Before the burn out, your days were completely filled. Efficient and effective every minute of the day. As a result, you got a lot of things done.
Sometimes you asked yourself the question: “Where do I get the energy from?” By now you know the answer.
Why you filled the days so full and what the purpose of it was, I will discuss that extensively in Phase 3. Now I’m going to cover the exact opposite: That’s the lazy day.
There are those days, when you get up and you immediately know that today will not be such a productive day. You don’t have much energy; you don’t feel like it and you prefer to hang out.
Then make it a lazy day. A day when you take it easy. Include that in your planning for that day. Because today you don’t get much done and that is exactly why it is so useful. You can recharge.
Own experience
My days before the burn out were completely full and I really got a lot of things done. But during the recovery this was not always possible.
Until a colleague advised me to have lazy days. I did go to work, but I did it with minimal effort. I did teach and carry out my duties, but with less effort and enthusiasm than when I felt top fit.
At first it made me restless. I had the idea that every day should be used effectively and to the maximum. That I always had to get the most out of myself. But during the recovery it turned out that this was not always necessary.
For example, I could: clean out my closet, water plants, empty my mailbox, clear out old keys and walk around school a bit.
You are a little useful, but you mainly take it easy. With the advantage that you are recharging your battery. In the end, after a lazy day, you will be much more effective.
What’s positive
You give in to your needs. You feel that today will be a somewhat slower day and that you will be (much) less productive than on a top-fit day. You therefore take it easy so that your battery can recharge.
Tips:
1) See (Feel?) how you are doing. If you’re not quite okay, take it easy.
2) Listen carefully to your body. Such a lazy day often comes after a period of more energy consumption.
3) Because you take a lazy day, you prevent your energy from being used too much
4) Look around you. There are probably more colleagues who now and then have a lazy day.
For the employer
Every now and then you need a day to recharge. You often end up feeling fitter at work after a day of fiddling.
If an employee takes it easy, remember that he is (probably) charging.