Why High-Performing Professionals Struggle With Rest (and How to Relearn It)

One thing I’ve noticed about myself, and about so many colleagues in the legal profession, is how bad we can be at resting. I don’t mean collapsing on the couch with Netflix at the end of the night because we’re too exhausted to move - I mean actual, intentional rest. The kind that leaves you feeling like your brain and body have had a reset.

For a lot of high-performing professionals, rest doesn’t come easily. We’re so used to running at full pace - deadlines, hearings, clients, strategy - that slowing down feels unnatural. Sometimes it even feels uncomfortable, like we’re “wasting time”.

Why We Struggle

I think part of it comes down to conditioning. From the start of our careers, we’re rewarded for pushing harder, taking on more, being the person who gets things done. We become wired for productivity. It feels good to tick off the list, to know we’ve carried a heavy load. But the downside is that rest starts to feel indulgent, or even guilt-inducing.

Another reason, at least for me, is that our work is mentally noisy. Even if you’re not physically at your desk, your head is still replaying submissions, thinking about evidence, or worrying about the next day’s cross-examination. Switching that off doesn’t happen automatically just because you’ve walked out of court.

The Reality of the Profession

In law, there will always be times when rest simply isn’t possible. Anyone who’s been mid-trial, or had a last-minute brief land on their desk at 4pm on a Friday with documents due Monday, knows that we sometimes have to push ourselves to the limit. And truthfully, we’re good at it. As lawyers, we often thrive in those high-pressure sprints — they can even be the moments we secretly love the most, when adrenaline sharpens focus and we prove to ourselves just how much we can handle.

But that’s exactly why downtime matters. If we want to be able to pull the inevitable all-nighter when it counts, then we have to respect our bodies and minds enough to recharge when the opportunity presents itself. Rest isn’t a luxury - it’s the preparation that makes those big pushes possible.

How I’ve Started to Relearn Rest

I’m no wellbeing guru, but I’ve realised that if I don’t deliberately practise rest, I just don’t get it. A few things that have helped me (when I actually stick to them):

• Micro-pauses count: I’ve stopped waiting for the elusive “full day off” and instead try to take five minutes to step outside, breathe, or just not look at a screen.

• Changing environment: If I stay in the same place I’ve been working, my brain doesn’t switch gears. Even a short walk can break the loop.

• Permission to stop: This one’s hard. I remind myself that rest is part of performance, not the opposite of it. The work will always expand to fill the time - but I’m actually better when I don’t let it.

• Doing something pointless (on purpose): Reading a book with no relevance to law, or even doodling, gives me space where nothing is measured, billed, or argued.

Why It Matters

What I’m trying to unlearn is the idea that rest is laziness. It’s not. It’s part of being sustainable in a profession that demands so much of us. I’ve seen what happens when people ignore it - burnout, illness, even leaving the profession altogether.

If we want to be here for the long haul, we have to get better at resting. And sometimes that means teaching ourselves, from scratch, that it’s okay to stop.