I’m sure with a title like that is seems to be a bit of hype but I’ve found one simple practice to help me rest. I’ll give it to you right up front. Here it is: You must make a conscious decision to limit your work.
That means you have to decide how many hours a week you are going to work and stick to it. If you are self-employed this is really difficult. Trust me I understand. It is hard to stick to a schedule. There is never an end to my emails, FB messages, voicemail, and to-do lists, so I have to create an end. I have to make a conscious decision to end my work. So if you don’t get a response from me right away it isn’t because I don’t love you, it’s because I’m trying to put boundaries in my life.
Entrepreneurs, you have a tendency to never stop. You bring your work home, you work in the car, at the dinner table, even in bed. If you’re married there are a lot better things to do in bed than work.
Some of you are pushing back right now and thinking, “But if I take a break there is no one else who is going to do this. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid.”
This is going to be key for you: Rest is really a statement of your faith. When you rest you are saying, “God, I’m trusting you to do in 6 days what I can do in 7. God, I’m trusting You to make it all work. I’m stopping the struggling and striving and in obedience to You I rest and trust that You will take care of everything.”
Chick-fil-a models this as a business and has been enormously successful. In fact their stores outperform KFC stores 3 to 1 and they outsell KFC with just a fraction of the stores. (Check this out.)
Single moms, putting a limit to your work is important for you too. I know some of you are working a couple of jobs to make it all work…you need rest too. It’s a statement of your faith…just as much as hard work is a statement of faith. By taking time to rest you are declaring your faith in God to make life work out.
It’s important to work for God and it’s just as important to REST for God.
Rich people & poor people find it hard to rest. If you don’t make a lot of money it is hard to rest because you have to make up that difference with other jobs. If you make a lot of money it’s hard to rest because your company wants 24hr access to you for the compensation they give you. It’s not a poor or rich issue.
The often unspoken challenge is that there is no glory in rest. There is glory in achievement and accomplishment, but not in rest. Some of us struggle with intentionally limiting our work because we grew up learning that achievement and accomplishment was the best way to prove your worth and value even though that isn’t true. Others of us have a hard time limiting our work because we lack boundaries. We have a hard time saying no because we don’t want to let someone down or we are afraid of disappointing them. So we tell ourselves lies that are killing us, “I don’t have time to rest,” or “I’ll rest when I finish all my work.” The problem is that there will always be more stuff to do, so we have to make a conscious decision to limit our work.
Why do you think you struggle with resting? Why do you find it so difficult to make a conscious decision to limit your work? Whether you limit your work to 45 or 55 hours you need to make a conscious effort to close the laptop and turn off the phone. I’m not telling you what your limit should be, just that you should have one. Why not let those that you love the most have serious input into this decision?
I bet that if you were to get serious about limiting your work that your joy would start to increase. I bet your relationships would start to improve. Who knows, your health issues may see some positive gains as well.
Even when you die you still will have things yet to finish and things left undone. Make sure the things that are left undone have nothing to do with those who are closest to you. We all say our relationships are the most important thing to us, this is a practical way you can prove it and take better care of yourself. Make a conscious decision to limit your work EVERY DAY.
Here is a great resource to help you WIN in this area:
