Work Besties Who Podcast

Rest Is A Power Move

• Work Besties Who Podcast • Season 3 • Episode 86

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Ever swear you’ll “catch up on sleep this weekend”… and somehow wake up Monday still tired? Same. 😅
In this January wrap-up, Jess and Claude are making a bold claim: rest isn’t a reward — it’s a strategy.

We’re talking the real reason your habits fall apart when you’re exhausted (spoiler: your brain goes into survival mode), plus a few simple, low-pressure routines you can actually keep.

In this episode:

  • The January recap: what stuck, what didn’t, and why “pressure” isn’t the move
  • The Rest Ledger: an energy budget for your life (what drained you vs. what restored you)
  • The Power Down Protocol: close loops → dim & distance → downshift
  • The Work Bestie bedtime routine: brain → light → body
  • What to do if you wake up at 2AM (without doom scrolling 😬)
  • A 1-week experiment: the “no after-hours spiral” boundary

Not medical advice: If you’re dealing with chronic insomnia or severe sleep issues, please talk to a qualified clinician.

Books on Rest, Sleep & Energy

  • Exhausted: How to Revitalize, Restore, and Renew Your Energy – the book Jess references in this episode
  • Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
  • Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey
  • Burnout by Emily Nagoski & Amelia Nagoski
  • Essentialism by Greg McKeown
  • The Sleep Solution by W. Chris Winter, MD

Podcasts for Going Deeper

  • The Huberman Lab Podcast (sleep & nervous system episodes)
  • Ten Percent Happier
  • The Mel Robbins Podcast (rest, boundaries & burnout conversations)
  • Feel Better, Live More (Dr. Rangan Chatterjee)
  • The Happiness Lab

#Sleep #BurnoutRecovery #WorkLifeBalance

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Work Besties! Theme Song Written by Ralph Lentini @therallyband

Jess K:

Yours is a brain issue, sure.

Claude F:

I have a brain issue, people.

Jess K:

The name of this episode, Claude's Got a Brain Issue.

Claude F:

Um, you got Claude? Do you have a brain issue? Hi, I'm Claude. And I'm Jess. We are corporate employees by day, entrepreneurs by night, and work besties for life.

SPEAKER_03:

Join us as we explore how work besties lift each other up, laugh through the chaos, and thrive together in every industry. Work besties.

Jess K:

Quick question: Have you ever said, I'll catch up on sleep this weekend, and then the weekend comes and somehow you're still tired.

Claude F:

Or you did sleep, but you didn't feel rested because your brain was still running tomorrow's meetings in the background.

Jess K:

Today we're making a bold claim. Rest is a power move.

Claude F:

Not a reward, not a luxury, a strategy.

Jess K:

And if January felt like the longest month packed into four weeks, well, you're in the right place. Welcome back to work besties, Who Podcast. I'm Jess. And I'm Claude. Today is our January wrap-up episode, the We Survive January Habit Check-In.

Claude F:

We're reviewing what stuck, what didn't, and how to move forward.

Jess K:

Because January was all about new year, new you, but we did it our way. Was really more about resetting with those micro intentions, nothing pressureful, and nothing about perfection.

Claude F:

And today's focus is the thing that makes every intention easier to keep. Rest.

Jess K:

Also, I'm reading a book that's been putting language into what so many of us feel. And yes, I made a podcast around it. The book I'm reading for those interested is called Exhausted: How to Revitalize, Restore, and Renew Your Energy. And for me, it really helped reinforce that simple truth of if you're running on an energy deficient long enough that your normal state starts to feel totally depleted.

Claude F:

Yeah, which means you can be doing everything right, but it still feels wrong.

Jess K:

And we just wanted to provide a quick note we're not medical providers. This is a practical and educational episode. It's all based off of me reading a book and us talking about other elements that we've learned along the way. So if you truly are dealing with a chronic insomnia or other sleep-related issues, please do talk to the qualified clinician. But before we go through my book report, that you could start with a mini wrap-up of what we've done so far.

Claude F:

Okay, yeah. The wrap up because this episode is a bridge with genuine intentions and sustainable habits. And sleeping is a sustainable habit. I'm so happy, Jess, because you're going to help me with your book report. Because, as you know, I do not sleep.

Jess K:

Right. So before we get into the sleeping, let's quickly recap some of the lessons that we already covered. First one this month, we called this new year a new year, but for us, this wasn't about big declarations or huge swings of change. It's the micro intentions. So we really wanted to kick off the year thinking about an end goal and starting small movements to get yourself there.

