Charging Batteries

Last week I heard a nice story about Jan Paul II the pope. His most favorite day of the week was Tuesday. It was his day off. I was surprised that popes have days off. He wasn’t doing nothing during these days of course, but he liked to have Tuesdays for himself. Every other day he was giving part of himself to others. So he needed one day to recover his energy. If you are empty, you have nothing to give from. It was his way to avoid this.

The story reminded me my last holidays and an interesting situation that I had at work during last few weeks. About 3 weeks ago I had a quite exhausting period. My brother-in-low with his girlfriend, their dog, and our nephew were visiting us for a week. We were planning and organizing our holidays’ trip at home and I had urgent issue to solve at work. Everything at the same time. After 3 long days of researching the issue at work, I was thinking I knew the solution. But every time I was starting to write the code - an unresolved problem occurred. It was the same with every aspect of the issue. I was frustrated. Really.

And then my holidays started. I spent a week swimming, sunbathing, reading books, playing cards and sports. No computer and no TV for the whole week. I came back so fresh and receptive. I just got the second wind. The funny thing is that after the next 3 working days all problems were solved and the solution was ready. You may say it was a coincidence, but I think I just had to recharge my batteries and refresh my mind.

The clue is that if you want to keep your effectiveness and motivation on a decent level, remember to charge the batteries. Here are my favorite and proven ways to do so:

• Take advantage of the weekends. If you have to work during weekends, have at least one day off a week.
• Have longer (1-2 weeks) holidays from time to time. Especially after hard or frustrating period.
• Have fun as often as possible. It helps to get rid of stress and refresh your mind.
• Do sports – it is, in fact, an alternative of having fun, but very straightforward and easy to approach.

What is Your way of charging batteries? What other options should appear on the list?