Renewal: The Key to Sustainable Growth

You know your car won’t run if you don’t maintain it, right? 

And if your computer starts acting up, you just turn it off and on, right?

Are these analogies cliché? Yes. Are they true? Also yes. 

You need to maintain yourself like you’d maintain anything else in your life that you want to continue functioning. 

Why Renewal is Important

In many ways, this is the most complex and individualized of our values. It’s also extremely important because without renewal, contribute, engage, learn, grow, or live our core values effectively in the long term. You won’t feel fulfilled or satisfied with your life if you’re burnt out. 

We also refer to this renewal as “filling your cup” because if your cup is empty, you have nothing to give. (And nothing for yourself!)

Renewal is not just a nice idea or something to do if you have time, it’s critical for your overall functioning, happiness, and ability to be helpful. 

In other words, it’s not a luxury, but a necessity. 

Renewal at Redmond

As a company, we take time for renewal together. 

Our culture meetings are part of this, though those are kind of all the values rolled into one. We also take retreats and do team activities together. Actual fun ones, not the cringy “team building” you might have experienced before and come to dread. No trust falls here!

We have holiday parties, and “tribes” throughout the company, such as our fitness tribe that gets together to do CrossFit a few times a week. (It might not sound restful, but exercise is a big part of renewal!)

All these things are great, but it’s also up to each individual to take responsibility for their own renewal in their day-to-day lives.

How to Work Holistic Renewal Into Your Life

Reflection is where we stop and pay attention, and renewal is where we move forward filled with energy and purpose because we've taken the time to fill our cup, and gain deep understanding. 

Renewal can include downtime or activities that are more invigorating. It might look different on different days and for different people.

The whole point of renewal, though, is to integrate reflection so you can grow and re-energize.

Since we take a holistic view of health and growth, we do the same for our view of renewal.

This involves body, heart, mind, and spirit. If one of these areas is lacking, it’s going to impact the others before long. Renewal has to cover all of them, or you’re going to feel weirdly lopsided and incomplete without really knowing why. 

We want you to make renewal a regular part of your life! You can customize this to fit your life of course, but here are some ideas for how you can fit it in:

Step One: Get Good Sleep (the right quality AND quantity). 

Make Time

Each day, make sure to fit in some time to renew your body, heart, mind, and spirit. 

This can be tricky because time rarely “appears” for these things, but we promise, your efforts will pay off. 

Body, heart, mind, and spirit

Life Blend

Work/life balance is a common conversation, but at Redmond, we focus more on life blend, meaning how your work, relationships, growth, health, hobbies, spirit, habits, etc. all flow together. 

Part of renewal is cultivating a sustainable blend that will allow you to make your highest contribution in the long term. This looks different for EVERYONE, and this is yet another reason why getting to know yourself is important!

Don’t Forget Downtime

Also, sometimes doing nothing is great so you can hear yourself think. Even sitting quietly for a few minutes can be renewing. (If you’re an Energizer Bunny type, this might be challenging. But we encourage you to try it!)

Don’t Put This Off

Things that are actually rejuvenating do take a bit of energy and discipline upfront, but they give you a lot more energy afterward. 

It can be hard to do those things if you’re exhausted. If all you feel like doing in your spare time is watching TV or playing games on your phone, you might have burned yourself out and need to do some catchup. 

So, build renewal into your schedule regularly, BEFORE you’re exhausted. Burnout shouldn’t be the trigger for renewal. 

Know what’s restful and regenerative to YOU. 

Some people might find jogging rejuvenating, while others would rather get a root canal without novocaine than go for a run. You might be able to rest with others, or you may need more alone time to feel fully renewed.

Renewal vs Numbing

It’s also important to understand the difference between actual rest and “counterfeit” rest, or activities that seem restful but aren’t. The tricky thing is, different activities might work for different people, or even for the same person on different days.

Renewal increases your capacity to handle challenges while numbing reduces it. Renewal produces energy and clarity, while numbing drains it away.

Allowing Yourself to Grow

Renewing might also mean change. (The word “new” is part of Renew.”) This means allowing yourself to grow, change your mind and opinions when you learn new information, progress, and evolve. It’s allowing others to change too and to witness their growth journey as well. 

Preparation

This is part of renewal as well! This might mean taking time to plan and prepare for the future, or even to follow your interests and curiosity, even if this has nothing to do with your work. 

Someday, an opportunity might arise when you get to use that skill and knowledge. But if you wait until the opportunity is right in front of you, your chance for preparation might have already passed.

Renewal should be a regular, important part of your life. It deserves a place on your priorities list! 

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