 So, I've been able to accomplish a lot in my business because I've learned to work and create even when I don't feel like it. Now, I've also learned a very important lesson on the other side of things, which is to rest even when I don't feel like it. Now, this might sound strange because usually we work until we're tired and then we rest, right? And in my experience, when I'm feeling really tired, I've rested too late. So, I've learned that to be able to maintain a real joyful productivity, I need to rest on a regular rhythm even when I don't feel like it, just like I work on a regular rhythm even when I don't feel like it. And I've said this many times if you've watched my videos, you know that I never feel like making these videos. I didn't feel like making this one when I started, but I had a schedule and I'd like to follow my schedule because I get a lot of things done that other people might, you know, be delaying, procrastinating, I don't feel like it, I'll do it later, I just get it done and every time I get it done, I learn something, I grow, I feel proud of it and that's when I know I'm growing. But the same thing with rest, it's like a lot of people, I notice they work to exhaustion and then rest, work to exhaustion and then rest and I don't think that's a very sustainable way of operating with ourselves because by the time you're exhausted, you should have rested sooner because you're creating the possibility of burnout sooner in your career. And I have burned out, I think I've burned out several times or at least almost burned out and burnout is really a hard experience. There's no emotional motivation, you know, there's obviously physical tiredness, there might even be repetitive stress injury in the arms or the hands or the wrists or in the back or the neck, shoulders, there's just, you know, and lack of hope, lack of creativity for days or weeks or months on end. So it's something that I wish on nobody and I hope that by watching this video, by thinking about your own pattern of rest that you will prevent burnout for yourself or to prevent burnout again and to find more regular energy to be able to do your work. So I want to share with you the ways that I rest and hopefully this will give you some ideas for it to start habituating, creating habits in your own work rhythm as well. So I'll start with something I do multiple times every hour. Yes, every working hour I spend, I do this multiple times. I take what I call a micro break, which is a 30 second break every 15 to 20 minutes, sometimes even every five to 10 minutes. I mean, I really don't mind doing it as often as I remember it, but at least I try to do it every 20 minutes. And I've been doing this now for just a few months and it's been amazing. It's been really good. I also remember this was how I got over, this was one of the key ways I got over repetitive stress injury a couple years ago is by forcing myself to take more micro break. So here's what I do for 30 seconds in my micro break. Like I said, I do this every 15 to 20 minutes and sometimes even five to 10 minutes, however often as I want to. So what I do when a micro break is I take my hands off the keyboard and then I drop my hands, I just drop my hands to my sides, drop my hands and arms to my sides, let it rest there. And while I'm doing that, I'm breathing gently and deeply. And while I'm breathing and resting my arms and hands, what's going on in my head is I'm thanking God now, choose your eternal source. But I say God, I thank God for having brought me to this point of my work. God has brought me through so much in my life and has brought you as well, your eternal source has brought you through so much in your life, all the trauma, the challenges, the emotional highs and downs and all the difficulties, problems. You're here. I'm here. So I thank God for having brought me through all of that, all the creativity I've done. I often wonder, you know, when I start writing a blog post, I'm like, I don't know how I'm going to write anything. It's a blank screen. I don't know what to say. I'm going to write. I don't think it's going to be good. And then by the end of the hour, of course, as I make myself write or just let it free flow and just try, just try, you know, without any strictness, I just try. Somehow it all comes together. So I thank God, like I said, I thank God for bringing me here to this moment. And I also thank God that I'm going to be brought through everything else, everything else in my life. I'm going to be brought through just fine. And that there's always, there's always this moment of checking in and being grateful and trusting. So that's part of my micro break. I also breathe, I do my quick energy reboot. So I do the thanks and trust. And then I do my quick energy reboot, breathing in love, breathing out. And I think total security, I breathe in wisdom. That's always around and breathing thanks. So that, okay. So thus far, about, you know, 20 seconds have gone by, if I didn't do that explanation. And then I open my eyes. I look in the distance. I'm grateful to work right next to a window. So I look in the distance. If you can look, you know, if you need to look behind you or whatever to the other