You all are rock stars!  So much great progress this week!  If you are just now joining us, it’s never too late to start.  The first three challenges were all about hard work.  If you are new or have been following all week, review each step - reread each post - and do your action steps for each again.  Remember, this is a practice.  If you challenge yourself to take these baby steps every day, they will kick you into high gear! Progress, not perfection. But, you have to take action to make progress:

Step 1:  Download, write your three action items for the day, write tiny action steps under each, do them.  

Step 2:  Next, clear more clutter in your environment and on your computer.  Work it!  Take no prisoners with that clutter! 

Step 3: Prepare for Greatness.  Set yourself up for success tomorrow, next week and next year.

STEP 4: ACTIVE REST. Time for an office dance party!

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Making things happen requires breaking the rules.  You worked hard the last three days making things happen.  Today, I’m giving you the key ingredient to making things happen. The biggest FAQ I get from people is “How do you do it all? How do you balance everything?”  My answer: I don’t always do it all.  I rest.  Now, before you kick your feet up on your desk, understand one essential thing…  I’m talking about active rest.  I plan active rest in three areas: in my day, my week and in my month. We’ll start with rest in your day. Positive, refueling, focused rest that helps you be your best [stretching, taking a walk, exercise, reading a great book, prayer, pumping up the music]; not the kind of rest that makes you feel bad, lazy, unfocused and off-track [doughnuts, TV, Internet, Facebook].  In order to have the power, energy and focus to make big things happen, you have to balance it with real rest.

I used to work seven days a week, till 3am every day (some of you remember those days when we’d be up working late together), and I used to be completely and utterly exhausted.  Looking back, it’s shocking that I survived.  A lot of you know my story from back then.  You’ve followed my path from burned out to making things happen.  I went through the trenches and those trenches weren’t pretty or productive.  I’m not perfect and certainly have days where I feel burnout coming, but nothing near what it used to be. I’ve learned the hard way. Looking back, all that crazy work wasn’t worth it one bit.  It’s not the all-nighters and lack of rest that got me to where I am.  It’s the fact that I learned from the major errors of my ways.  Never let anyone tell you that you have to “go through the trenches” to climb to success.

I know many of you are in day jobs that you want to transition out of some day very soon. I know you have that job so you can support your family. Balancing a day job and a passion is insanely hard and I respect those of you that are in those trenches right now. You do what you have to do to get to where you really want to be - for you and for your family. Especially you mothers out there. You are Super Women. But, you know you can’t keep that pace forever. All I will say is this: If you want it and you invest in taking the right steps - no matter how long it takes - you will get there. Life is too short. You’re not alone. MTH alum, so many of you have made that big transition. Sound off about your experiences here. Many of those transitions were not easy at all, but were they worth it? 10000% YES. Know that it’s possible if you take bold purposeful steps and plan ahead. Emily and Gina went through the same thing last year. From zero rest to doing what they love (granted, still with a lot of hard work and some long days). But, they did it.  Just know it’s possible.  So, sound off in the comments, friends.  I want to encourage you that, while you’re still in those day jobs, you can get more efficient, productive and learn to take rest periods even amidst the heavy sometimes-impossible workload.  This will prepare you for greatness ahead.

You have to learn and make mistakes and work hard, but don’t let that come at the expense of your health and wellness.  Working all of those hours made me less productive and completely stressed.  I was doing poor work, had no friends, no marriage and I was pretty much wrapped up in trying to please everyone else.  It was so backwards.  I thought that since I was working 24/7, I was getting things done.

Until I took a day off.  In the summer of 2010, I was forced to a breaking point.  I spent a very memorable day in the hospital and it was a big wake up call.  I had already started to take a few pseudo days off (ie - I’d still check email and work for a couple hours) here and there a year before, but I wasn’t consistently taking a full day off of email, internet and every kind of work.  I was burned. out.  So, I forced myself to start taking Sundays completely off.  I say “forced myself” because there was a LOT of fear involved. What if I get behind?  How am I going to get it all done if I don’t work 24/7?!?!   But, truly, I felt empty working like that. I got to the point where I was complaining and tired pretty much every day.  I started to see my lack of real rest affecting everyone around me.  My workload started to increase and I knew I needed a full day for God - a day to really rest and renew - or I was going to crack.   I was fearful and skeptical but I forced myself.  That Sunday was a turning point.

