Rest vs. Laziness

This week is a week of resting for me and my husband.

I could tell myself that I am being lazy. Heaven knows I have done that a lot in my life.

“You are trying to build a business here!! You are missing out on over a week’s worth of “work”!”

“Instead of making money you are wasting money!”

“You should be focusing on what’s next for you business.”

“Your clients can’t even reach you! You should be there for them!”

All thoughts I have had leading up to this trip.

But for as much as our brain wants to tell us all the things we are doing wrong when we are resting, we should give at least equal airtime to all the benefits resting provides.

Here are just a few examples….

Benefits of restful sleep include:

• Get sick less often.
• Stay at a healthy weight.
• Lower your risk for serious health problems, like diabetes and heart disease.
• Reduce stress and improve your mood.
• Think more clearly and do better in school and at work.
• Get along better with people.

In a world where we are all near constantly looking at screens, resting our eyes is a good choice. The recommended rest is the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes take a 20 second break to look at something 20 feet away. Another suggestion is resting your eyes for 15 minutes every 2 hours of screen time.

Closing your eyes calms your mind and relaxes your muscles and organs. It has been called “quiet wakefulness”. When you take time to rest your eyes, you are basically telling your body it’s safe and can take a break from focusing or thinking.

In an exercise program, rest days are the days for allowing the muscles to grow. As we exercise we are actually creating micro tears in the muscle fibers. During our periods of rest the muscles have time to restore and repair. This is when the tissues are able to heal and grow even stronger.

Incorporating rest and relaxation into our work life has many benefits as well. Some include:

• Renewing our energy levels
• Restoring and repairing our body
• Improving our mood
• Increasing focus
• Increasing creativity

So what is the difference between true rest and just plain laziness?

The difference is results.

One way to find out is by how you think of yourself while you are doing it.

You can rest and have a high opinion of yourself and your work. No justification is required.

When you are being lazy, or resting before your results, you require excuses and explanations while dreading the amount of work you haven’t done.

Don’t get me wrong here!! I have spent the majority of my life chasing my worth and value in the results I can produce. Do more to provide more value and be of more worth!! There are times I still manage to get caught up in that.

But what I am talking about this time is more an internal measure than external.

Laziness, we tell ourselves, is resting. But the truth is it’s laziness because we are resting ahead of time. We haven’t done the work. We haven’t made the effort.

Often our laziness is a result of the thoughts we have about the work that we think we need to do or want to do. In the process we come up with invalid reasons for not doing it. We call it “rest” ahead of time because we predetermine the difficulty that awaits us while we are really creating a greater amount of stress from our procrastination. This in turn makes us work harder to complete projects on a designated timeline.

But what if we didn’t have to create that sense of stress to accomplish things? What if we just determined that we could finish the task and then rest?

If we are taking advantage of regular times of rest then our productivity while working can be greatly increased. But this also requires focus and effort when we are working. It requires some discipline.

The good news is even if we aren’t good at that focus and discipline yet, we can improve. Every time we don’t “feel like” doing something and we do it anyway we are overcoming laziness. And just like our muscles, the more we exercise that ability, the stronger we get.

You can pack your day full to achieve your desired results knowing that rest is coming afterwards. What are we trying to produce? Producing those results and then resting is never laziness.

So what is the difference between true rest and just plain laziness?
The difference is results.
One way to find out is by how you think of yourself while you are doing it.
You can rest and have a high opinion of yourself and your work. No justification is required.
When you are being lazy, or resting before your results, you require excuses and explanations while dreading the amount of work you haven’t done.

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I’m Michelle. I am learning how to minimize my overwhelm, perfectionism, and people-pleasing and I am ready to help you do the same. I’m a certified Life Coach and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Come with me and learn how.

Often our laziness is a result of the thoughts we have about the work we think we need to do or want to do. In the process we come up with invalid reasons for not doing it. We call it “rest” ahead of time because we predetermine the difficulty that awaits us while we are really creating a greater amount of stress from our procrastination. This in turn makes us work harder to complete projects on a designated timeline.