side of the room to rest your eyes a little bit, so you're not always so focused. So I look in the distance for a moment while I stretch and yawn or sigh. And then the last, very last thing I do is I remind myself when my next micro break is. So what the next 15 or 20 minutes also, okay, at this time, I'm going to take another micro break. So setting that intention. So that's my micro break. And I do this, like I said, takes 30 seconds. You can time it if you actually try it out. And every 15 to 20 minutes while during my working, working hours. Now of course, once I'm done working and I'm just, you know, having dinner, spending time with my wife or whatever, I don't do these micro breaks, but it's only during the work day that I do it because I'm at the computer so much. Okay. So one is micro breaks. I think it's the most important thing. It prevents us from carpal tunnel, repetitive stress, et cetera. The next thing I want to mention is my midday breaks, my midday breaks. And these are, I never work for more than two hours at a time. I usually work for an hour and a half, sometimes two hours. And of course, during the hour and a half and two hours, I'm taking multiple micro breaks. But anyway, 15, half an hour, hour and a half to two hours of work stretch before I take a long break. And my long breaks, my midday breaks happen usually either 30 minutes long, which means snack and quick nap. And during my naps, I usually don't fall asleep. I just lay down, relax, rest for 15 minutes. And it's so helpful just even if I don't fall asleep, okay? So half an hour of break, or sometimes up to two hours breaks, several times in my day I have two hour breaks where I maybe eat my lunch or eat my breakfast and take a nap, go on a dog walk, maybe run a quick errand at the post office or something like that. So I only work an hour and a half to two hours before a long break, which is usually two hours long, but sometimes it's only half an hour, depending on what's in my schedule. But I take at least two hour breaks each day. Actually, no, that's not true. I take three, that's right, I take two two hour breaks each day, mid-morning and then mid-afternoon. But I take another half hour to one hour at lunch, and then I take another one earlier in the morning after an hour of work. So anyway, midday breaks I think are really important. So thus far I've covered micro breaks, 30 seconds every 15 to 20 minutes. And then the midday break, which is 30 minutes, two hours every hour and a half to two hours of work. And then, of course, there's the evening break, which all of us take, which is called sleeping. But it is so important, so important, to understand how much sleep you need to feel fine the next day. For me, it's at least seven and a half hours. If I can get eight and a half, that's great. The seven and a half, I'll be fine the next day. Seven and a half hours of laying in bed, relaxing eyes closed, not eyes open, eyes closed, even if I'm not asleep. So I've been an insomniac much of my life. And thankfully, I've practiced and learned how to sleep. So I'm usually asleep for much of the seven and a half hours, but there can be minutes or even a few hours at a time when I'm awake in bed, but I've practiced. I've practiced keeping my eyes closed, breathing gently, relaxing, slowing my thoughts and thinking good thoughts instead of planning the next day or thinking how I could have solved this problem or whatever. Thinking good thoughts of love and thanks, slowing the thoughts, breathing gently. And then usually I drift off to sleep. But even if I'm doing that for, and I sometimes have to catch myself, it's like meditating in bed. I sometimes catch myself off on some tangent or some trying to solve a problem or thinking about the future or whatever or worrying about what. No, oh, cat myself. Okay, now back to slowing thoughts, good thoughts, breathing, relaxing. So as long as I'm doing that, really, sometimes I'm in bed like that for an hour or two during my seven and a half hours. But as long as I stay in bed eyes closed, trying, trying, I still feel fine the next day. So that's what an important thing I've learned. Just stay in bed, okay, relaxing, just doing your best. So evening breaks are really important. I also take midweek breaks, midweek breaks are Tuesday afternoon. I do a four hour break instead of a two hour break. So Tuesday afternoons, Friday afternoons are really large, large breaks. Friday afternoons, I actually take most of the day, but I work two thirds day on Fridays. So I take the afternoon, late afternoon, evening off. But Tuesdays I do a four hour break. And then Sundays I don't work at all. So kind of those breaks, I actually work on Saturdays because I enjoy doing it. Mid-year breaks, okay, so the last one is mid-year breaks. I think are really important. That's when I take a couple days off of work or a couple weeks. I have, in February, we go visit my in-laws for Chinese New Year. So that's like a week off of work. In May is my wife's birthday. So we take two weeks off sometimes on the trip, no work. In August is our anniversary. So we take a few days, no work just a few days, even just at home, relaxing or whatever. And then November is my