Is rest your enemy or your greatest productivity tool? In this episode of Yuwab, host Saeed Alghafri dives deep into the importance of rest in a world obsessed with constant productivity. From battling anxiety at midnight to the pressures of technology and endless notifications, Saeed shares personal stories and expert insights. Rest isn’t laziness or selfishness—it's a vital fuel for creativity, focus, and overall well-being. Explore the four types of rest—physical, mental, emotional, and social—and learn how to set boundaries, reclaim your energy, and avoid burnout. This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking balance in today’s demanding life.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
Timestamps
Rest is more than a pause—it’s a vital investment in your energy, creativity, and happiness. Don’t just push through; recharge and thrive. Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. Stay connected by subscribing for more powerful insights from Yuwab—your guide to mindful growth and focus.
(0:00) Why at 12 a.m at night? Why do you need to have the pressure to be productive? (0:06) Rest is not you being lazy or it's a selfish act and some of the people and I've been there myself (0:13) they ignore signs of burnout or signs that they need to rest their body. If you don't take care (0:19) of yourself you're not going to thrive ultimately and consequently you're not going to basically (0:26) handle your work very well. Marhaba and how's it going everyone and welcome back to you all.
(0:37) I'm your host Saeed Alghafri. In Yuwab we always keep it real. Thank you so much for being with (0:44) me and thank whoever shared this episode with you and if you're here with me it tells me that you (0:50) make growth and focus a priority in your life and also work.
You know that's why I'm here. I'm here (0:58) because I understand your concerns and your frustrations. I've been there and I've done it.
(1:05) All right, today you know when people think of rest the first thing that they basically have (1:14) in mind is you having a bed next to your office and sleeping. That's the misunderstanding that (1:23) people have when it comes to rest and rest is not about work. When people think rest they think that (1:31) you don't do your work. Now what you need to keep in mind is that your mind and body need to recharge (1:43) seriously. I mean that's not even negotiable and for many you know rest feels like it's (1:52) elusive. You know it's something that we should not even think about doing.
I'll tell you why. (1:59) Some people have anxiety very high really. I mean where it's really unnecessary and they have this (2:08) autopilot go mood happening all the time and it's really not good.
What happens is that when (2:15) your mind is working you're not resting. Your heart is beating although you're not really (2:20) exercising but your heart is beating so high. The second thing is you basically have the pressure (2:29) to be productive.
Why? At 12 a.m at night why do you need to have the pressure to be productive (2:35) and the last thing is my friend technology. Technology is amazing but sometimes it's a really (2:44) distraction that we shouldn't. I'll share with you a story before we go into today's episode.
I really (2:51) coached someone one time all right and this guy was thriving about work and life balance (3:00) thriving in a really words way saying listen we need to do that we need to do this (3:08) and honestly the guy was high on anxiety really high. Sometimes it's unnecessary when I spoke to (3:18) him so we really took it easy where I had to basically speak to the people who report to (3:26) understand is his anxiety really high and apparently it was. So we had to basically work (3:33) with him in a way where we ease that because you want to have that capacity in your brain to (3:39) basically take a break.
Now what happens is that the lesson here the guy came to me and he was (3:48) absolutely burning out himself honestly and that's something that we don't want to reach when it comes (3:55) to that. So don't really think that not having a rest is you being more productive honestly. (4:02) I'll share with you another story and this happened to me recently honestly when I was in (4:07) the corporate world.
At that time I was very much under a lot of pressure and someone like me who (4:15) teaches mindfulness and really coach and have a podcast you would say this guy wouldn't have it (4:20) but I did go through it. I was traveling and because of a project and because of the anxiety (4:29) I got from all levels I was literally checking my emails and working you cannot imagine in a time (4:37) zone where people are asleep and I'm awake and I'm sending emails and sending meeting requests (4:42) and all that honestly it was not a break. Now what happens ultimately is that people really did not (4:48) do the work they were not responsible they were like you know what Saeed is there he's working (4:55) and let's see what he says. Guess what happens I honestly came to work brought some nice gifts (5:02) and chocolate to everyone and honestly the second day I really had a burnout although I was on a (5:10) holiday I was supposed to be on a holiday much rested but honestly completely burned out and the (5:17) second day felt as if someone was slapping me on the face kind of a feeling when I walked into the (5:25) office. So this tells you that rest is very important. Rest is not you being lazy or it's a (5:36) selfish act.
You have to rest at work or even at home you know and again rest is not only at work (5:47) you know you work from let's say eight to four but you can't really work from then five to eight (5:54) at night or nine you have to rest it's very important. Now when we think about rest think (6:02) about these four things the first thing here is the physical rest and this one is all about sleep (6:10) you know when you go to sleep just think of it as a holistic thing it's like as if you want to go (6:16) for prayers your intention should be I'm praying or I'm sleeping period sleep and I wish if they (6:27) have a law where they say there is a nap at 12 or 1 p.m because it's very important and some people (6:34) really put a nap as you being lazy or not or don't want to do your work but again a nap could be maybe (6:41) closing my eyes for five or ten minutes and doing nothing that basically recharge your mind it's a (6:47) really powerful thing that you should do or maybe sometimes slowing down when you are basically at (6:54) the top of things slowing down sometimes give you that physical rest. The second thing is the mental (7:00) rest and this is important because you know when you go from one project to the other whether it (7:06) is phased over a year a day a month it's important to have some breaks because it's like a cycle (7:13) you know you're at the top if you don't take a break you're just gonna crash (7:18) so when you have a break over five minutes ten minutes within a day it really improves your way (7:23) to basically problem solve and the third one here is emotional rest sometimes we worry too much (7:32) honestly sometimes that worry or being anxious or being that sometimes when you let go your mind (7:39) just frees up and you can do a lot of stuff honestly a lot of stuff and the last one here is (7:46) social rest you know when you spend time with people who are draining you or who are basically (7:53) pushing you down what will happen you're just gonna basically be always unfulfilled compared (8:00) to people who are really recharging you or really speaking your same language it's really really (8:06) important.
