needs to be able to look forward to periods of time and places where they can relish in the rest and rejuvenation that comes from a significant time out. To do this, you will choose a combination of evenings, weekends, holidays, vacations, or other key times to designate as work-free zones.

Accomplished success coaches and peak performance experts advocate the need for rest or recovery time as a key practice for achieving great outcomes in all areas of your life. What these practitioners have found, over many years of work with their clients, is that increased time off leads to greater productivity, better results, and often even more income. What a concept! This suggests that the more effectively you use your time away from work to truly rest and recover, the better the results you will have while you are there. You need rest opportunities to disconnect and disengage from work in order to effectively navigate the demands of work and life, and to feel good in the process. Give it a try and notice the tremendous benefits this practice will yield for you.

These three strategies--Time-outs, Reset Buttons, and Work-free Zones--are powerful tools for experiencing radical recovery on a regular basis.

NOTE: You are welcome to use this article online in electronic newsletters and e-zines as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info). If use of this article is desired in print, you must first contact Deanna Davis at Deanna@appliedinsight.net

Copyright 2005 Deanna R. Davis, PhD

About the author:

Deanna Davis, Ph.D., is an accomplished life coach, professional speaker, and author of Living With Intention: Designing a Wildly Fulfilling and Remarkably Successful Life. She is an admitted laughaholic and a strong proponent of adding chocolate as a key component of the USDA Food Pyramid. Visit Deanna online at www.deannadavis.net.

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