birthday. I take a few days off work. And then Christmas end of year, two weeks off, no work. So like those mid-year breaks are really important. And the last thing I'll say is I've also learned to, like I said, to rest when I don't feel like it, right? Rest when I don't feel like it, rest before I'm tired. Those, these breaks I'm talking about, oftentimes I still want to keep working. But I know to rest because that's how I stay balanced and energized and healthy, et cetera, et cetera, okay? And the last thing I'll say is to stay resting as I plan to stay resting. Meaning it, for example, the, the simplest examples at night, you know, if I'm thinking about a problem, if I'm planning something or I've had some creative idea, right? The, the instinct is to, oh my gosh, got this idea. Get up, work, write, whatever. And I've learned over the years that that's a terrible idea because the next day I'm wasted, right? So I don't. Creative idea, like I have trained my mind. So that my mind knows not to bother me at night. Yes, occasionally it still does. Creative idea, problem, song, where I just, if I, if I, if it's really important, I'll quickly jot a few, a few notes by my bedside. But then go right back to sleeping and resting. My mind most of the time knows to leave me alone and only give me creative ideas during the day. Some of you have trained your mind opposite. You've trained your mind to say, okay, whenever creative ideas come, get up, whatever you're doing, do the work, do the thing. And it's just, it throws life into chaos because there's no balance. It's just, you're being ruled by the whims of your emotions and, and mind thoughts, monkey mind. It's just not a balanced way and sustainable way to live. And you probably have noticed that in your own life. And maybe the income is erratic. Maybe your health is erratic or whatever it is. Mine is, as I've learned to create work, even if I don't feel like it. Rest even though I don't feel like it. Once I get into it though, I'm glad, right? Once I get into it for five or ten minutes, I'm glad to be working, or I'm glad to be resting. And that's the thing. We always have to go over that initial unwillingness, initial resistance to say, okay, I remember, this is what I've learned in my life, to do it anyway. And then we're glad. And then of course, not even, are we glad, or proud at the end of that work session, or that rest session, say, I'm so glad I rested. I'm so proud that I kept resting, even if I wanted to go work. So I hope this is helpful. I hope that this will inspire you to have a more regular rhythm, right? Just like, if you want to go with the flow, right? This is a typical, well, but I want to go with the flow. I'm a free spirit. Do you know where go with the flow really comes from? It comes from Taoism. It's Taoist thought, right? Effortless action. Being harmony with the nature. But guess what nature is? Nature is extremely disciplined. Have you noticed that? Nature is extremely patterned. The birds flock in a pattern, right? The sun comes up and down, very disciplined every day. There's no, I don't feel like coming up today, right? Or the earth spins in the very regular, everything is very, very systematic and regular in nature. So if you want to go with nature, want to be in harmony with nature, why aren't you? Bring a free spirit. You know what freedom means? Freedom is not freedom from patterns, or freedom from systems, or freedom from responsibility or to yourself, to your health, to your future, to your purpose. Freedom is to develop the capabilities to be able to do more than you could do before. So freedom is actually the ability to do more than you could before and to set your own schedule, yes, of course, right? But the freedom to do, to truly accomplish what you set, what you are doing, I think that's real freedom. So anyway, go with the flow of nature, which is very disciplined, okay? And being harmony and truly effortless action is once I, just like before I made this video, it took some effort, right? I'm like, okay, do my energy reboot? Okay, I don't feel like making this video, but do my energy reboot? And then once I'm in, it's effortless action. Same thing when I'm writing. Okay, I don't feel like writing. I really don't feel, I don't have any ideas, but just start free flow writing, just write anyway. And then that's effortless action. So that's really how we should apply Taoism and go with the flow and all that stuff. I just wanted to throw that in there because I think it's related to this whole thing. Why don't feel like doing this? I don't feel like doing that. Well, you're misunderstanding going with the flow. So anyway, I hope this is helpful and always open to your comments and your questions. And at this point, I'm gonna go ahead and look at my Facebook live to see if there's any comments and questions. Okay. And thank you so much for joining me live. Captain and Shweta, Linda and Carmel. Thanks also for your comments there. Carmel, Captain and Linda, appreciate it. So all right, rest before you think you need to. Rest on a regular rhythm and I wish you true wellbeing. My name is George Cao, authentic business coach. I'll see you in the next video. Take care.