Claude F:

Then lesson number two was your energy is your strategy. Because if you're exhausted, everything feels harder. Everything, every part of your life, your focus, your patience, your confidence, your ability to communicate or lack of communication. So really exhausted, you have to remove this word from your vocabulary for 2026 or as much as you can.

Jess K:

The last one was around when you are reinventing yourself and those small bits of progress. They might seem boring to others, but to you make big differences. Any improvement is a reward that you should cherish and congratulate yourself for.

Claude F:

Yeah. And here's the big one we've learned as we did January. You can't new your new you your way out of a nervous system that never gets too powered down.

Jess K:

Exactly. So today we're treating rest like what it is that performance advantage and a mental health baseline.

Claude F:

If we're being honest, January reflection can turn into a weird kind of pressure, right? Oh my god, it's January. I didn't do that. Or I'm behind, or I need to catch up.

Jess K:

That's a trap. Don't fall into that, right? That I think that was the whole intention of us kicking off with micro intentions or small things. One of them was really around reflections. Yes, reflections are important because they help create clarity, but they shouldn't be leveraged for self-criticism.

Claude F:

Here's what we realized: you can't build a new pattern on an exhausted body or mind.

Jess K:

Yeah, reflection tells you what matters, but rest is really what gives you that capacity to act on it.

Claude F:

Because at the end of the day, if you're running on low sleep, your brain will default to survival mode. You don't choose habits, you react. As I said earlier, I can attest to that because as you know, I don't sleep well.

Jess K:

And I'm not saying that anyone on this podcast falls praise to this, but when you are overtired, you don't communicate clearly, you avoid, you snap at people.

Claude F:

Boy, you do. You over explain. Let's continue. You don't stay consistent, you people please or not. You avoid. I mean, it's horrible.

Jess K:

Right. You go from avoidance to hustle because you're like, oh, this is due tomorrow, and I've avoided it for weeks. So this episode hopefully is a pivot for many of us to think about, um, and how we can really focus more on our energy levels.

Claude F:

And that's why we're calling this episode rest is a power move.

Jess K:

I do think one thing we want to also comment too is that reflection is really the map for you, but rest is the fuel. That's what's gonna drive you.

Claude F:

Yeah. A map without a fuel to power your engine. It's like good idea. Good for you, you know, and you're staying where you are. Thumbs up. Uh so we're calling it the rest ledger. So go ahead. Yeah, I can't wait. All right, this is to hear.

Jess K:

Um, all right. So we what I did is in addition to reading this book, I then started investigating different books and other podcasts, consolidated, and then we put our own work bestie spin on a lot of these. So some of them might be cheesy. Please bear with us. We like cheesy. We love cheesy. Cheesy's memorable.

Claude F:

Cheesy is good.

Jess K:

All right. So the first one that uh Claude and I talked about was the rest ledger. So think of this of it like an energy budget. So it's not to make people feel guilty. It's just to clarify your level. So tonight, you want to ask yourself what drained me today? When I think about everything I did, what really took my energy and sucked the power out of it? Like you're on your phone and you have 20,000 apps open and you notice the power going. Similar to yourself. Was it the amount of workload? Was it the fact that you didn't time manage well because you had a project due that day that you knew about weeks ago? Was it your family? Your family. That's a yeah. Um, were you doom scrolling and lost track of time? Uh what are those triggers that really sucked that energy out? And then you also want to think about what restored my levels of energy that day. Okay. Could be something as simple as I saw my work bestie and I just smiled or laughed. I was I was able to get a quick five-minute walk in between my meetings. I was able to go for the run in the morning, which Claude can attest, I am a much better person when I get my run in. Um, what are those things that give you energy? And then the last question to ask yourself is what's one tiny trade of the two that I can make tomorrow?

Claude F:

Yeah, yeah, because that's what we like again. It's like the whole thing about January. It's not changing everything because it's too scary. But not and it's not realistic, right?

Jess K:

It's not realistic. You can't wake up one day and just be like, I was this person, now I'm that.

Claude F:

No, you you have to make it, oh, I'm going to eat healthier and work out every single day. No, it's not going to happen. So you're just doing one trade. Like 10 fewer minutes scrolling, or 10 more minutes uh decoration, or even I'm going to do a five-minute meditation. Start small and do what you can do. Yeah.

Jess K:

So that energy ledger is really gonna take you a little bit of time. It might not be something you can simplify or create differences in overnight. You may have to take a week or two to understand what those energy positives and negatives are for you. Right. And then figure out how do you make those trades. So we do recommend doing that first, and then we have an idea of the other things you can pair with it to help. So the next one I am calling the power down protocol because your body needs cues, not just those intentions.

Claude F:

And I'm I'm laughing because it's so jest about writing down things like intention. Let's write our intention.

