What's Good For My Body Is Good For My Work
Don't hold your pee.
At Work:
I am a notorious pee-holder. My office is right next to the bathroom, and yet I can’t tell you how many times I find myself 3-4 meetings into a morning with legs crossed, foot bouncing up and down, spending all the energy it would take to pause, walk 10 steps, and take care of business instead doing mental gymnastics trying to convince myself I actually don’t have to pee at all.
I think it goes without saying, I’m not at my best in any meeting when all I can think about is not peeing my pants.
Getting up to pee is a relatively innocuous example, but whenever I catch myself getting in the habit of putting off peeing, I think of it as an early warning light that I’m getting a little too good at ignoring my body’s basic needs. There is a hidden cumulative cost of ignoring my body’s signals, subtle or otherwise. And it’s a slippery slope from ignoring the urge to pee to skipping lunch to not taking a day off when I need one, to white knuckling through life superimposing obligations masked as tasks "more important” than our bodies’ most basic needs.
Instead of treating breaks and acts of care as a nuisance in the way of getting things done, what if we saw them as essential tasks that improve the quality of our work and life?
How many work tasks wouldn’t be improved by meeting your body’s needs for fuel, rest, and pleasure?
Here’s a little ditty I like to call on when I find myself rationalizing or negotiating skimping on my own needs.
What’s good for my body is good for my work.
You can tease this idea apart to include all aspects of your work:
What’s good for my body is good for my…team.
What’s good for my body is good for my…focus.
What’s good for my body is good for my…business.
What’s good for my body is good for my…growth.
No one on my team will benefit from having a hangry leader on the verge of a UTI calling the shots for the day. No part of my business or personal development gets put on the fast track when I ignore my body’s need for fuel, rest, or pleasure.
Any time I choose to ignore my body’s needs in the name of productivity or obligation…the very things I’m sacrificing for are the things that pay the price and suffer.
Okay, enough bathroom talk. On to Part 2…
At Leisure:
Happy For You by Claire Stanford is one of the best books I’ve read this year. It’s perfect for anyone in the midst of a career transition, dealing with the existentialism and identify shifts that come along for the ride. Stanford’s voice is delicious and her sense of pace and tone is masterful. The book is sardonic without being cynical, sucks you in without being sensationalist, and makes loud, big points with a soft voice that lingers with you in the best way.
It’s also a great book for anyone interested in technology’s affect on our mental health and cultural discourse, and if you like stories about family, loss, and finding belonging when your identity doesn’t fit neatly into a box. A must read.