Last week, I stood on a warm Canary Islands shoreline watching the waves rise and fall – and it struck me how perfectly they mirror the way resilience actually works. We talk about resilience as if it’s a fixed trait, something we should maintain at all times. But standing there, watching the water ebb and flow, I was reminded that our energy, capacity and resilience do exactly the same.
Resilience isn’t a steady state to keep in balance. And it isn’t something we have or don’t have. It’s a living, shifting rhythm — an ebb and flow. Some days we feel energised, motivated and clear‑headed, with the capacity to handle whatever life and work throws at us – like a wave gathering strength as it approaches the shore. Other days, we feel stressed, overwhelmed and exhausted – like the moment the wave crashes and sinks into the sand.
The point is simple: your resilience will rise and fall in waves.
A good night’s sleep, nourishing food, supportive relationships and a sense of purpose all replenish our energy and strengthen resilience – helping the wave to build. Daily pressures, emotional load and the demands of work and life drain our energy and deplete our resilience – causing the wave to crash.
Resilience is above noticing the rise and fall of your energy… and actively replenishing it before you hit empty.
Many of the executives and senior leaders I coach recognise the fall in their energy — but they push through anyway. They give everything to their work, leaving nothing for themselves or their families. By the end of the day, they’re spent. Not because they’re lacking, but because they’re human.
One of the quickest, most effective ways to do this is also the simplest: take breaks1. Not aspirational breaks. Not “one day I’ll take a proper lunch” breaks. Actual, regular, ten‑minute pauses that honour the fact that you’re not a workplace robot. When my clients try this, the results are immediate: clearer thinking, improved focus, better decisions, increased productivity and higher‑quality output.
“I was resistant at first – who has time to take a break every 90 minutes?! But I regularly felt broken at the end of the day and I knew it couldn’t continue. Emma encouraged me to try taking breaks for just one day. By the afternoon, it felt like I was bending time: what I achieved after a short break more than made up for the minutes I stepped away. And how I felt at the end of the day gave me all the evidence I needed to plan regular breaks into my day.”
Jonelle – Leadership Resilience + Performance coaching client
If you’ve been pushing through, ignoring the signs of depletion, or telling yourself you “don’t have time” to pause, the next steps will help.
Try This: The 90‑Minute Reset
1. Remember you’re a human being. You are not designed to operate continuously. Your brain and body need rhythm, not endurance.
2. Take a 10‑minute break every 90 minutes to two hours. Stand up. Walk to the kitchen. Make a cup of tea. Speak to a colleague. Look out of a window. It doesn’t need to include yoga or meditation – unless you want it to! A simple pause is enough to reduce stress and replenish energy.
3. Protect your lunch break. Step away from your desk and devices. Your afternoon self will thank you.
4. Schedule demanding work when your energy is at it’s highest. Usually first thing in the morning or just after lunch — assuming you’ve taken a lunch break. Hint: these are not the best times to answer emails!
5. If you resist, observe the impact. Notice how you feel — and how your work suffers — when you push beyond two hours without a break. Signals may include physical and mental restlessness, lack of focus, muddled thinking, greater irritability and rising stress levels. This realisation alone is often enough to make a change.
Resilience isn’t about powering through. It’s about noticing the ebb and flow of your energy, honouring your needs and taking steps to replenish before you crash. When you work with your natural rhythm, not against it, everything improves: clarity, performance, wellbeing and the quality of your work, relationships and life.
If you’d like to develop your resilience to improve your performance, please get in touch to schedule a free, no‑obligation Clarity Call using the button below. I’d love to support you.
- In 1957, reseachers William Dement and Nathaniel Kleitman discovered that we sleep in five stages that progress from lighter to deeper levels of sleep as our brain wave activity slows, then progressively increases, over the course of 90 minutes. They named this the “basic rest activity cycle” or BRAC. A decade later, they suggested we experience a similar cycle during our waking hours as we oscillate from higher to lower levels of alertness every 90-minutes or so. Our bodies are asking for a break every 90 minutes and the impact of ignoring this human need over time is significant.
Emma Hackett 