Jess K:

Yeah, our manifestations.

Claude F:

Yeah, let's write our manifestations. So now we are going to write about our sleep. What's done, what can wait, and first step tomorrow.

Jess K:

So the intent. I know Claude laughed at me when I suggested this, but this stops your brain from trying to hold everything in while you're trying to sleep. When I was younger, I used to journal before you go to bed. It's bringing that back. But with the, as you comment, intention to focus on how could I leverage that to shut my brain down.

Claude F:

Yeah. And I have to say though, in all fairness, especially when I was younger, now it's not as much, but when I couldn't, something was stuck. You know, you wake up in the middle of the night, something is stuck. Oh, I have to do that for work. Oh my god, this. I always had a post-it on my uh night table, okay, and I was writing down because my brain was like, I have to remember. I'm going to stop myself from sleeping because I have to remember. Oh my god, I'm not going to remember. So by putting it on post-it, then boom, I could. That was out of my head.

Jess K:

Step one is close the loop and writing those three lines down of what's done, what can we, and what's your first step tomorrow. Step two is what we're calling dim and distance. So this is one that a lot of people will about. Are you kidding me here? So the first thing is you, when you get into the bed, dim the lights, and you have to, beg of you, put your phone physically away. I'm not one of those that says it has to be out of your room. It can be in your room, it can be face down. If you can do it, I suggest putting it in the other room. I've started doing that, although my family can attest to this, doesn't love it with the alarm going off.

Claude F:

At least you get to wake up right away. You don't go back and snooze. Maybe that's the right way of doing it.

unknown:

Yes.

Claude F:

See, now you know the trick. Just to let you know, is going to be very difficult for me because now, unfortunately, it became my routine. It's kind of the my favorite, which is sad, my my favorite moment of the day when I'm by myself in the bed, scrolling and laughing at stupid cats things or whatever. I know that that's what we have to do, not to be on the phone, but it's going to be a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01:

So you could still do that. Just do it out of the bed. Sit on your chair next to your bed. And then when you're ready to get into your bed, physically put the phone down.

Claude F:

Oh, all right. I'll try that. Brilliant! The whole world is blowing up. All right. All right. Down shift. Step three. Choose one downshifting, it's which is slow breathing, body scan, and clenched jaw shoulders, which is true. A lot of time that will work.

Jess K:

It's just like yeah, I was gonna say for me, this is what I actually do every night. Uh I have to unclench my jaw. I notice that that's where I hold my pressure and stress throughout the day, and I can feel it by the end of the day. And if I don't do the unclench at night and a little bit of my massages, I wake up in the morning with a headache, a headache because of it. Yeah. So I have been forced to do this, but I will say, in many of the things that I've read, that this is a recommended approach to help you shift from your nighttime routine into I am ready for sleep. So I can attest it does it does work. Because you do really want to calm that body as well as your mind. It's not just one or the other. You have to kind of stop both. Most people think it's just the mind, but they tie together.

Claude F:

So there was one thing also, I understand we are not supposed to do the phone in bed, but sometimes that did help me was having those bedtime stories or those music or even those kinds of meditation. I am in bed and it helps me to relax my body because it's very hard, even my mind.

Jess K:

That does work for me as well, or in the middle of the night, and I cannot you can find tons of other tools and tactics that are not attached to a phone to do that. There's lights that work on that if you touch it in the middle of the night, it just says music, or it can do an ambient light that helps it down. The same thing, like it helps people with sad. Like there's definitely other elements out there to leverage. And the recommendation to use those instead is because it is human nature of wanting to do the other things with the phone. So we've moved on from how we can take power down protocol to help with our energy ledger. And I think that while those are great tactics, something else that we'd love to share with everybody is something that we're going to call the work bestie things to do before bed. Um, and there's three of them. They're quick, they're easy, and there's things that align to what we talked about. It's a nice memory of how to leverage it. The first being brain closure. Again, we talked about those three lines that you can kind of comment or even do in your head. Then it's two light cues, switch to softer lighting or turn lighting off in total, and then three, your body cue. It's just really that 60 seconds downshift of breathing in your body scan. So it's taking those three things in detail to kind of go brain, light, body, and then you're done.

Claude F:

Try to find your routine, like maybe it's also having a tea or whatever, you know, those combing tea thing.

Jess K:

Yeah, that will help you before you even get into the bed. Yeah. What we and we don't do a lot of that in this talking about what to do before you're into the bed, but there are elements that can help um set your tone to get more ready before you physically walk into the room.

Claude F:

Yeah. And do you think those would work also when you wake up in the middle of the night? Because like it happens also a lot in woman of a certain age where we just wake up in the middle of the night, right?

