Our lives are busier and more complicated than ever before. It is desirable in the workplace to exhibit a strong work ethic and your opportunities can depend on it. However, we cannot sustain a high level of awareness, without allowing ourselves to experience lower levels of awareness on a regular basis. 

For years as a teacher, I was constantly burnt out, tired and would get sick. I was told that in my first year, I would get sick more than I ever had before. How true this was. I was told though, that this would be because I would come into contact with so many more people than usual. Don’t worry, I was advised. Your immune system will become stronger and you’ll develop antibodies to resist the viruses and flus you come into contact with. 

Well… I began to think that there must be a new virus and flu coming out each week. For the next 7 years of my teaching career, my sickness came like clockwork. Work hard, get run down, get sick, get over it and go hard again. I was always a hard worker, which I was taught by my parents. If there was a spare minute in the day, it was a waste if I wasn’t using it to develop myself and move forward in any area of life. As the years past, I began to see rest, relaxation and socialising as less and less important. I could use that time to get ahead in my career and finances. 

It wasn’t until I finally took the huge leap of resigning from teaching after 7.5 years that I began to take my own wellbeing more seriously. I began to schedule time in my day for meditation, exercise (including stretching), rest and socialising. I actually schedule these activities into my calendar each week. If there was 1 thing I have to say has had the biggest impact on my success, I would say this is it! 

Here’s what I did to be more productive: 

• Go to bed at approximately the same time and wake up at approximately the same time, every night of the week. 

• Aim to achieve 7-9 hours of sleep each night. 

• Schedule 15 minutes of meditation each morning. 

• Schedule 30 minutes of rest after lunch each day.  

• Schedule time each week to spend on a hobby. 

• Schedule dedicated time just your family.  

• Schedule dedicated time with your friends. 

As humans, we are not designed to be on the go all the time. Scheduling down time into each and every day, every month and every year is key to performing at our peak on a consistent basis.  

Are you constantly on the go? Is there a pattern in your life as there was mine? Could you use some of your ‘up’ time for ‘down’ time in order to be more productive?

Leave your answer to those questions in the comments section below.