Tea with the Queen

Why I nap every day

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I take a restful nap every day of the week

When was the last time you took a nap in the middle of the day on a weekday?

Most people might not be able to remember a time when they did, or perhaps it was only because they were unwell.

Well you might be surprised to learn that I take a nap every single day.

Between the hours of 12pm – 2pm, I have a dedicated rest period where I give my body and my mind a rest.

Yes, just like a toddler.

But I wasn’t always this way.

Having three kids, a business to run and a household to keep together, I used to struggle with the idea of setting aside time to rest throughout the day. It felt like there were already too few hours in the day to get all the things done, how could I take more time out to nap?

I can almost bet that if I hadn’t been forced to stop, I probably would have never started taking my daily naps, but now that I’m here I can’t imagine ever going back.

The Unexpected Revelation: Nap Every Day.

During a challenging period battling long COVID, I found myself feeling depleted and exhausted. After consulting with a doctor and a naturopath, I was told that I needed to rest as much as possible. At that time, I didn’t think it was possible to rest properly running a coaching business and also chasing after three children, but I had to make it work. I worked with my OBM to establish a consistent daily time block in my schedule from 12pm – 2pm to ensure that I got the rest I needed.

Napping became my refuge, a precious time to recharge not only my body but also my mind. Little did I know that this simple act of self-care would pave the way to a more successful and fulfilling business journey.

Napping as a Strategic Business Tool: Boosting Productivity and Creativity

Picture this – a scheduled daily nap to supercharge your productivity and elevate your decision-making skills. I know it probably sounds like a “luxury” to have time carved out for a daily switch-off, but I promise you it is going to help you. By setting aside dedicated time for napping each day, I experienced a noticeable shift in my focus, creativity, and problem-solving abilities. Napping became my secret weapon for staying sharp and making more thoughtful business decisions.

The Science Behind Napping: Maximizing Professional Performance

Science backs up the profound impact of napping on cognitive function and productivity. By allowing my brain to rest and recharge, I unlocked a whole new level of mental clarity and performance. The strategic incorporation of napping into my routine not only revitalized my energy but also sharpened my focus, memory retention, and overall cognitive abilities. The results were undeniable – napping was a game-changer for my professional growth.

Empowering Others Through Napping: Leading by Example

One of the most interesting outcomes of this whole napping experiment was that I inadvertently inspired those around me – clients, colleagues, and friends to start doing it too. By sharing my journey and normalising the practice of napping as a strategic business tool, I encouraged others to embrace self-care and well-being in their entrepreneurial journeys. My influence sparked discussions about the significance of rest in achieving sustainable success and fulfilment in a demanding work environment.

Joining the Nap Movement: Embracing Self-Care for Professional Excellence

I’d love to rewrite the narrative of hustle culture and prioritise our well-being as a cornerstone of success. By giving ourselves permission to nap, recharge, and refuel, we can unlock our full potential, make better decisions, and achieve our business goals with renewed vigour and clarity. Remember, self-care isn’t a luxury – it’s a necessity for sustained professional excellence.

LINKS

Rest by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

Website

For a copy of Emma’s book, ‘Go-getter: Raise your mojo, shift your mindset and thrive’ – https://emmamcqueen.com.au/want-more/emmas-book/

Read The Full Transcript

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[00:00:00] Emma: I have a question for you. Do you nap on the weekend? I do. But also I nap every single day. Napping. I mean, you might go, what's this got to do with business, Emma? Trust me. It's got a whole lot to do with business. I had a client and on her onboarding call, I said to her, We do our monthly sessions and then you can get me via this app. The only times you might struggle to get me, but I'll get back to you is between 12 and two on a weekday. And she's like, why is that? And I'm like, I nap between 12 and two on a weekday. And she's like. What? I'm like, I have a nap between 12 and two on a weekday.
[00:00:53] Now this opened up a whole conversation about why I nap. What is the benefit to napping? What does that actually look like for me? and I'll tell you what happened to her. So here's the story. I got COVID like most of us and it turned into long COVID and I was feeling cruddy. I was about to run a four day retreat for, I don't know, 15 women. And I had to enact my plan B I zoomed in from. my house while I had COVID for certain segments of the retreat. Obviously when you have COVID, you need to rest. And that was February. And by May, I just was not feeling right.
[00:01:34] I knew there was something else going on. So I took myself off to the doctor and I said, what's going on? Do I have long COVID? What does it look like now? They didn't know a lot back then. So he was like, yes, you've got long COVID. And I said, what do you recommend that I do? He said, I recommend you do nothing.
[00:01:49] I'm like, what do you mean by nothing? And he's like, I recommend that you rest all you can, and basically do nothing. And I said, I've got three kids and a business to [00:02:00] run. And how might I do that? Anyway, he was unhelpful. I then found a naturopath because I was like a dog with a bone with this. I'm like, I should not feel this tired.
[00:02:09] And ladies, here's the thing. We know our bodies the best, right? We have to advocate for our bodies. And so if you know, something's not quite right, you need to look into that. So I went to a naturopath. Her name is Susan Hunter. She's amazing. You can look her up on Instagram. And I said to Susan, I think I've got long COVID.
[00:02:26] I probably need a little bit of help. and she said to me. Emma, I've seen this before. I think you might have glandular fever. I'm like, wow, just from a conversation about how I was feeling. She's like, but let's get some blood tests and let's see what is actually happening. So we've got the blood tests and lo and behold, it was confirmed glandular fever.
[00:02:45] the glandular fever. Was triggered by COVID and I was just feeling a mess.
[00:02:50] So Susan got me on some supplements and she also did the whole, you need to rest. And I'm like, okay, can we talk about what that actually looks like? Because three kids, business, busy life, la la la la. And she's like, can you nap? I'm like, yeah, I could nap. And so for that year. Serena, who is my business manager, we whittled my diary down.
[00:03:12] So the only thing that I was doing was delivery, no business development, no extra tasks, and she popped a nap in my diary, a couple of hours between 12 and two in my diary every single day for me to nap, and it was glorious. And I did this every single day. every single day One of my strengths is discipline. So if you give me a process, I'm very disciplined. I will just follow through on that. So I napped every single day. I took my supplements. I did all the things that Susan had asked me to do. I didn't do any exercise. I didn't go walking. I just allowed my body time. To heal fast forward, nine or so months and I was feeling so much better for the rest.
[00:03:52] And I thought to myself, why would I stop napping? I actually really love getting in bed and having a nap. And so, [00:04:00] I decided to keep napping. So now it's been a couple of years and I still nap every single day. I still nap every single day. There are so many benefits to napping. And I think the trick that I had to get over was giving myself permission to nap during the week and not feel like I was slacking off.
[00:04:17] and so there are a few things I put in place to allow, my routine to do this and my body and my head to be okay with it, right? So first of all, where you put my nap in the diary. Somewhere between 12 and 2 every day. 12 and 2 because I didn't want to ruin my, uh, evening sleep and I've always been a really good sleeper.
[00:04:36] it's like you have lunch, you can have a nap, you can have a little lay down, whatever it is. and there's so much neuroscience, so much neuroscience that backs up napping. Uh, I read an article. Awesome book called rest, which is not necessarily about napping. It's about doing more of the things that you love.
[00:04:54] but rest is so important. And what I discovered was I was much more clear in my head when I woke up, when I'd had heavy coaching days, because I do one on one coaching, people have different things that they bring to me. So after a couple of those, I needed a way To allow my brain to process what had happened during the day.
[00:05:12] And a nap was the best way to do that. It allowed my brain to stop thinking and it allowed me just to have a little sleep. And it allowed me to wake up and feel refreshed and productive for the afternoon. someone said to me, but what happens if you can't nap? Don't worry. Don't put pressure on yourself to nap.
[00:05:30] I use, a app called Tide, which is rain music. And I just put that on and I set my timer and I just lay down. And what goes through my brain at that point is, am I tired? I might nap. Or. If I'm not tired, I'll just rest. I'm just letting my body and my brain rest. And that has been the best thing that I could have done.
[00:05:53] Took me a while to get there. Obviously, it was triggered by me not feeling very well. and I have [00:06:00] kept, up the naps and the rest because I think it's really important. So much more productive. Back to my client. What do you think she does now? We've been working together for almost three years. And she said to me, Emma, you gave me permission to nap.
[00:06:16] I'm like, did I? It's like, you were just role modeling it. You didn't even know what you were doing. And then I thought to myself, well, if she can do it and have a successful business, why can't I? And I thought to myself, oh my goodness, you influence people by how you turn up and what you do, and a nap is just part of my non negotiables.
[00:06:34] Sometimes when I'm feeling good, I will lay down for 10 minutes instead, and then I'll go for a walk in the sunshine because that's really important as well. But my question for you is, do you give yourself permission to nap? A lot of people give themselves permission to nap on the weekends, and I still nap on the weekends, but a lot of people don't have time to nap.
[00:06:56] But then my question for you is how productive are you during the day? My days are pretty full. So my mornings are pretty full and that's when I make my best decisions. That's when my willpower is strong. That's when I know I'm showing up as the best version of me. If I didn't have a rest or didn't allow my brain to have a little break during the day, actually, I don't think I'd be the best coach human being possible.
[00:07:20] So there's enormous benefits to napping. And I would encourage you all to give it a crack, even just like do it for a week, just do 10 minutes, 10 minutes, lay down, Put on some meditative, sound and try and have a nap. And if you cannot nap, just rest 10 minutes.
[00:07:38] That's all it takes. Let me know how you go. I'm so keen to hear. Should we start a nap movement? Naps are okay.
[00:07:46] [00:08:00]