Transforming Lives: The Magic of Taking a Break

❤️Click here and become a SUPPORTER of We All Have Something!❤️

Have you ever believed you're too busy to take a break? Well, the reality I discovered might surprise you. Join me as I share my own journey through the unrelenting grind of hustle culture, and how I discovered the immense power of simply taking a break.

I discuss how integrating regular breaks into your routine actually boosts productivity and staves off the creeping threat of burnout. This episode isn't just for busy parents and CEOs; it's for everyone who needs to find that balance between work and leisure. So, let's take a break together and rediscover the joy of slowing down in our fast-paced lives.

As always, thank you for listening to We All Have Something.  If you wish to connect with Rick beyond the podcast:
Website: www.CoachRickSchwartz.com
YouTube: @RickSchwartz
Threads: @Coach_Rick_Schwartz
Instagram: @Coach_Rick_Schwartz
Facebook Page:  @CoachRickSchwartz
Threads: @Coach_Rick_Schwartz

***If you are having any thoughts of self harm and need someone to reach out to please call: 1-800-273- TALK (8255)
Or use the new 988 number for calling or texting for support.


Episode Music "Inspiration Corporate" by Sandra Inspiration Music
Music rights purchased through AudioJungle.

Nothing in this podcast should be taken as therapy, medical or mental health care. Topics discussed on this podcast reflect the personal experiences of the host and guests of We All Have Something and are not intended to, nor should they, replace the services of medical care, mental health care or therapy.

If you are having thoughts of self harm or ending your life, please call or text 988 - Help is available 24/7.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:22

Welcome to another episode of we All have Something. We are, goodness, the last half of July already, aren't we? And here's the thing about this episode it's going to be kind of short and sweet and to the point, because I'm on vacation. Now I'm obviously not recording this while I'm on vacation. I'm pre-recording this. I'm on vacation. When you're listening to this, if you, well, I should say, if you're listening to this in mid-July, when the episode comes out, I'll be on vacation. And that's kind of the topic we're going to cover here is the need for taking a break, like now. I know just a few short what.

Speaker 1: 0:52

Four episodes ago, I was telling you to reevaluate your year, start resetting your goals, time to dive in. In fact, the episode just for this one. I was like you got to start. Whatever your project is, you got to start. There's no waiting. I want to make sure we aren't embracing the crazy hustle culture too much, and this actually stems from the fact that I did an interview on another podcast It'll come out, I think, later this month or next month that we talked about the importance of learning why we need to slow down, why we need to take a break, why we need to take time for ourselves.

Speaker 1: 1:26

I'm Rick Schwartz, life coach, public speaker and all-around curious guy. My curiosity, my life and the lives of the many people I have worked with have taught me time and time again that there are challenges to overcome and successes to celebrate. You're listening to. We All have Something a podcast about the human experience, a podcast about celebrating our authentic self. So let's get started. I am so glad you're here and before we dive into this episode, I want to remind you this is a listener-supported podcast. The supporters help keep this ad free For this episode, all the episodes this season, in fact, for all the interviews that have happened in upcoming interviews. We're ad free thanks to our supporters, and if you feel that this episode or any other episode has offered you up some value and you're interested in being a supporter just a couple bucks a month or a whole bunch bucks a month. Either way, you can do that. The first link is you scroll down in the episode notes. You click on that. It'll bring you to the page to allow you to sign up to be a supporter and if you should choose to become a supporter, I'll email you directly thanking you so much for your support and I'll also send you a little gift in the mail, a little something and a couple of stickers that you can put on your water bottle, your computer or your car wherever you want to put cool stickers just to help say thank you for being a supporter, and I'll even mention your name on the air if you give permission to do so. So, without further ado, denise R from Spokane, thank you so much for your support. I appreciate you joining all the other supporters that are keeping this podcast going.

Speaker 1: 2:54

As I mentioned, I'm on vacation right now. We are listening to this and, you may or may not know, I hold a day job. I do my coaching business on the side and I have my podcast and my YouTube channel and well, I keep busy and I enjoy being busy. I'm not complaining, it's. It's something that I just it's.

Speaker 1: 3:12

I innately want to be doing stuff and quick story reflect back the constant state of being busy and doing stuff and, if I have down time, feeling guilty that I'm not doing something, causing me to make sure I was doing something. Finding something to do all the time ended up putting me in a position in early 2020 where my physical health tanked, and I've shared the story before, so I'm not going to go into details, you can go back to other episodes. It is actually what led me to coaching, I mean, the. It was a process to get there. Of course, almost the whole year of 2020, really, but the beginning of 2020, I was constantly pedaled to the metal go go, go, go go and sleeping very little and relying heavily on caffeine, also relying on the. The fact that I could force my adrenal glands to release adrenaline to get me through times when I was feeling slow or low. It was crazy. It was crazy.

