What’s Your Recharge

It amazes me how often I have to tell a player or client to take a breath.  Slow down and recharge.  Recovery seems to be something that people just don’t fully appreciate or understand.  Recovery is vital to optimal growth.  Whether we’re talking about training, learning, working, or anything else that requires a high amount of output, there must be an equal amount of downtime after.   The human body is pretty amazing and we can go hard for long periods of time and not see negative effects.  In fact you’ll probably see a lot of growth early on during stretches of engaged hard work.  However, eventually our bodies and minds will begin to fail us.  We won’t feel as energized, focused, strong, or motivated to continue the grind.  This is when we lose momentum and often quit.  

Now, let me be clear, I’m all for hard work.  I think that the only way we get ahead in this world is with focused hard work.  However, for every stretch of hard work we do, there must be an equal and opposite recovery phase.  For example, if you’re in a strength training cycle leading up to a big meet or event.  You can power forward for only a handful of weeks before the body requires a break and needs to de-load or take a break.  This is why programming is so important when preparing for a new sports season, a lifting meet or competition so to allow yourself to peak at the right time.  Let’s say you’ve got a deadline at work that has pushed the number of hours you normally work up and increased the stress in the office.  If there isn’t a recovery period after finishing the project and you continue to work at that extreme for too long your work will suffer. 

This leads me to my question for this blog; what’s your recharge?  How do you balance your aspirations for success with the proper recovery to allow for you to continue to climb your mountain and not plateau?  Do you do small recharges, or larger ones?  Do you plan them out ahead of time or just try to fit them in where you can?  

I utilize a number of different recharges.  I try to plan them out in advance and schedule them in so I don’t skip them when something in my life happens to pop up.  With how busy my schedule consistently is, it’s real easy to get stuck doing more work if I don’t schedule my breaks.  This also keeps me more focused when I’m working and allows me to feel comfortable unplugging when the time is right.  I see a lot of people not scheduling breaks or down time and find themselves stuck in this cycle of there’s still work to do.  I hate to break it to you, but there’s going to be work tomorrow too.  It can wait. 

One of my most important recharges is my workout routine.  This 60 to 90 minutes gives me a mental break from the daily grind and stress of owning multiple businesses and allows me to focus on me and my health.  While exercising too hard for too long can lead to physical breakdown and potential injury, a well managed training program can maximize your energy, mental focus, health, and stress.  Not to mention it keeps you youthful and strong.  Without my daily workout I feel slow and unmotivated to do much.  I also find that I’m more moody and irritable when I don’t workout.  This makes me much less pleasant to be around.

Another one of my recharges is my monthly massage.  At the beginning of each month I get a massage and it resets me going into a new month.  I’d love to get them more often, but unfortunately I’m not financially in that place right now.  So, I’ll just have to make do with once a month.  This massage is also a vital part of my training regiment that allows me to push myself and then recover from the stress I put on my body.  Without my recovery time I wouldn’t be able to push myself as hard during my workouts.  This hour also gives me time to focus on my breathing and just think.  There is a lot of positives that come from my monthly massage.

Another small recharge for me is trying to read a book a month.  The time I spend reading expands my mind and allows me to think and try new things.  I tend to read books that are aimed at improving some area of my life, business, coaching, or mindset.  I read these kinds of book because they provide value to me and my growth as a person, leader, and teacher.  If I’m just looking for quick entertainment I tend to watch a movie or show.  The books give my mind a break from the typical thoughts that are crashing around in my head on a daily basis.

The final recharge is my vacation recharge.  This is what I would consider the big reset.  I recently just took a trip to the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee and it was the perfect long weekend.  I got to spend time in the woods being in the moment watching the sunrise.  I got to spend time with my wife and son.  I got to spend time with my mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law and two nephews.  It was the perfect balance of me time and family time that allowed me to destress from the day-to-day that happens at home and get away from everything going on in my life.  I woke up at 5:30a every morning (which is actually earlier than I normally wake up) and not once did I feel tired or drained.

It’s pretty awesome what a little quiet time in the woods can do.  Each morning I got up and took off into Smokey Mountains National Park while my wife and son slept.  I drove the hour drive to the top of some of the various peaks in the park and set up my camera gear.  The cool morning mountain air was clean and crisp on my face as the morning light began to change on the horizon.  I love sunrise and sunset because you have to wait for it.  There’s not rushing it to happen,  There’s no control over it, it’s simply a time in your life where all you can do is wait for it.  Knowing this allows me to be in the moment and not worried about the past or future.  I just take everything in.  The way the trees blow in the wind.  The colors of the sky, the leaves, and hillsides.  The sounds of passing animals all add to this special moment.  Then I take my pictures and head back to our condo getting home just shortly after everyone wakes up in time to start the day.

So as the next few months pass and we close in on the end of 2020 I want you to spend time thinking about ways you recharge.  What are your ways to get your mind and body in the right place to attack the next phase of your climb to greatness?  When was the last time you took time to recharge your battery?  Do you have a recharge planned or scheduled in the future?  If you haven’t recharged lately or don’t plan these into your life, maybe it’s time to look into this.  See how you feel after a long weekend away from social media and the craziness that is all around us every day.  Find a way to let the stress of everyday disappear and get your body and mind in a state of ready.  No matter what your mountain looks like, you're going to need time at different altitudes to adjust to the changes.  Don’t just fly up the mountain, give yourself time to adapt to the changing environment and enjoy the view.  You might be surprised how a little break can lead to a massive surge of positive energy.  Be great!