Jess K:

Yeah. Um, so I think that there are elements of that that you definitely can do. I I will suggest though, the very first thing is gonna be do not pick up the phone, right? Because you do not want that. A lot of times you just need to kind of shake it off. So it depends on who and what type of person you are. If you want to get up, go to the bathroom, drink a cup of w water, and then come back, then redo those three things that would work. You just commented before that you like to listen to some type of soothing ambient noise, have that on the ready and another device that is you can just tap to go. Yeah, there's tons of other things you can do once you weak.

Claude F:

Even read. Read also, reading also has so reading is a little on the fence.

Jess K:

Some of the books I read said it is helpful, but it's not the preferred because if it is a good book, you will get sucked in and keep you up. Yeah. So it's not going to shut your brain down. Um a better tactic would be if you are reading a book, you would read something that's meditative.

unknown:

Yeah.

Claude F:

Or a book.

Jess K:

So um boring book.

Claude F:

An email from work just giving No, that would make you angry.

Jess K:

No, but it's true like one of one of my emails to you of things to do.

Claude F:

So, yeah, but it's true, like a boring book.

Jess K:

You should have like I mean, I would recommend instead of a book, like the reality is you don't want to physically be looking at anything. You really need to shut your brain down. Meditating is a qu a lovely thing to do. Having something you can recite and listen to the music of an ambient noise. But the thing, the thing you don't want to do is re-ignite your brain. And reading causes you to focus, think, lead. I am going off of the many books that I've read. Speaking of books, I would like to finally do my my book report for you if you guys are interested. But I've found the big theme that comes out of all of it is that sleep really does improve your day. And the more you can get the sleep going, um, it helps you for the next night. And I know that sounds so obvious. It's that goes back to that energy ledger because you'll start to see if you goof one night and you don't get back on track, it just continues to amplify. And that's when your whole body starts to really shut down.

Claude F:

It's it's even when you have babies and kids and they say sleep brings more sleep. It's really going into the habit of sleeping and sleeping and sleeping, and you get better, you feel better.

Jess K:

Yeah, you get better.

Claude F:

Yeah.

Jess K:

I think what it to me, the way I would look at it, is because you know, one of my my areas of opportunity that I am focusing on for this season is the boundary being a little more clear and defined, and not just being like, I said it, and the person says no, and I'm like, okay, all right. One of the boundaries I'm very clearly making with myself, because this is the one that I'm causing of my own issues, is the importance of sleep. I am so quick to be like, oh, I'll just work another three or four hours in the night. I am the one that sends those crazy emails that I'm more related to work bestie than any other my nine to five job. But and a lot of that is because I'm excited. I love doing it, but I'm doing it at a sacrifice of my own health, which is not wise, right? The worst pick bestie angle on this one isn't that you need discipline, as we need more support. You need the approach of saying, This is my boundary. I will not defer on this. Sleep is important. And the more you push yourself back, because a lot of it is I I can get this presentation done. I just need one more hour. No, the hour of deficit to your sleep will cause you the next day to be even. Less productive. So stop, stop that, and do get your quality hours of sleep. Um, and that will over time get easier and will actually help you normalize. I mean, I do notice there are still times that I don't necessarily hit that. I do fall prey to just, oh, one more hour, one more hour. But what I find is I I am so much more tired now and I notice it. Yeah. So yeah. Our recommendation is for this one week, and it could be by yourself if you don't feel comfortable. You can leverage us or your work bestie to try the no after hour spiral, which can be different for everybody. For some people, it's working a couple more hours. For some people, it's you really just want to read one more chapter of your book, which I know for me, one more chapter usually means the end of the book. So ball died read it. Or one more episode of Netflix. Like whatever that after hour spiral is for you, don't do it. Just try one week of getting yourself to bed at a reasonable hour.

Claude F:

So my issue is not falling asleep. So I'll go to bed around 10, 10:30. Going to bed doesn't mean I'm falling asleep at a time. But what's going to happen? I'll wake up at two o'clock in the morning, three o'clock in the morning, and there is my issue. And sometimes because my son didn't come back yet. Yes, I'm thinking something about work, or I'm just because. So that's where I have to make sure, because I kind of found myself in the rabbit hole of taking on my phone, and I know that is not, it doesn't work with me at all because then I will stay for two, three hours. I think I like your way of you saying, Jess, is like maybe getting up, do something, and then to get out of the rhythm of, oh my god, I'm not I'm not sleeping yet. And it's, you know, it's four, it's 4:30, it's five, five thirty, etc. But more like do something, go get up, do something, and then going back to bed and doing those routines.