I walked into my office the next Monday morning feeling like I could take on the world.  I actually wanted to work and I wanted to work hard.  I was focused, rested and ready.  From that moment, I was hooked.  The more time I took off on the weekend, the more focused and efficient I was during the week.  Trust me, when you know you aren’t working on Sunday, you work much harder and smarter during the week to get it all done.  When I know I’m committed to not emailing on the weekends or after 6pm, I get it done during the day.  I make it happen.  No distractions allowed.  The crazy thing is, my workload has actually tripled in the last year and I’m getting triple the amount of work done… and done well… because I am planning active rest ahead of time.   I can honestly say that before I started taking time off, I was not doing my best work.  How can you do your best work if you are spread so thin? Don’t let a trip to the ER drive you to rest. Take action now.

I know what you’re thinking… how in the world can I take an entire day off from work?  There’s so much to do! That will NEVER happen!  Oh, I feel you.  I was so there.  This seems so counter-intuitive and so IMPOSSIBLE.  I get it.  And many of you shoot weddings or have events on weekends. You figure out what works for you.   Maybe you try to take Monday off.  Maybe you start by taking a half day off.  So, before you pass this off as completely insane - trust me I thought the same thing -  start small.  Start with active rest during your day. Set a timer (iPhone, computer, watch) for 60 minutes.  Work for 60 minutes as hard as you can, then take a 10 minute break to do absolutely no work.  If you can, step away from your computer completely.  No matter how much work you have left.  It’s just a 10 minute break.  It will not kill you.  Take a walk, lay down, have a dance party in your office, or - if you work a day job and you’re able to do this - walk out of the building and get some fresh air.  Here’s the deal though: no checking email (even personal), no social media, no internet.  Just take a break with your head out of your phone and computer.  Take some deep breaths.  Get some water, stretch, get some good healthy food, read an inspiring book, whatever.  Let your mind drift from work to renewing yourself: physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally. Get creative!  The only rule is to stay away from the internet.  Then, tell me how you feel when you get back to your desk.  Leave a comment here.

I didn’t make this up.  There is significant research that says doing bouts of focused work during the day and taking real breaks - active rest - makes your productivity and focus skyrocket!  We do this in my office and it just plain works.  I encourage the women I work with to take breaks - go get coffee, have lunch, take a walk - anything.  A five minute walk around the block is like a miracle!  Even when I just walk out to get the mail and come back, I feel more refreshed and ready to work harder.  Here is my schedule today. I am booked solid, but I’ve planned 30 minutes between consults to take notes, take action on those sessions, prepare for greatness in the next session and … take a break.  I always want to bring my A Game for every client and be refreshed and on point.  Taking a couple minutes to stretch and refresh gets me fired up again.  So, do it.  You. can. take. a. break.  Even if it’s just five minutes today, do it.

Your Challenge:

1. Write down five things you can do during your breaks that would make you more rested and focused during the day. Choose things that will refuel you, not things that will steer you off track.  Pick one of those things and do it today. Set timer, work hard, then take a resl break Just start with one break today, if you want.  Baby steps.  If you are feeling ambitious, set an alarm on your phone to go off every 90 minutes to remind you to take a breather.

2. This is the single best thing I’ve ever done for my life and my business. If you don’t already do this, schedule a day off.  A day completely free of work.  Even if it’s a month from now, look at your calendar, write it down, and work your life so you make it happen.  Leave a comment here telling me you did it.  From someone who spent the first seven years - SEVEN YEARS! - in business working 7 days a week, I know how hard this challenge is.  I learned the hard way and you don’t have to.  It doesn’t have to be every week at first, but I guarantee you will see the benefits in your life and in your work, and you will want to start taking more time off to refuel.  It will become an essential to your productivity.  You will get more done in half the time.  Life is too short to miss it thinking that success comes with working 24/7.  It doesn’t.  Success comes from working smarter.  I want you to at least try it once.  That’s do-able right?  Just one day off.  Build from there.  It’s worth it!  

3. Plan a full weekend off.  Stay with me here….  even if you stay home, take a weekend completely away from technology: Internet, TV, phone. Plan several of these in the next twelve months, if you can. Even if you think it’s impossible right now, plant the seed.  A year from now you will wish you had started today.  Put it on your calendar for a few months from now if needed and take action steps to make it happen. You deserve it. Your clients deserve your best you. Your family deserves the joyful you. You CAN do this. Life is too short to miss it in email and unfocused days.   So start small and plan ahead.

So, how are your action items going from your daily download?  How does the download feel now?  If your list is getting shorter every time, use the download more to journal. It’s there for you do dump all of that anxiety and mental clutter so that you do something about it. To name your fears is to destroy them. How is all that clutter?  Did you set yourself up for success last night?  What are you doing to set yourself up for success tomorrow?  What are you doing on your focused breaks today?  Remember: progress, not perfection.  Comment here with your focused break ideas and your progress this week.  You may inspire someone with a great idea for their own life! Who’s ready to have an office dance party break today!?   Sound off…    - Lara