Rest and margin are essential parts of a solid productivity system. When we don’t have enough rest, our internal battery has no chance to recharge. When we don’t have margin our battery is constantly draining to zero and we need more time to recharge.
Nowadays rest is mostly about mental and emotional time out. Not so many people need physical rest. Resting purpose is to clear head, cool down mind, have a deep breath and stop “running”. I see its purpose in bringing mind to a calm state after a storm of hard work.
Rest comes in very different forms. We all are different. What is rest for one could be draining for others. For many people gym is the way to recharge, for me it’s a drainer. For many people, going to a party or concert is recharge. For me these are drainers. On the other hand walking in a park or having a cosy dinner with friends is a rest for me. There are many more examples. See what works for you and include those activities or leisures into your life regularly.
Margin is about preventing you from going over the limits. It’s a space between reasonable load and limits. If we’re overloaded than we have no margin. Why does this happen? Because we commit to too many things. First we agree to things we don’t have space for. Then we exhaust ourselves trying to handle those things. Then we live in such situation for too long draining and draining our mental and physical batteries. Guess what happens next? Yes, lots of bad things start happening to our health both physical and mental.
Embracing margin and rest in weeks
Weeks and days is the horizon where things usually fall apart. Either you have some underestimated tasks, true emergencies, or just an unproductive day, the temptation usually is to put in more hours and get things done. This actually works in a short run. But never plays good in a long run.
I suggest you to define margins and rest periods upfront as part of your ideal week. Once you have this, try to follow the rule of 2 days: if you had to sacrifice your margin and rest today, then make sure next day this doesn’t happen. If you have to, then change the plan for the next day to undercommit. Move things to other days or even out of current week.
Planning quarters with margin and rest in mind
At week level margin and rest are at micro level. At quarter horizon we’re moving a bit higher and they have a different meaning. Here it’s important to have a period when no (or almost no) active action happens. Instead, this period is dedicated to review current quarter and plan upcoming one.
I find that a week is a perfect period for this. So every last week in a quarter I dedicate to reviewing and planning. I stop actively acting which allows me to switch from execution to strategizing and planning in a very natural way.
Draft sustainable year
Moving one more step up we appear at year horizon. Here we operate by intentions for the year and vacations.
Let’s start with vacations. For me they represent margin and rest at a year horizon. They include both long vacations and weekend trips. You may have no exact plans or destinations to visit. Anyway booking those days helps a lot to see your real capacity in the year and your recharging points in time. My experience says that 2 longer vacations and 2-3 trips for extended weekends is a perfect spot. I understand that this may be tough. Plan according to your abilities. Important is to book time for this trips in advance, otherwise you’ll get caught in execution and will have a hard time finding good spot in your schedule for them.
Year intentions define how loaded the year will be. The larger and ambitious they are, the more loaded year will be. Obviously intentions are not carved in stone and you can either ease some of them or drop one or two altogether later in the year. But this probably would be discouraging at least to some degree. I’m not saying you should aim low and feel like underachiever. Just be wise and try to justify expected load realistically.
It’s vital to organize your life so that you have rest and margin on each horizon. Together they allow you to have sustainable pace and keep moving without burn outs.