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Answer: You look for an opportunity to charge it.
It is easy to tell when your cell phone needs to be charged, because it has a very distinct battery meter. Unfortunately, you do not have a battery meter to tell you when you need a recharge.
So you end up simply plowing head down through your day to the point where, by the time you arrive home, you have at best 3%-5% remaining on your human energy battery for the people and things that matter most to you.
The primary reason is that, even though you may understand the importance of intentional recovery, you likely do not consistently take the time to build it into your day. This may be because you view recovery as a lack of production, weakness, or you tell yourself the story that you don’t have enough time in the day to experience it. As a result, you put off it off until you believe there is enough time for it such as on the weekend or once you get to your vacation.
Think of intentional recovery as small micro-breaks (anything from 60 seconds to 15 minutes) that you can choose to take during your workday.
Using the battery analogy, keep in mind that your goal with each intentional recovery break is to simply gain back 1%-2% of charge on your human energy battery. The mistake people make is telling themselves that a recovery break should bring them back to full charge and into the ‘green’.
That means that, if you are currently showing up at home with 3%-5% (or less) charge on your human energy battery, your goal is to show up with 10%-12% charge. You do that by gaining 1%-2% charge back here and there during the course of your workday.
By choosing to do so, you will be showing up as a different person when you get home.
The missing link for almost everyone is the lack of a ‘recovery plan’. In the absence of a plan, it’s all too easy to keep pushing into the next stressful interaction or task rather than defaulting to the recovery modality that will provide the recharge you need.
It turns out that people know what works for them when it comes to quick recovery activities – deep breaths, drinking some water, standing up and stretching etc. This is not an ‘information’ problem, you simply need the cue and discipline to engage in these activities at the right moments throughout your day.
You want to engage in the recovery activity as soon after you have experienced the stress of a situation to metabolize that discomfort in real time and leverage it for personal growth.
Below is your ‘Personal Recovery Menu’ to complete and keep somewhere visible at your primary workstation. It will serve as your cue to recover along with instant recovery options to immediately choose from.
In doing so you will put yourself in a position to be at your best, more often for the people and things that matter most to you.
