How to Intentionally Plan Rest into Your Bustling Schedule
Are you looking to intentionally integrate rest into your packed schedule?
Need more support with prioritizing your rest? I invite you to attend the Intentional Rest Planning Ritual.
There are five steps to integrating rest into an already packed schedule. These steps include time, planning, commitment, review, follow-through.
Time: Rest is often pushed to the end of the to-do list for busy people. It may seem counter-intuitive to an already overwhelmed schedule, but you need to schedule in time for rest and for planning rest. Otherwise, rest will find its way to you, but most-likely in a form that is inconvenient, stressful, and not the way you would prefer to take time off if you had the choice.
Have you ever had to take days, or even a week off, sick because you pulled too many almost-all-nighters or you’re hit with the worst headaches because you can’t pull yourself away from your screen to give your eyes a rest?
Planning: The optimal way to integrate rest into a busy schedule is to plan for it ahead of time. That way it is baked into your existing systems and you don't spend energy making decisions on the spot about when and how to rest.
Have you ever been lost in a sea of deadlines, deliverables, and pinging notifications with no end in sight? You know you need a break, but you’ve already hit capacity and you don’t know exactly what you need to feel refreshed. You just pushed through, ending your day utterly exhausted at best, severly burnt out at worst, preparing for an evening of watching Netflix. You know this cycle isn’t fulfilling, you know it’s making things worse, but you have no idea what you need to truly recharge and you’re too tired to figure it out now…
Does that experience sound familiar? Planning for your rest before the stress, overwhelm, and mid-project whirlwind sets in. Pick a quiet time, sit down with a pen and paper, and write out your rest blueprint ahead of time so that when those moments of tunnel vision and decision fatigue set in, all you have to do is follow the instructions your past self to helpfully laid out.
Not sure what you need to rest? Looking for introspection activities, likeminded community, and a guided processes to planning for your future self?
Register for the Intentional Rest Planning Ritual!
Commitment: Often, planning alone won't break a habit. Having a system or ritual to support your commitment to a plan will help to you break out of the cycle of making a plan just to forget about it a few days later.
Do you often start Sundays with high hopes to adopt a new productivity method, scheduling system, or note-taking method? Do you often hit Thursday defeated, realizing that the method just doesn’t ‘click’ and you’re more stressed than ever, since you’ve spent time you don’t have trying to make it work all week? Unsure of where to turn or how to have gotten all of your time and effort back?
Commitment can come from within and without, the IRP Workshop addresses both! Because you’re moved through a process and activities that guide you to introspect on your own needs, you won’t be trying to fit someone else’s ideal rest routine into your own life. Instead, you will be handcrafting your own missing piece to your downtime-puzzle.
On the outside, the time and money you have spent planning will work as an external motivator, since you have invested in yourself. Piecing together a system through internet tips and tricks can feel very unrewarding in the end. This is due to a lack of personalization, plus you haven’t had to make a commitment to someone else to show up!
Review: Any good plan needs revision. Our lives our fluid and nothing we have created in the past should be set in stone. Once your plan is put together, it is important to review it frequently in order to revise sections that may not work for you, as well as to keep the information fresh in your mind.
Follow-through: Finally, you have to do what you've planned and committed to. No one but you can make you take action, but it will be easier to acknowledge and honour your needs for rest with all of the previous supportive steps.
It's that simple!
But having an already hectic schedule can make it difficult to take those first steps of booking in time to plan how you are going to commit to your rest!
If getting started is already overwhelming, learn more about how the Intentional Rest Planning Ritual can support you to prioritizing your rest.
This workshop aims to guide you through the time, planning, and commitment phases in a structured and supporting environment. This creates a strong foundation for you to have something to review and act on in the coming months while you prioritize your rest!