The most creative geniuses and the most elite professional athletes have one thing in common. They are intentional in their focus, but also know when to relax their intention. They allow the power of their subconscious to take over. That power is what allows them to come up with new, innovative solutions to the challenges that lie ahead, whether it’s in the boardroom or on the field.
Peak mental performance requires deliberate, restful and yet active breaks. It optimizes your creativity by engaging the subconscious part of your brain. If you commit to making intentional rest as much a priority as conscious effort, you’ll get more done in your day. You will also be able to solve the greatest challenges that you’re facing, without breaking a sweat.
Mental Awareness
When you practice long-term mental awareness, you actually create more time in your day. According to psychological studies*, people who multitask and rush through their activities make more costly mistakes. Fixing those mistakes costs time and energy, and can be depleting in itself. For professional athletes, the mistakes may also lead to injury which takes precious time and energy to heal from. Teams also run the risk of losing when they lack mental awareness. However, if you practice long-term mental awareness, you learn to focus intently on the tasks or challenges at hand. This makes you more efficient than ever before, opening up greater space in your schedule and more clarity in your mind.
Sustainable Creativity
Allow yourself to daydream. Daydreaming is a way for your mind to wander and come up with ideal solution to problems at hand. Even if you choose not to spend your restful break in a daydream, deliberate restful breaks also allow your sub-conscious, creative, uncontrolled mind the freedom to explore different connections that your conscious mind may not have considered. While some people think that “taking a break” means sacrificing work time, new insights are created, even when our conscious minds are at rest.
Active Rest
By taking deliberate breaks, we give our conscious minds a rest and allow our sub-conscious minds to explore new possibilities we wouldn’t have otherwise considered. When you take a restful break, try to be physically active in some capacity. A restorative exercise, like yoga, martial arts, or even just going for a walk, can sustain your body’s momentum and avoid sluggish rest. Also refrain from surfing the net or using your phone, since such activities still require much of conscious mind.
Schedule It
Be intentional about scheduling frequent breaks throughout your day. Discover which intervals work for you, whether it’s taking a five-minute break every twenty minutes or a half-hour break every two hours. Give yourself the gift of time and space, to do things you enjoy. This way, you will avoid getting burned out on the tasks or challenges ahead, and you’ll be able to let that hidden, creative, subconscious part of your mind roam free.
I hope this article inspires you to start taking intentional breaks! If you’d like to learn more about how to relax your intention, and refocus your energy so that you can achieve an elite level of success in your life, visit my website for more information or reach out to me directly!
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References: American Psychological Association. Multitasking: Switching costs. http://www.apa.org/research/action/multitask.aspx
