The Power of Rest
Do you know how immense the power of rest is? In this episode of Incorporating Superpowers, host Justin Recla welcomes guest Stephanie Bolster McCannon to talk about the significance of rest to human beings. The Ford Motor Company had this idea in 1914 that workers should render 40 to 48 hours of work each week. Stephanie, an organizational psychologist, tackles the adverse effects of working a 40-hour work week. She also shares the importance of rest and play days in our daily lives. Tune in to know about this idea and see the power of rest.
Justin Recla:
Welcome to Incorporating SuperPowers. Today we’re gonna be talking about a superpower that a lot of you probably don’t recognize that is actually a superpower. It’s the thing that allows you to recharge your actual superpowers. And it’s a thing that we really don’t focus a whole lot on.
And today, we will be talking about the power of rest. My guest today is Stephanie Bolster McCannon, she’s the CEO and founder of BolsterUp and she is here to share some of her experiences in what she’s learned and what she’s practicing. She doesn’t just teach it. She walks the walk and talks about her experience with the power rests.
Stephanie, welcome to the show.
Stephanie Bolster McCannon:
Thank you so much for having me, Justin. This is a super important topic.
Justin Recla:
You know, the conversation around rest. I mean, you look over the last couple, two and a half years or so, where COVID put everybody home. And I think it was kind of like if it almost felt like a forced rest period for the nation, right? Like, everybody goes home, you don’t get to work. And I think people could start to feel the difference. And as we come out of this post-COVID world, people are going back to their nine to five in life as it was. It’s a little hectic right now. And I think rest is the magic ingredient in that this is how to get back in the hustle and bustle of life. How do we incorporate rest? What does that look like?
Stephanie Bolster McCannon:
That’s a great question. How do we incorporate it, and I want to just spin back a little bit on what you said, like when COVID began, what I saw with my clients was like, Okay, everybody goes home, and we all throw our hands up? It’s like, “Yay, snow day.” You know, all that excitement, we have to be home, we have to do this. And then people started to develop a lot of uncertainty and anxiety, and they didn’t know how to deal with that. And so that was not restful. Uncertainty breeds anxiety, that is not what we need, that does not rest; it’s actually stress.
And then now, just like you’re saying, we’re coming out of that, and we’re having to renegotiate again, you know, what are the parameters and some people what I loved about this was it proved to so many people and different organizations and with different job levels, that we really can, for many people, we really can do this thing working from home and be productive. There was a lot of back and forth about whether people are really productive.
And if employees could, quote, trust that their employees were going to produce for them. And the answer was unequivocally, unequivocally, yes. Yes, there are some people, but not everybody. And, again, that rest thing. And I’ve encouraged my clients and your listeners to really take to heart what they need and what that rhythm feels like for them. And for so many people, it is a hybrid they like because we get psychological benefits from interacting with other people.
So that hybrid of working from home, and being able to go into your office type setting, those types of things. I also want to shout out to my health care providers and mental health workers, and teachers who really didn’t get a break. They really didn’t get a break. And we, as a country, need to do more to provide rest for them. Because, as you mentioned, and I’m a huge proponent of it, and we can get into the detailed science behind it, we have to rest or die.
Justin Recla:
That is the key. Right? I mean, that’s what that balance is; we go into overload when we die young.
Stephanie Bolster McCannon:
Yes. And the thing is, as we were talking about the very opening beginning before we started our recording conversation, that 40-Hour Workweek, which they did studies now, was over 80 years ago. It no longer fits the model of our society, that 40 Hours of work week was usually for one person in the household. And yes, they did a great thing by paring down to the 80 hours because they were doing studies back then and saying how hard we can work this human machine before it breaks down.
And they discovered 40 hours seems to be the trick, anything really over that? And they’re going to be, like you said, overloaded, overwhelmed, and they’re going to be injured, or they’re going to die an early death. So that rest aspect is in our work cycle and all aspects. When I talk about rest, I’m talking about letting ideas rest, not just letting our physical bodies rest, letting relationships rest, conversations even. You know, if anybody gardens, they know they have to let the ground rest, they let it rest. And for anybody that works out, they know that their building the true transformation, the true creation of what they’re spending so much time and energy on, actually happens during rest.
Justin Recla:
Go ahead, Stephanie. I want to pause here because this is a great place to take a break because we can dive down this rabbit hole further on the back end. Before we do, before we go on break, where can people find more information about you?
Stephanie Bolster McCannon:
Sure. I did write a book. It’s called BolsterUp!: The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Happy Healthy Human. And they can just go to bolsterup.com.
Justin Recla:
Yeah, I love to play on the words, and the play of your name is absolutely brilliant. Folks, go take a look at Stephanie’s book, take a look at what she’s doing in the rest of Arena in listening to what she has to say because this is important. We’re gonna dive down this rabbit hole. Right after this break. We’ll be right back
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