I have always thought driving oneself endlessly is a great character trait. I have always thought working tirelessly, fixing the eyes on the goal and not wavering from it is the best approach to life. Now, I am beginning to understand how wrong I was. Don’t get me wrong, doing these is not wrong in themselves so please, do hear me out. 

Firstly, working endlessly all week isn’t smart at all. Look at it this way, if the maker of the universe, the everlasting and omnipotent One, the beginning and the end, and everything in between could take out one day to rest within the creation week, then you, tiny weenie you, thinks you can drive yourself all week, without taking a break and you think you will survive? Common! Your body was designed to rest. It was designed to rejuvenate and if you take this away simply because you want to ‘achieve’ you just might end up achieving your goal without being there to enjoy the fruits thereof. 

Secondly, working tirelessly sends a signal that you do not respect, value or care for yourself. Shocked? It’s true. It says and sends a message that anyone is free to barge in on you, dump on you and its ok with you. After all, you are forever available so there is really no need to set a time out for you, or consciously fit you into the ‘schedule’; because again, you are ‘forever available’. That which is scarce is more valuable. That which is in ‘abundance’ is free for all. When you set a time for work, play, rest, self, family and everything else that is important to you, you will be amazed how things and people will begin to align with you; and quite frankly you will be better and happier for it. 

Thirdly, working on end may mean you have not fully mastered your time. Let’s go back to creation. There was a task for day one which was finished on the day and celebrated. There was also a task for day two, which was also completed and celebrated. The same goes for day three, four, five and six. It is because there was no ‘carry over’ that the Sabbath day was a day of rest and could be termed ‘holy’. Our maker mastered the use of his time. He knew what he wanted to do and set out to do it, ensuring it was all carried out within the set timelines. That’s the kind of mastery we all should aim for. This is not to say that we should compare ourselves to divinity or aim for divinity status, no; that would be missing it. Rather, it means that we should plan and efficiently master the use of 24 hours. Put into the tasks for the day and achieve them as much as possible. Aim for zero carryovers if possible. In instances when you do not round up as planned, move it without beating up yourself, but remember the mantra is zero carryover. After all, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. 

Finally, make time to celebrate wins. This does not imply waiting for that that big win, no, celebrate the end of each day and what all you were able to achieve. Celebrate the end of the week, end of the month and end of the year. Soon, you will begin to look forward to these moments of celebration and this will inspire you and drive you to achieve more. It will be that motivating factor that gets you up in the morning and tucks you into bed at the end of the day and even secures a good night rest. 

I have also put together a few links for you to further study on this matter because your wellbeing is so important to you becoming all you are destined to be:

• https://www.becomingminimalist.com/resting/
• https://workforyourbeer.com/blog/do-you-actually-need-to-take-a-rest-day-we-asked-an-expert/
• https://www.inc.com/rhett-power/a-day-of-rest-12-scientific-reasons-it-works.html
• https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_resting_more_can_boost_your_productivity

That said, I must confess that I haven’t gotten it all right myself, but at least I am working on it, and I hope you will give it a try too. 

Indeed, we all must ‘observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Funny how it pays to keep His words yeah?