Self Care - Rest That Makes You Better

In this show, I talk about rest as a form of self-care that makes us better leaders, not just better at “getting through” the week. I share practical ways to protect our energy so we can think clearly, support our teams, and improve clinic culture and financial results. 

• defining rest as what fuels our spirit and thinking 
• using solitude and a change of environment to generate better ideas 
• creating quiet, interruption-free time blocks at work 
• empowering staff to solve problems without us unless it’s a true emergency 
• using selective remote work for strategy and deep focus 
• prioritizing sleep with a real wind-down routine 
• taking short walks and getting outside to reset our brain 
• treating travel and time off as an ROI-positive leadership tool 

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Contact me directly at mike@seasoned-advice.com 

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Transcript

Welcome And Show Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Greetings and welcome to iCare Leadership Live. This is the podcast for iCare leaders who want to level up their leadership, create better cultures, and improve the financial results of their clinics. Now, let's join the show.

Why Rest Belongs In Leadership

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Today on Tails from the Trenches, I want to talk about something that I it's just one of my favorite topics, and that is self-care, taking care of yourself, and specifically around the idea of rest. I guess in a way, and that'll make sense why I say it uh that way, uh, and why I will would not say that it was an opportunity. So um I had an incident or I had an event with my family back in Louisiana, and I had to travel back to my hometown, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to visit family. And it had to do with a, I don't know, sort of a medical emergency. We'll just call it that. And so it wasn't necessarily for for relaxing reasons, but you know, this is Tales from the Trenches, so I try to talk about real situations here. And so this was a real situation from my life. And what and I and there were some unexpected good things that came about from this trip. Now, the the good thing is, you know, family's good, everything is okay, and you know, we're working through that. My family's working through that, and um so I don't want you to worry about that. So focusing on more of the lesson here, um, you know, I had this opportunity to drive to Louisiana from Austin, and uh that's a great time for me to think. Um, I was by myself, I'm in the car, and I can listen to what I want, I can play my music and sing as loud as I want. And if anybody out there knows me, you know that I love to sing, and it's almost a uh for some of you, it's it's an annoying habit. So those of you that were have worked with me, you know that I love to sing, and uh, I'll do it at at any volume. Um and you know, that's a real nourishing thing for me. And so this car ride, which is about a seven and a half hour car ride, uh, I'm listening to books, I'm singing, and that is fueling my spirit. And for me, that's a form of rest, and I would classify that as a form of rest, is doing something that aligns with your spirit, feeds your spirit, and fuels your your thoughts. You know, for me, it was fueling so many thoughts of ways that I can uh support my my clients, ways that I can help more clients with the work that I do, uh, ways that I can be more present for my family. I mean, so many thoughts are stimulated for me when I get away, when I have space to think. And uh so that was really nourishing for me.

Quiet Space That Restores Focus

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Um, another rest-related lesson that I learned here on this trip. So I booked myself at an Airbnb close to where uh my family lives, and I made sure that I wasn't just taking care of family issues the whole time. I had time to work, time, time to connect with my clients and the things that they needed. And I had quiet. I had a space of my own in this little Airbnb and a desk. And um, it was just it was so nice to just have quiet. And you may, you know, you if you may have heard of writers that go off and they write their book out in the Scottish Highlands or something, or off in the mountains somewhere. And I had kind of that experience. I was off by myself doing my work and able to work at my own pace without so much distraction. And it was really, again, restful is really the only word that I can think of, and energizing. Restful and energizing.

Boundaries And Smart Remote Work

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Now, if you're a clinical leader out there and you may be saying to yourself, hey, I have to work in this busy clinic, constant interruptions. Like, when can I get that? Well, maybe there's an opportunity to say, hey, I've got I have a certain period every day when I do not want to be disturbed. Or maybe once a week, there's a one-hour period where I need you to solve your own problems, and and you only knock on this door uh if there is a true emergency that cannot wait. And you empower your people to resolve issues without you. Maybe that's a way that you can do that. Maybe you talk to your your practice owner or your boss, and you say, Hey, I want to have a I want to take a day, and I need to just focus on some certain things, and I'm gonna work from home uh all day on this day, maybe it's once a month, and I'm going to get stuff done. And for those of you who are not believers in remote work, uh, please rethink that because I'm not saying that everyone should be remote 100% of the time, but I would say if you are in any kind of an exempt role position, where that means that some levels your brain is involved and the you're you know, you you do strategy to some extent. If you're in an exempt role, then you're gonna benefit from some level of of unplugging from the environment that the crazy environment that you're in every day. And so for many reasons. One is it's gonna be more restful, it's gonna be less taxing on your brain to be interrupted so often. And so enjoy that, you know, find a way to avail yourself of that time. Uh and number two, you're gonna be really productive, you're gonna be more productive during that time. Um, and number three, you're gonna have ideas and thoughts that you might not have had if you were in that constant distraction environment. And so there's benefits to the clinic, to having time away, having time away to do your job and think. Um not you're not sitting there all day, you know, staring at the ceiling, meditating, but just by virtue of not being in that space, you know, you're you're getting uh you're getting rest and you're getting space for your brain to focus. Um

