The weather was fantastic at the weekend, which made the Saturday bike ride a bit more pleasurable. There were 10 in the group and we all set off at 0800 for a planned 3 hour ride.
What I found interesting is, that during the ride, people had spurts of strength, power and endurance but also had times when they were lagging and struggling along. Throughout the 3 hours, people ‘peaked and troughed’ on a number of occasions but we all, eventually, completed the ride.
It just shows that if we all take the time to recover and re-energise we can get to the finish line. It takes support and encouragement, people to lead and be strong but having a shared leadership experience that everyone enjoyed.
Life is like that! There are times when your company demands more of you and needs an increase in productivity / output. Then there are the quiet (er) times when you can enjoy the moment and be confident someone else is taking the strain.
Last Saturday we had a faster ride and it was my first one back for over 6 weeks. There were only 6 of us and there was no-where to hide and I was fine up until the final 30 minutes. At that point, I had nothing left in the tank and every little hill left me struggling to keep up. The group waited at the top of hills and ‘dragged’ me home, but I was totally ‘spent’. I couldn’t have managed one more hill.
If you have ever felt like that then you know all you need to do is get some recovery before you go again. The growth comes in the tough times but only if you get enough recovery. If I had gone cycling the next day, I would still have been tired and my performance would have suffered
Why do we expect different things from people at work? Why do we go for higher targets, bigger margins, increased sales, more, more , more….. and expect to have a happy, engaged workforce? People need rest and recovery, praise and recognition, challenge and support in order to be better.
The thing is, it starts with you! You have to look after yourself first and take ownership of the pressures in your life. You have to have strategies to cope and recover, it’s down to you.
A 2-week holiday once a year, is nice, but is not enough. We need to constantly push the boundaries and then recover and grow, work hard for 2 months and have a short break, spend a day in the office and then go for a relaxing walk in the evening.
Whatever works for you, it doesn’t need to be exercise or sport based. Listen to relaxing music or watch an amazing film, go out with friends or sit in the garden and fall asleep in the sun! We are all different and sometimes we are leading from the front taking the pressure and other times we are tucked in behind someone else, getting our second wind!
Are you taking care of yourself? What one thing could you do differently to improve your recovery time?