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How ambitious people actually rest

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Quick Spin:

• How I'm running a spin cycle
• Finding cognitive rest > physical rest
• Your free holiday gift

♟️ MY TURN:

In my book, Toxic Grit, I talk a lot about intentional, proactive rest.

When I ran my first marathon I tried to skip the rest days and ended up in PT with a messed up IT band which cost me MORE time off than if I had just listened to the freaking rest schedule.

For ambitious people, rest can feel like falling behind.
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Our nervous systems have been wired for forward motion.We’re fluent in effort, discomfort, and delayed gratification......but not stillness.

After my book tour wrapped, I felt this strange mix of exhaustion and guilt.

My body was done, but my ambitious brain still whispered...

“So......What’s next?”

I realized I was good at physical rest (sleep, Netflix, couch rot weekends) but my brain was still running on empty........what I actually needed was cognitive rest.

Most driven people rarely need more naps....they need mental white space to stop strategizing, optimizing, and striving long enough to hear themselves again.

And that’s what I’m learning to do now.

Here's how I'm finding cognitive rest when my body is already physically rested:

• I spent 5 whole days organizing drawers in our house
• I'm re-doing my closet
• I spent a whole day decorating for the holidays
• ​​I'm taking longer walks with no inputs to allow my brain to go where it wants to go

And with each day without actively thinking about my business....new ideas are coming to me.

I call this a spin cycle.

♟️ YOUR TURN:

A spin cycle extracts the heaviness that’s built up over the previous cycle. Here are the four steps in running one....

Step 1: Identify you are in one

The first step is acknowledging you are going to take a spin cycle and decide what that means.

What does this current spin cycle mean to you?
What are you noticing?
Why do you need one?

Step 2: Identify how long it will run

Then you must identify a time frame. Will this cycle run for a weekend? A week? A month? A quarter? A full year?

Setting a time frame allows two things.

First it allows you to fully reset because your brain knows when you are going to return to pushing. Otherwise you will spend the entire cycle adding water and not extracting any.

Second, it creates the deadline for when you will check-in with yourself and start making decisions.

Finish this sentence: I will run this spin cycle until _____________.

Step 3: Let it run

Now it’s time to let it run. For as long as you just determined, start creating space for your other characters.

The ones who you haven’t allowed much camera time.

Let your Lazy Girl sleep in.

Let your Explorer roam a city.

Whatever it is, let these other characters take over. Guilt free.

You know the cycle will end so let them enjoy their time in the spotlight.

Ideate which characters will come forward during your spin cycle

Step 4: Schedule a check in

If you start asking yourself what's next at the beginning of the cycle, you won’t get a clear answer.

You are depleted of all spark and motivation.

You have to wait until the cycle is almost complete and then re-assess what you want for your life and what changes you want to make.

Schedule time to conduct the perfect day exercise and check in to see where the friction and heaviness was coming from and where you want to go next.

I hope this helps us all relieve some of the heaviness and intensity that has built up this year.

My holiday gift to you.....

​Check out the Toxic Grit workbook for FREE!​

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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