by Lisa Gipson, VP Digital Marketing
The lesson I wish I’d learned sooner
If you’ve ever called our IT team about your frozen computer, you know one of the first questions we might ask is: “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”
It sounds almost too simple. Yet more often than not, it works.
When someone asked me what life lesson I learned too late, that question came to mind. My answer is the value of rest. For years, I treated rest like a reward I’d earn once everything was done. The trouble is, the to-do list is never done. I have learned the hard way that sometimes the most productive thing you can do is pause and reboot.
Busy was my badge of honor
I don’t think I purposely thought being busy meant being valuable. But, a full calendar, demands from all sorts of people and a purpose-driven life – meant that ‘all circuits are busy’ all of the time. A full calendar felt like proof that I mattered. If I wasn’t working, I was thinking about work. If I took a day off, I spent it catching up on what I’d “fallen behind” on.
Being a small business owner also was demanding. The downside is that no one saw the full picture but me.
I told myself I’d slow down after the next project, the next season, the next goal. But the finish line kept moving. I was running on whatever was left in the tank and calling it dedication.
What running on empty really costs
Here’s what I didn’t see at the time. When you never stop, the people closest to you get the leftover version of you. The tired version. The distracted version. The one who is physically in the room but mentally three tasks ahead.
I missed moments I can’t get back. Conversations where I was only half listening. Evenings I spent “just finishing one thing” while life happened in the next room. I thought I was protecting my family and my future by pushing harder. In reality, I was giving them less of the person they actually needed.
And I wasn’t doing myself any favors either. My patience got shorter. Small problems felt huge. I was working more hours and getting less out of every one of them. And, worst of all, my marriage suffered. And, when I relocated, I realized that – yes, things can wait. Things can stop. I can get the much needed rest. Rest also helps with weight loss. And, continuous stress on your mind and body can definitely pack on the pounds.
What a computer taught me about people
Think about what happens when a computer runs for weeks without a restart. Programs pile up in the background. Memory fills with clutter. Everything slows down, and eventually something freezes.
A reboot doesn’t fix the computer by adding anything new. It simply clears what’s been building up so the system can run the way it was designed to.
People work the same way. We carry open tabs everywhere: unfinished tasks, unanswered messages, worries about tomorrow. Rest is how we close them. It isn’t quitting, and it isn’t laziness. It’s maintenance.
No business owner would expect their equipment to run nonstop without care. Yet many of us expect exactly that from ourselves.
How I reboot now
Rebooting as a person doesn’t require a two-week vacation. Most of the time, it’s simply pausing. Here are a few habits that have made a real difference for me:
- A quick restart. Ten minutes away from the screen, a walk outside, or a few slow breaths between meetings. Small pauses keep the little things from piling up. Breathing. Prioritizing stretching and moving.
- A daily shutdown. I choose a time when work ends. Closing the laptop is my signal that the day is done, and the people around me get my full attention.
- A full reboot. I protect real time off, whether that’s a Sunday, a long weekend, or a few days with nothing on the calendar. Then I treat it as seriously as any client appointment.
- Watching for warning signs. When I’m quickly aggravated at normal things, losing my car keys and cell phone, getting foggy, or stuck on a problem that should be easy, I’ve learned to ask myself the IT question: have I tried turning it off and on again?
Don’t wait as long as I did
I wish someone had convinced me years ago that rest isn’t the opposite of success. It’s part of what makes success last. The relationships I value most didn’t need more of my hours. They needed more of me, fully present and recharged.
So here’s my encouragement to you. Before you hit the point where everything freezes, give yourself permission to pause. Close a few tabs. Step away. Reboot.
Your work will still be there. You’ll just be in a much better state to handle it, and the people you love will notice the difference.
About the author: Lisa serves as VP of Digital Marketing for CORPTEK. She also enjoys helps individuals and organizations level up through coaching, systems, and training.