Sleep Habits That Actually Help

SPEAKER_00 7:38

I also want to talk about sleep. You know, talking about rest. How can you talk about rest if we don't talk about sleep? And sleep is just incredibly important. And you've heard it a million times. This has been the drum beat, probably coming out of out of you know um journalistic circles for a while here, but sleep is really important. You've got to figure it out. Uh lately, I'll tell you, I've been taking magnesium glycinate, and it's been awesome. Uh, I started with 120 milligrams, um, now up to 360 milligrams. Uh I take it right before bed. And I actually pair that with um L3N8. And this is not a health podcast, and I'm not giving healthcare advice, so please don't take it that way. But uh I've been really benefiting a lot from those two supplements, and so putting a plug in to explore supplementation. Um, but you know, another thing that has been truly helpful to me is just it's not watching TV, changing the turning your lights down before bed, putting some lamps on and turning off those overhead lights, and just having some wind-down time when you do your pseudo two or read your book, and you know, maybe journal or think about your day tomorrow. And turn off the intake, the intake of information that that we're bombarded with all the time.

Walk Breaks To Reset Your Brain

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Also, I think another form of rest is getting up from your desk and walking around, moving around uh outside of your your work environment. Go for a walk outside, go to some other part of the building where people don't know where you are, and just breathe for a little bit. Walk around, sit, look at watch the squirrels run around. Uh breathe the fresh air, move your feet if you can. Do that a couple times a day, at least a couple times a day, to recharge yourself. And this is a form of rest because it's letting your brain rest. It's letting your eyes rest from having, you know, focusing on a laptop, for example. Um, it's letting your brain rest because you are getting out and you're absorbing the outside world. I'm looking out to my to this window next to me because it um it reminds me how important it is to get outside and and look at the natural world.

Travel Time Off And Real ROI

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Um and then the last tip I have, and this is really from this same trip that I opened the show talking about, which is if you can travel and get away from your normal environment, it's a very powerful, it's a very powerful tool because it gets you away from your routine. And the routine are all also the things you have to do. The dishes, the papers, the the desk that's messy, the the pile of stuff in the corner. When you travel, you eliminate a lot of that stuff. You know, you can leave it as messy as you want. When you check out of that hotel or check out of that Airbnb, if there's crumpled up paper on the ground or messy sheets. Uh, I was hopeful you're not leaving at a disaster, but there's not nearly as much stuff to worry about. You don't have to do the dishes, right? And so you're not gonna have to vacuum the space, you're not gonna have to mop or dust or clean the bathroom. And so it it gives you a little bit of a release there. And travel just isn't inherently restful because you're getting an opportunity to just explore a new environment, a new environment that you don't have to take care of. And so I really encourage you to to travel, to get out, find time, to be with yourself, and rest your mind, rest your mind and and come back recharged. I I believe with every fiber of my being that that day off once a month or that weekend, long weekend once a quarter is actually, and the you know, the practice owners out there are not gonna want to hear this, but like that actually has a positive return on investment. The time away, you're going to come back more energized with better ideas than you know, than whatever cost it it costs to take that time. So there's an ROI, there's a return on investment with that for you and your and your clinic. So, doctors out there, hear me now. Let your people take time off, especially those managers that are constantly bombarded with with tasks, with with technicians and um staff members asking questions. We need to have time to step back and think and and rest. So feed yourself, rest. This has been Tales from the Trenches. I hope

Final Ask And Where To Subscribe

SPEAKER_00 13:07

you enjoyed it. Um, please subscribe to iCare Leadership Live. We've got more guests coming just about every week. I'm talking to someone new, someone interesting from the iCare world that is gonna make your um abilities just a little bit better because they're gonna share knowledge with you. So thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you on the next show. Well, that brings this episode of iCare Leadership Live to a conclusion. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show on your podcast app and share it with someone who would value the content. I promise to bring you more guests and content to help make you a better iCare clinical leader. I also invite you to subscribe to my HR newsletter for iCare leaders. You can find information about that at seasoned advice.com. Now go out there and lead with confidence.