Let me share with you a story this is basically related to some of these I remember one (8:12) time I coached someone he was going through the four things physical, mental, emotional and social (8:17) honestly everything was going wrong for that person and honestly I told him (8:24) why don't you just go somewhere just go somewhere stay away from work (8:32) disconnect from technology disconnect from that because the guy had to deliver a strategy it was (8:39) very important for his company because he was owning that company and that was supposed to (8:44) be something that would make his company much more important for his client and guess what he (8:52) made the best strategy because he disconnected it's not like he was an idiot no he just needed (8:58) to take a break honestly this exactly happened to me honestly I remember at time I was like (9:07) emotionally very much not rested because I couldn't let go of the fact that I'm gonna (9:14) exit the corporate world I was very much attached to the corporate I could not see clearly the world (9:20) I had to go somewhere else and disconnect completely from the whole thing (9:26) and I came back very much recharged so again rest is very important and you know what I learned (9:36) about how to basically do it in a good way is you will have to go through this approach and it's a (9:43) very simple approach it's just three steps the first one is in a day or in a month try to have (9:52) complete disconnect let's say in a day let's say in your one hour or two hours or three or four (9:58) hours have like those five minutes don't do anything don't even check the phone because (10:04) sometimes when you check your phone you get a team's message or notification you get an email (10:09) notification and it just drains you try to have a complete disconnect from that you can take a walk (10:17) you can reach to someone you want it's just five minutes you just want to have that reset happening (10:23) to you and as I mentioned when you have a boundary on technology it's very important let's say you go (10:30) on a leave try to have a boundary maybe you say okay every three days I'm gonna check my email (10:37) unless something is going there then it's fine but most of the time try to have that disconnection (10:44) and if you're at home honestly if you're at home spend that time with your kids and family or (10:51) maybe loved ones turn off your notification maybe when you sleep honestly seriously I mean it's very (10:58) important especially when I know people I remember one guy was telling me I called you I'm like okay (11:04) I'm sleeping you know so sleep is very important so set those boundaries very important and you (11:12) know think of rest as not really being lazy it's really a productive fuel that will boost your (11:20) energy make you much more creative and make you much more focused my friend honestly you don't (11:27) have any option but to basically have that rest what happens is that when I see some of the things (11:33) that I see from people is that they think rest is really guilt as if they've done something very (11:42) big or something really shameful trust me rest is not an option it's really essential and honestly (11:52) you need to have a mindset that I need to have it really I need to have it and some of the people (11:59) I've been there myself they ignore signs of burnout or signs that they need to rest their body (12:05) and they think that they can push and they can push and they can push yeah Habibi even if you (12:10) have a car that is basically at the end of its life or basically at the end of let's say a (12:16) maintenance cycle you have to really maintain it so don't push look for those signs because it's (12:23) very important to basically take care of yourself and some of the things that I see is that people (12:30) really tend to rest in a chaotic environment what I mean by that is that it's a place where (12:35) you can't really focus and rest you need to have a space which is very holistic you know (12:42) well where you can really make rest a priority and I gave you that example when I traveled (12:47) stay away from my life which was not very comfortable but I came back very much reset (12:54) now just to recap on rest the first thing that you need to keep in mind is recognize the different (13:01) kind of rest that you need to have is it physical is it mental is it emotional where is it and don't (13:08) go with a big bang kind of rest start small and make it really intentional when it comes to (13:15) having a rest when you have that done for you then have those nice boundaries in place (13:22) five minutes five minutes no technology no this guy no toxic person to talk to etc (13:29) legitimate and holistic and always listen to your body and mind because sometimes burnout doesn't (13:37) know who you are and it will hit you and then you don't want to be crash all right this is very (13:43) important in today's life because today's life is very demanding forget it you can't say (13:51) oh I'm gonna ease the pace of life life is very fast demanding you want your energy you want it (14:03) you want to preserve that you know think of energy as that battery scale in your phone (14:09) that's your energy you need to have energy you need to have joy why is that important (14:15) why do you think is that important you have to take care of yourself ultimately you are the (14:21) vehicle you are the person if you don't take care of yourself you're not going to thrive ultimately (14:29) and consequently you're not going to basically handle your work very well and most importantly (14:35) your relationships your family values will go to the drain all right and that's your investment (14:42) as you go so having heard that what do you think about rest now do you think it's (14:51) some a selfish act it's a lazy act or it's a meaningful thing that we need to do let me know (14:56) you think so as we end at you are we always believe in making people better we always have (15:06) great potential but we really want it to basically be out and we want to shine why why is that (15:14) important because we want to thrive and thrive as much as we can one ask share this episode (15:23) i'm sure someone out there would benefit from it and also it will support me all right so until (15:30) next time take care of yourself and those who you care about