Hippie CEO Life #64 - Find Time for Rest And Reflection
A behind the scenes view of building a more humanistic company.
August 4, 2023
“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
We have all been told the importance of taking time off work to rest and reflect.
It’s a subject that gets more than it’s fair share of coverage, but what is just as important, perhaps even more import, but doesn’t seem to get the same level of attention, is the importance of rest and reflection throughout the day.
We don’t always have the luxury of booking an exclusive trip, to some tropical island, where we can lay on the warm sand and let our mind run free, so we need to find ways to recreate that on a weekly, i’d argue a daily basis.
For me, i have found that when i take time throughout the day to rest and reflect, it helps me recharge, gain new perspectives, and often come up with new ideas.
This “time off” to rest and reflect each day is not a lot of time but the outputs of this time are amazing. So amazing that i have started scheduling this time. There are 3 time slots, that i prioritize each day, that i will share with you:
Morning Meditation
My morning meditation routine is not such a traditional, sit in the lotus position and count the breathes sort of thing, but more an intentional focus for starting my day. It looks like this:
Morning Coffee (8 Minutes) - i have an extensive process for making my morning coffee, which involves weighing and grinding the beans, pulling an espresso shot, creating the drink of choice for the day (Usually a piccolo latte), and then cleaning all the parts of the espresso machine and preparing it for the next use.
The Daily Stoic (2 Minutes) - i read the current day’s topic in The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday. This thought gives me something to focus on not just during my morning meditation but throughout the day.
Mindfulness Meditation (10 Minutes) - i will then set a timer, with some nice background music, in my meditation app - the one i use is called Insight Timer - and then meditate on the thought introduced in the day’s topic from The Daily Stoic. For example, today’s topic is ‘No Blame, Just Focus’.
Mid-Day Walk
Somewhere around noon, plus or minus depending on the day, i will go for a short 10-15 minute walk around the neighborhood, a local park, wherever i’m at. No Beats, no AirPods, just me with the sounds all around me and my thoughts. i walk without any purpose but what often happens on these short walks is that i often gain incredible insights, and sometimes full solutions, into challenges that i’m wrestling with. This 10-15 minutes to myself, is always a great opportunity to step away from the work, to step away from the glare of screens, which both offers rest and recharging.
Afternoon Mindfulness
In the mid-afternoon, i will often find time to sit somewhere and observe. Again, the importance for me is to do so without any intention. i’m not using this time to think about a specific problem or to feel a certain way, i’m just sitting there looking, listening, being present in everything that is happening around me. i have found that this not only helps me get through those dreaded afternoon slumps but often helps give me the energy to close out my workday strong so that when i start again tomorrow, i’ll be prepared.
What routine you choose to follow, what steps within that routine you choose to prioritize, is much less important than actually doing it. We can all get up for a long vacation, away from all our worries, but that’s not how most of our life works. The vast majority of our life, we simply don’t have the luxury of walking away from it all in order to rest and recharge, so it only seems logical that we find ways to do these things everyday, not just when we take time off work.
✌🏼💛