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Resilience is about recovery

If you’re hoping to get caught up on your office to-do list this long holiday weekend – don’t.

That is the central thesis of an article by happiness expert Shawn Anchor and his wife, Michelle Gielan, a sleep expert:

“We often take a militaristic, “tough” approach to resilience and grit. We imagine a Marine slogging through the mud, a boxer going one more round, or a football player picking himself up off the turf
for one more play.”

In the age of ‘round-the-clock news cycles and incessant social media updates, we tend to believe that extended work endurance will make us more successful.

“The very lack of a recovery period is dramatically holding
back our collective ability to be resilient and successful.”

Research proves over and over again that lack of good recovery time is directly correlated to health and safety issues. It’s estimated this lack of recovery time is costing U.S. companies $62 billion each year.

“The key to resilience is trying really hard,
then stopping, recovering, and then trying again.”


If you really want to build resilience, you can start by strategically stopping. Put phones in silent mode, laptops in airplane mode, and get up and walk around every hour.

Find time for regular recovery phases. Meditate, sleep, watch movies, journal, or listen to entertaining podcasts.

Take a break this weekend.

Relax, recharge, and recover if you want to be more resilient.

Have a great week.

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