Many of you know that I’ve been a first responder for more than 40 years.  One of the hallmarks of the profession is that we try to keep people healthy by using a process called rehab. 

It is a physical time out during extended events or during poor weather conditions to allow our people time to recover, hydrate and refuel.  You don’t need to be a first responder to need rehab time.  Making time to get away from your daily responsibilities to refresh yourself and recharge and refocus your brain is critical to your long term mental health.

Stress and poor decision making come from a variety of factors, many building up slowly over time.  We live in a 24/7/365 ‘always on’ culture, which seemingly prevents us from escaping and enjoying periods of prolonged quiet and reflection.

The relentless impact of stress on our adrenal system, messed up circadian rhythms impacting sleep and rest all contribute to poor health, weight issues and chronic fatigue. Factor in long work hours, voluntarily taking on tasks or overtime and the expected downtime never happens.

There is no prize at the end of the line for working 90 hours a week for years other than poor health and potentially a pre-mature death.

Your body can take this for a while, some even wear this torture as a badge of honor, until the inevitable long-term health impacts occur…your brain however, is not so fortunate.  Mood, critical thinking, creativity and overall clarity all suffer from chronic overload. 

Email, phone calls, office drop bys, meetings…every interruption creates a decrease in focus.  A study showed that every time you are interrupted during a high critical thinking project it took an average of 20 minutes to fully get back on task. Get interrupted twice an hour even for 1-2 minutes for a ‘quick question’ and you’ve blown an hour of your day.

No wonder you’re drained at the end of the day/week and feel like you have accomplished very little.

So how do you rehab your brain for maximum performance? 

Short term/daily:

Start by building in breaks to your day that take you away from the stressful tasks.   Read something not work related.  Listen to music for 15 minutes.  Take a walk or build in an exercise break in the middle of the day, even if you can’t get out of the office you can do some stretching.  

Mid-term / weekly monthly:

Schedule a down day to refresh…and keep the appointment!  Stay away from the office and shut off the devices.  Work on yourself, your goals, your relationships, just build a boat in your basement like Gibbs from NCIS … anything not work related.

Long term:

Schedule and TAKE vacations without the laptop, without calling in constantly and without answering emails. Also, get into some form of personal or professional development habit, develop friends outside of the job, work on developing a hobby, go on a date with your spouse/significant other.

Self-serving note:  If you think you could benefit from some help with this, perhaps coaching might be right for you. Let’s connect to see if working together makes sense. Visit us @ TakeTheStrongRoad.com and grab a complimentary 30-minute Discovery call.

However you do it, make sure that you take time to step back from the day-to-day craziness to regain your composure, your perspective and maintain your creativity.  If you want to stay on top and have a long and healthy life, take time to rehab your brain.

Be well,

#TakeTheStrongRoad