Jess K:

Yeah, I would I would say for the next week or two week or two for you to try the different tactics. Well, definitely all different tactics, like you could try one where it's the get up, then go back and do those three steps, or do another one where you try your music, but it's not attached to your phone. Um, when it and then the other one could be doing some type, it doesn't have to be a full meditation if that's not your jam. It can be something as simple as what is what is mantra that you were trying to manifest and just consistently say that. You're just trying to cleanse your brain. You need to shut your brain down because yours is a brain issue for sure.

Claude F:

I have a brain issue, people. Right for my work, bestie. What other issue beside my brain do I have? You got a brain issue, girl. Please do tell me.

Jess K:

Shouldn't that be the name of this episode? Claude's got a brain issue.

Claude F:

Um you have a brain issue.

Jess K:

But I am not a medical doctor, so please don't take my advice. All with a grain of salt. No, I was gonna say this is a little bit like leadership or being a parent where you can't just speak the speak. You have to do it, Claude.

Claude F:

So that's why I'm not saying anything. That's what I say. This is Jesses, because I cannot say people don't take your phone. It's bad for you, because that's what I do. So yeah.

Jess K:

No, in no way, shape, or form am I saying this works for everybody. It's not that your phone in your room is bad, but it is going to prevent it's sleeping, and it's such a quick thing to grab station, right?

Claude F:

Just having it, but it's my alarm clock too, so I'll have to see.

Jess K:

There's many other alarm clocks out there.

Claude F:

If you would like, I can just send your way. Yeah, yeah.

Jess K:

It goes up every 15 minutes.

Claude F:

I don't mind. Eight minutes. Eight minutes.

Jess K:

We don't suggest doing all of them. I think the big takeaway from today is don't do the 10-minute scrolling in bed. Do that outside of your bed and then come back in. But maybe try something different with your routine. For me, something just as simple as actually committing to a time to go to bed every night and sticking to that.

Claude F:

And if any of you have a tactic that worked for you, please let us know, right? I think the more we learn about everybody, the you know, maybe other things work for us for us as well.

Jess K:

Yeah. And if you want a quick reminder, here's some of the tactics that we talked about. The lights out for 10 or 10 minutes earlier, the two-minute close-the-loop notes, the dim and distance yourself from your phone, 60-second shutdown, no interaction, especially work uh messages or texting of people after whatever that time of night is for you. Uh, think about laying one of layering in one of those as your first step. Yeah.

Claude F:

Micro intentions. Yes. And if you don't have a work bestie yet, do a version of it. Is with your friend or even with yourself. You can be accountable to yourself. And also, you can even cut the internet after a certain time.

Jess K:

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Claude F:

That's a good one.

Jess K:

That is a good one. Let's tease about what's upcoming, guys. We're so excited for February. It's gonna be a good one.

Claude F:

It's going to be so good. Love that now we have more intentions for every month. And February is going to be authenticity and personal branding.

Jess K:

We're focusing on being yourself at work because it comes becomes so much easier when someone else sees and loves the real you.

Claude F:

And this month we are helping you show up authentically with the kind of support that only a true work bestie can give you.

Jess K:

So this is our bridge from January, new you, new year, new you micro intentions over to authenticity and how you can make yourself feel more genuine.

Claude F:

Yeah, and we'll talk authentic career moments, show up as you energy, and how to align your values with how you show up at work. We'll get into more of that starting just next week.

Jess K:

But if this episode resonated with you and we hope it did, and you love want to hear more book reports from Jess, Jess. You know what?

Claude F:

I do like. I do like book report with Jess. Love it.

Jess K:

This is another book that I could do, I lad. So well, yeah.

Claude F:

You know what?

Jess K:

Stay tuned, guys.

Claude F:

I'm going to tell you now the my issues, and you'll do a book report so that you can be my therapist and I don't have to read it. Awesome. Because I don't like self hep books. I know you do. So let's do a book report like that. Okay. Thank you.

Jess K:

We'll do that. The next spin-off podcast.

Claude F:

Let's do for March.

Jess K:

Alright, guys. So tag your work bestie or send this to somebody if you did enjoy it. And with that, we wish you all a happy day. And don't forget to support your work besties. Remember, whether you're swapping snacks in the break room, rescuing each other from endless meetings, or just sending that perfectly timed meme. Having a work bestie is like having your own personal hype squad.

Claude F:

So keep lifting each other up, laughing through the chaos, and of course, thriving. Until next time, stay positive, stay productive, and don't forget to keep supporting each other.

SPEAKER_03:

Work besties!

Head Shot

Claude F

Co-host
Head Shot

Jess K

Co-host