Have you been feeling the pressure to try and optimize just about everything in your life? I know I have, and ooooo weee it can be stressful.

“Take breaks every hour so you can be more productive.”

“Habit stack!”

“Take time to idle, take naps, look around and notice things.”

I’ve found myself looking at my phone while I “watch” TV, searching for my ear buds so I can listen to a podcast when I’m washing dishes, and impulse buying books & online courses.

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking more and more about taking a little break so that instead of finding a new way or thing to optimize, I practice more of the things I’ve already learned and haven’t given them the real chance of settling in and serving me. I’m looking for more balance here.

Just like physical exercise, rest and recovery is important for long-term gains. The same is true with all of the mental exercises we perform every day. We need periods of time to rest and recover, cognitively. If you’re interested in what I’m trying to do, drop me a note, I’d love to hear from you.

Here are a few things I found interesting this month…

• We might always be looking to be part of or build the perfect team, so that we can do amazing stuff. Heck, look at what the Brooklyn Nets have done this year – building what some are considering the greatest “super team” in NBA history. But how do you take a group of people, mostly strangers, and turn them into a team? How did 33 men survive for 70 days with enough food for only 2 people for 10 days, trapped in a copper mine a half mile underground in northern Chilé? Amy Edmondson talks about the 3 things that helped this group of men form a team that beat all odds. (13 min video)

• Transition is hard. Personally and professionally. We all seem to be in the midst of some form of transformation at work. Getting more “digital”, thinking about being in an office again, or even being promoted. I appreciated this article about how organizational change disrupts our sense of self, in small and big ways. We all have working identities, and working through the transition from one identity to another is usually overlooked to only pay attention to how our tasks are going to change. (10 min read)

• I had never heard the story of Daryl Davis, a black jazz musician that meets a Klansman at a bar, and ends up inspiring hundreds of people to leave the KKK. I loved this first episode of a new podcast called A Slight Change of Plans. “What can be learned, can be unlearned.” Incredible. (~30 minute podcast)

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