Speaker 1: 4:03

And taking vacation was unheard of. Taking time off? No, not really. I mean, I take time off away sometimes, but I would have my work computer or work phone with me and I'd still be working. There was never any time off. It was always. I was always two days ahead of myself and my brain. It was crazy and it was rewarded. I was told what a great job I was doing. I was. People were like, wow, you get so much done. It was a pat on the back. No one ever said, hey, how are you doing? And I'm not saying that to point out to the people that were around me at that time were not caring. I think it's a part of our culture and to go into that further.

Speaker 1: 4:40

When I did a quick Google search I mean it really took me moments to find this I simply searched how often do Americans take vacation compared to other countries? Most articles that came up, whether it was from there's one here from employmentbenefitnewscom, there's one from Fortune magazine, cnbc goes down Washington Post, you know there's just a lot of business insider. It's across the board here. Most of them say the average American takes about 14 days off per year. So two weeks, it might be one two week vacation, maybe two one weekers I don't know how they're doing it but on average 14 days, where most other countries people take on average 24 days off. Now this is according to a workforce tech solution company that is in Europe that was doing this research. But I find that very interesting, you know, and you go a little bit further. And there's other articles to go down. There's one here that states America is so bad at vacations that only one other country in the world is worse, and they listed as Micronesia. So sorry, folks living Micronesia, that's a bummer. But the point is I'm not here to give a bunch of stats about us not taking vacations or whatever. I want to take it a little bit deeper than that, because sometimes and I'll honestly, especially if you've got kids a vacation is more stressful than a workday, because you have to coordinate everything, get everyone packed and get everyone flowing to or driven to the destination, and then there's keeping everyone busy, keeping everyone safe, keeping everyone entertained, you know, and you don't really actually have time to relax. So this episode is really about taking time for yourself.

Speaker 1: 6:09

This episode is about taking a break and, like I said at the top of the recording here of this episode in the intro, it's on the heels of me posting things here on this podcast about. It's the middle of the year. You need to review where you are, look at your goals, get reset on your path and your progress, look at your seven key areas, you know, buckle down and all of that, and that's more of a focus. I want you to understand that concept. That idea is let's focus on what's important to us, let's focus on our priorities, let's focus on getting things done, getting our action steps done, and not drift, not allow for life to start controlling us, but to get control of life so we can live it how we want to. That doesn't mean and it's not in parallel to the hustle culture of being busy go, go, go. Nine to five, gotta be the alpha, do the things. Or nine to five more, like what do they say nowadays? It's like from five am to 11 pm.

Speaker 1: 6:56

My point being is very rarely in there do we hear anyone talk about success also equating to being able to take a break. Now, I will say this more recently, and I think I've seen it more since probably the end of 2020, beginning of 2021, more people in that realm of success. So, these high producers, whether it's, you know, ceos or whomever they are, these people who we go to to go, wow, how did they do it? You know, how did Oprah do it? How does you know Tony Robbins do it? How do all these big names? Apple CEO Tim Cook is his name, he came to me eventually. How do they do this? Most of them, when they talk about their daily routine, they talk about taking time in the morning for themselves, time to sit down and have their tea or their coffee, or meditate or do yoga, work out, whatever it might be, but it's time for them that they have scheduled as a priority. That happens first, and then everything else. After that I will tell you right now.

Speaker 1: 7:53

I'll tell you right now I can look back pre 2020, pre my body shutting down, pre us having to stop everything because of the pandemic, when I would try to work out, do something for myself. I, prior to that, I had some back issues, so I was doing yoga, but even while doing the yoga for my back and I had to because I was in pain so it was kind of like, okay, I need to do this I wouldn't prioritize it, though. I would fit it in where I could, and while I was doing it, my brain was racing on all the things I should be doing that's not this and all the things I'm going to do as soon as I'm done with this. And I kept looking at the time. Oh my gosh, I was obsessed with how much longer? How much longer, how much longer till I'm done with this. I was not in it. I was not in it for me. I mean, I was theoretically doing it for me, because I needed to alleviate the pain in my back by stretching out the muscles, but I wasn't present. I wasn't there.

