It has been a busy year here at Thrive! We’ve welcomed the addition of two new employees (Hahn and Katie), we’ve developed and deployed a number of new and exciting projects for our clients (with more in the works), and we’ve begun the process of over-hauling our Thrive Web Designs website. Beyond all of this we have continued supporting our clients with a variety of site support updates and customization’s.
Like yourself, we put a lot of time, thought, and energy into our work. Problem-solving, designing, coding, meeting with clients…the list goes on. With such high energy output having time for rest and relaxation is important. What was it Jack Nicholson so famously said in The Shinning? Oh yeah…
“All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy”
Running your business is a full-time job and then some. It is, without a doubt, easy to put off time for rest and relaxation. It seems that there is always something more you can do for your business and your customers. There is always an extra push you can make, one more puzzle to sort out, one extra task that when complete will lesson your load.
This isn’t a figment of your imagination. There is always something more that can be done.
And…there always will be.
Taking some time out for rest and relaxation and maintaining a proper work/life balance is critical to maintaining a healthy and refreshed mindset. It will not only benefit you as an individual, it will benefit your business.
Burnout is Real
When we neglect taking time out to focus on the other areas of our lives we ultimately become less productive, less capable of managing tasks efficiently, less sociable…less, less, less. You see what I’m driving at.
Constant focus on your work, without time for relaxing your mind and pursuing the other enjoyable aspects of your life, can lead to increased levels of stress and burnout.
Look, we understand it is so much easier to say, “Go on, take some time to relax!” than to make that a reality when you’re running a business. Your customers are counting on you to be there, your employees are counting on you to take care of all the myriad tasks that you do. It is a big responsibility.
And yet, that is the crux of it: they’re counting on you for all of the myriad things that you do, and they need you to be at your best. Without taking some time to refresh and maintain work/life balance, you’re ultimately doing yourself, your customers, and your employees a disservice.
Work/Life Balance Recharge
When you take time out to pursue other aspects of life…hobbies, time with family, road trips and outdoor adventures, whatever provides you enjoyment and stimulation…you’re providing your mind and body with healthy stimulation. You are not a machine. Allowing yourself time outside of work to pursue other activities not only recharges and refreshes you, it allows you to gain new insights and perspectives.
Let me flesh out an example for you that we can all relate to. You’ve been diligently working away at a difficult problem, coming at it from seemingly all angles, and yet you find yourself hitting roadblock after roadblock. It’s on your mind, churning away in the background, one of those nagging puzzles that just won’t leave you alone. Perhaps you’ve spent a few days chipping away at it and still you’ve come up empty.
Then, you take a hike, or spend a fair amount of time doing some completely different activity, something that engages your mind in a completely different fashion. You forget about what you were working on and allow your mind to roam, to take in new stimulus.
Suddenly the answer comes to you.
Sure, this is a rather contrived way to describe it, but most of us have experienced something similar to this at one point or another. By breaking away and allowing our mind to engage with something else we gain a new perspective or insight.
Labor Day
This Labor Day, we hope you’ll be able to take some time to recharge and refresh. You’ll not only benefit yourself, you’ll benefit your customers and employees. Your job, and all the things that you do, are demanding. You want to come at it with a clear and focused mind, with fresh insight and perspective, and taking a little down time will help you achieve that.
Until next time,
Jason Jacobs
Thrive Web Designs, your Boise Web Design Team
