The Sunday Mail
Changing Perspectives
Rutendo Gwatidzo
No matter how strong you seem to be, you need to recharge to remain strong and continue making a positive impact.
The struggle is real.
In life, we fight many battles that can really wear us down.
Fighting anyhow causes us to waste our energy unnecessarily.
However, if you fight with winning strategies, you get energised and look forward to the next battle.
Winning often brings excitement.
One of the winning strategies in life is retreating in order to advance.
Facts of Life
Many people consider retreating as a sign of surrender and defeat.
They view it as an action driven by weakness and failure.
This is why many people die silently.
Others push themselves beyond what they can bear and lose it in the process.
It is either their bodies break down or they mentally break down.
Others may end up failing to cope in their relationships or they lose effectiveness in their work.
Retreating is strategic
Even the sun goes down every day and comes back fresh.
Knowing when to retreat is a sign of victory. Why should you drown when you are the captain of the ship and you can easily change direction to land on good ground?
Life is all about working hard to achieve set goals, but it can get incredibly busy and hectic.
Taking time to relax and refresh is recharging yourself.
You just need to create balance so that you do not unplug for too long.
Too much of everything is not good.
Re-fuel, re-charge and jump back in full throttle in order to make each day both useful and pleasant.
Make it a habit to find a place to cool off often enough.
Taking a mental break is vital for your mental health, productivity and joyful living.
Organisational status
In most cases, people get fatigued and lose their effectiveness. This is mainly because people work hard to make ends meet. Some do two or three jobs at a time and others work overtime to meet deadlines and boost their incomes.
But divided attention is not good for productivity. This is why it probably takes long for some organisations to achieve their goals.
Inasmuch as hard work is good, there is need to find balance.
Sometimes, it is better to focus on one thing at a time and give it your best.
Too much hustling may lead to sub-standard work.
A mental vacation is needed sometimes to remain useful.
The time to slow down is when you think you do not have time to slow down. On the way up, do not feel embarrassed to climb down a little bit to find a comfortable place to take a rest before proceeding.
Many people do unspeakable things in organisations because they are not able to adapt and adjust.
Sometimes the going really gets tough, so there might be need to refuel and recharge.
Oftentimes, some people take on many jobs at the same time and ultimately fail to cope.
Others end up stealing or giving their bodies to superiors to gain favours.
Overall, the benefits of a refreshed mind cannot be overemphasised.
Retreating gives you time to heal, to introspect, to adjust, to learn and to grow.
Just unplug for a few minutes and you may see things falling into place.
It is fine to break down sometimes.
Even if your competitors think that they won, it is fine.
Give them that until you are able to recover, pursue and overtake.
Rutendo Gwatidzo is a culture and change management strategist. She is an HR consultant, speaker, mentor and author. Contact detail — 0714575805/ [email protected] / Rutendo Gwatidzo official FB public page.