Speaker 1: 8:44

And now, from my perspective, after years of changing my life and looking back to how I structured my days and weeks before versus now. I will tell you this I get up on average between 5 and 5.30 in the morning. I do not get up in a burst of energy to hustle, no, I spend some time laying in bed, stretching and moving my body, flexing muscles and relaxing them to get the blood flowing. I think about what I'm going to have. Am I going to have some tea this morning or am I going to have some coffee this morning and I hand grind it? If I'm going to have coffee, you know I want it to be a slow process, and then I sit and I enjoy it and I meditate for a little bit. I get up that early because I want to have time for me. Those are my mini breaks, right.

Speaker 1: 9:25

Starting the day like that Open up the blinds, watch the sun come up. Now that's for me, some people. For them, their me time is after work or in the evening, once everyone else has gone to bed, whatever it might be, but having that me time, that still time, still, as in, it's just quiet for you, is so important in keeping your balance of your mind and your body in your day. Now, taking it to a bigger picture also is giving yourself permission to take a break. This could be within the day of a work project or within the week of a work project, and you're just going through and you have to work long days and you can't get up early and have quiet time for you, and I get it. These things should be temporary, though. There shouldn't be a way of life. There should be a temporary situation because there's a project or something due where you've gotten squished on time. You need to prioritize not having that be the norm. It does happen on occasion, that's okay.

Speaker 1: 10:20

Give yourself permission to take a break in the middle of your work day. Get up and walk away from your computer or from whatever you're working on and go somewhere that is not required of you to be there outside the building. If you work in a building, to go to the courtyard, or if you work outside, go see a doctor. Go somewhere else with a different view, a different perspective, for five minutes. Five minutes reset your brain. Take a break. Giving yourself permission to take a break is very important, as important as taking a break, because if you don't give yourself permission to do it and you force yourself to do it, you're going to feel guilty, you're going to feel bad. You're going to be checking your watch, like I always used to do. Give yourself permission to just take a break. Take a break. Now.

Speaker 1: 10:57

The bigger picture goes back to what I was talking about before with vacations and how Americans only, on average, take 14 days. And I'll tell you what. I know plenty of Americans who don't even take 14 days because they don't get paid vacation. They're working at a facility or a place that only offers temporary or part-time positions to help avoid giving them the benefits and so, therefore, to get their bills paid, they just got to work all the time and they shift to a different position that's temporary, or they let go for a little bit and come back on board for a seasonal job, whatever it may be, so they can't take those 14 days. For some people, the idea of taking 14 days they wish they could take that much. And then you look around the country. Look around the country, excuse me, look around the world, and there's other countries where the average is 24 days, almost not quite, but almost twice as much.

Speaker 1: 11:38

Having the ability to take a vacation in this country, unfortunately, I believe, is a luxury many people do not have. For those who get to take them often. I hope you don't take them for granted. For those of you who don't get to take many or any, please do everything in your power to find a way to at least take a day off where you can get away from everything and reset the value in taking a break. And slowing down and stopping and resetting your mind is going to allow you to show up more efficiently and more proficiently at the things you are taking a break from, Whether it is your passion project, whether it is your day job, whether it is your side hustle, a hobby, whatever it may be. The value in taking a break is not only good for you holistically as a living creature, as a human being, as a spiritual entity inside this meat suit whatever you want to call it but it's also going to allow you to come back to what you are taking a break from that much better.

Speaker 1: 12:41

I put this into practice myself. I'm like all right, I'm going to try this. So I made sure every lunch break at work I would get away from my computer, away from my desk, and go for a walk outside for 15 minutes. I did this for two weeks and it got to the point then where I was like you know what? I'm going to go out for a quick walk right now, before lunch and after lunch, because I found that it refreshed my brain. I came back to what I was working on, with so much more energy and if I was stuck on something, that whatever I was stuck on, it seemed to go away. I solved problems like crazy when I could step away from what I was working on instead of pushing harder and pushing through it, stepping away from it, putting on pause and going outside getting some fresh air, coming back to it. Then I was able to just be that much more efficient at my job.

