Remember to (Re)Focus on Recovery (Productive Flourishing Pulse #456)

Don’t neglect recovery blocks trying to squeeze in more doing

Photo by Paul Skorupskas on Unsplash

In last week’s Pulse, I suggested taking some time to review and replan your five (now four) workweeks. The key idea was to adjust your load since you can’t adjust the length of your track.

If last week was about suggesting you avoid cramming more work into fewer focus blocks, for this week’s suggestion, I’m encouraging you to avoid trying to squeeze in more work blocks (focus, admin, social) at the expense of recovery blocks.

Yes, with vacations and holidays coming, you’ll be tempted to say, “I’ll just recover then so I can push a little harder now and get these extra few things done.”

Have you ever pushed yourself hard to finish everything before a big vacation, only to spend your whole time off sick or zombified to the degree that you don’t actually enjoy the time off? That’s exactly the sort of trade-off you’re making when you don’t maintain regular recovery blocks in your daily and weekly schedules, even with the promise of “vacation/holiday recovery” ahead.

Just as focus blocks are fuel for our projects/doing, recovery blocks are fuel for our being. Both are important. Neglecting one for the other may have some benefit in the short term, but there’s always a cost. Please don’t pay that cost with burnout, illness, or missed social events, celebrations, or time with loved ones.

It’s not just you who experiences your being sick, burnt out, zombified, or absent — it’s your loved ones, too.

Pace yourself so you can finish the year strong, enjoy the holidays, and still have something in the tank for next year, too.

Substack Migration Updates — Now the Substack Changelog

We decided this particular feature would be much better as a changelog on Substack that we update as we go rather than posting/reposting the information here in the Pulse.

If you’re interested in the behind-the-scenes of this Substack migration, want to know what we’re building for subscribers (free and paid tiers), and when you might see that thing you just can’t wait to get your hands on, head to this post on PF for the latest updates.

Going forward, look for a significant change in the Other News and Features section.

Other News and Features

• 🌞 Join us in the Dominican Republic in February. Are you striving for a breakthrough in your career, leadership, or business? The Level Up Retreat is designed to accelerate your journey. Tailored for executives, entrepreneurs, and high-achievers, the experience guides you to articulate the game you're meant to play and assemble the pieces to shift into doing that day-to-day.

• The cost for paid memberships will increase to $10/month or $100/year on December 1st. If you’ve been considering becoming a paid member, now’s a really good time to do so. Click here to upgrade.

Reads and Seeds

This new section is for great reads I’ve found over the last week and post seeds that I may or may not get around to finishing. Let me know if you like this section.

• Why Social Media Makes People Unhappy -- And Simple Ways to Fix It - This one has two ideas I love: the 30-Minute Ick factor and why disassociation might better explain social media behaviors than addiction.

• Virtual Connections: A Dive into Conscious Relationship Design with AI -

  Julie Harris
  explores how chatting with AI can improve your relationships with humans.

• The Intelligent Failure that Led to the Discovery of Psychological Safety - While I’ll be sharing more about this on

  Better Team Habits
  , “better teams probably don’t make more mistakes, but they are more able to discuss mistakes” is the clincher for us here today. Apply this to your life team and pack.

• Humankind: A Hopeful History - This book is a must-read because it shows how the sociological studies that seem to point to our brutish, selfish, and warlike nature are hoaxes or false. I may be writing and talking a lot more about this one, but go ahead and start reading it now.