Speaker 1: 13:26

And I know it's just our nature to want to keep working on something, to push through it. I can do this, I can do this, I can do this, I get it, I'm the same way, but if you can remind yourself to take that break no-transcript, I promise you. I promise you you're gonna feel better and you're gonna do better. And you might be thinking well, if I take five minutes, that's gonna make it five minutes later that I, to get this done Like what I'm working on, will be five minutes delayed. If I take a 15 minute break, it's gonna take 15 minutes. That's gonna be delayed by that much. I don't have that kind of time. Trust me, the odds are in the favor that you'll finish early because you took that break. I know mathematics is like well, wait a minute, you take away 15, how can you add? It doesn't work here. Here's the deal, because you come back at it refreshed, with your brain already to refocus, and everything else is going on. You're more efficient, you're more proficient, you're able to get the work done.

Speaker 1: 14:18

There is a lot of research out there about the importance of taking a break, whether it's a time when you're frustrated, whether it's a time that you're feeling stuck, whether it's a time that you're feeling overwhelmed. Take a break. And here's the thing. Here's the last bit that I'm gonna offer you before I wrap this up, cause, hey, I'm on vacation right now. You want to be able to take a break before you hit overwhelm. You want to take that break before you hit burnout.

Speaker 1: 14:41

The lack of taking breaks, the lack of taking vacations, the lack of stepping away from something is what can easily lead us to feeling overwhelmed, easily lead us to burnout. If we can manage it upfront, if we can take care of things before it gets to that point, then you may never get there. And what a great benefit. It's much harder to come out of burnout and much harder to come out of overwhelm and recover from that than it is to preemptively do behaviors that make it so you never get there. I can't stress that enough cause when you hit overwhelm and burnout man, you start talking about physical illness happening. You talk about bringing that stuff home with you for the whole weekend. Ugh, it's toxic. You don't want to do that and I hope you're not there and if you are, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry you find yourself there. And I will tell you what when I come back from vacation which, when this airs, there'll be a few more days and I'll be back I will have two more spaces open in my calendar. So I have a couple of clients this month who have rolled into accountability sessions. So, going from weekly sessions to monthly sessions, that means my calendar is gonna open up. I have two more spots open for weekly clients.

Speaker 1: 15:51

If you find yourself listening to this podcast going yeah, this is great, but too late for me. My life is tanked. Reach out, please. Let's talk about becoming coach and client partners. Go to my website, coachrichschwarzcom. We can connect with a discovery call, talk about what's going on. We can decide there if it were gonna be a good fit. We both have to decide. It's not just me trying to sell you a coaching package. We both have to agree that this is gonna be a good fit and you think this is gonna benefit you, and I also have to agree that I believe my coaching will work for what's going on in your life.

Speaker 1: 16:19

There have been people where I've said, nope, not a thing. Here's a coach over here you should reach out to, or actually that's something more for a therapist to deal with, because it's gonna require more work, deeper work than just coaching. That's the thing, and I will do that happily. I have no problem with that. But if you feel that maybe it's time for you to start rebalancing, restructuring and refocusing your life so you can start living the way you're supposed to and want to, without overwhelm and burnout flooding into your life, I can't tell you how many clients I have where it's like it's all about. Their passion is their work, but then they've been doing it for so long. They lose sight of their fitness and their health and their finances tank, and their family is there, but not really there and they've lost touch with their spirituality or their faith and no friends because they're all about work. And even so, if you're in that boat where it's all about work and then the job disappears on you for some reason, you get that sense of being lost and that's no good either.

Speaker 1: 17:12

So, yeah, take your breaks, take care of yourself and if you need to reach out cotrigschwardscom, all the information is below in the episode notes, here, along with my social media. And hey, if you're on threads now, I jumped on that bandwagon. I'm loving it. There's so much kindness and support there. It's a very different vibe than other social media right now. I hope it stays that way. Obviously, social media has its own culture, does its own thing, but right now it seems that a lot of the users are really trying to keep it positive, uplifting and educational, and so I say, jump into it. If you're not on threads already, go for it. You can find the link for my threads account down below, also in the episode notes, or just look for cotrigschwards there on threads.

Speaker 1: 17:50

All right, I hope you are having an awesome day and I future me, future me. You're coming back on vacation a couple of days and I hope you had an awesome time. I have a feeling you did, but either way, I hope all of you listening, aside from future me. I hope you found something useful here. I hope that the ripple effect we always talk about is in place and maybe this is an episode you wanna share with somebody else. That's how this podcast grows. It's a great way to support it by sharing it. Word of mouth is huge in podcasting, so I appreciate all of you who have shared stuff. We had a big spike what two weeks ago? That was crazy. That was awesome. I appreciate it. Thank you so much as always. I just wanna say thanks again for listening. You know I really do appreciate you. Have a good one, everybody. See you next time the last of at least nine minutes or.