If you’re new here, welcome! Every week, we unpack leadership, mindset, and personal growth into something real and doable. Expect research-backed insights, a little storytelling, and practical ideas that actually fit into your life (even the messy parts).

Let’s dive in.

2025 nearly broke me.

My wife and I had a baby in February. Our 2nd (my 3rd). Beautiful, exhausting, and a whole new kind of chaos we thought we were ready for.

For the first 9 months, he didn't sleep through the night. I was up with him almost every night so my wife could get some rest.

Sometimes twice. Sometimes 3 times.

Then I'd be on calls by 9am running my startup. Which, if you've ever built a company from scratch, is basically another newborn that also doesn't sleep.

I thought I could power through it. I've always been someone who grinds. Outwork the problem. Push harder.

But here's what I learned the hard way: a few nights of broken sleep doesn't just make you tired. It makes you a worse leader, a worse partner, a worse thinker.

My focus was gone. My patience was gone. I was making decisions I wouldn't normally make and having reactions I wouldn't normally have.

And sleep was only part of the problem.

I was also creatively empty. Spiritually disconnected. Overstimulated from screens and notifications and the constant noise of building something new.

I didn't just need more sleep. I needed a completely different understanding of what rest actually means.

That's when I was reminded of the work of Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith and her book Sacred Rest.

I created an infographic that went viral on LinkedIn. Click the thumbnail below for the high-res PDF version.

You can get 8 hours a night and still be completely depleted. Because the exhaustion you're feeling might not be physical at all.

Dr. Dalton-Smith's framework breaks rest into 7 categories. As I went through them, I realized I was running on empty in almost every single one.

The obvious one. Sleep, naps, stretching, giving your body time to recover. I was failing here spectacularly with a newborn. But even before the baby, I wasn't great at this. Long hours at the desk. Skipping workouts.

That feeling when your brain won't shut off. You're lying in bed but your mind is running through tomorrow's problems. Mental rest means giving your brain actual downtime. Short breaks, stepping away from the screen, not filling every quiet moment with a podcast or a scroll.

Screens. Notifications. Background noise. The constant hum of stimulation we've normalized. Sensory rest means reducing the input so your nervous system can reset.

Between LinkedIn, IG, WhatsApp, email, baby monitors, and the nonstop buzz of startup life… my senses were maxed out all day, every day.

When you feel stuck, uninspired, like every idea is forced, that's a creative rest deficit. Creative rest comes from experiencing beauty, wonder, and inspiration. A walk in nature. A museum. Music that moves you. Something that fills the well instead of draining it.

I write content for a living. When creative rest disappears, so does the quality of everything I make. I could feel it in my writing. Flat. Forced. Going through the motions.

The freedom to be honest about how you're actually doing. Not performing "I'm fine" for everyone around you. Emotional rest means having space (and people) where you can drop the mask.

As a founder and a new dad, I was carrying a lot and telling very few people about it. That catches up with you.

Not all relationships give you energy. Some take it. Social rest means spending more time with people who fill you up and setting boundaries with those who drain you. It also means giving yourself permission to be alone when you need it.

Feeling disconnected from meaning or purpose. Going through the motions without knowing why. Spiritual rest comes from reconnecting with something bigger: meditation, reflection, prayer, gratitude, service, whatever grounds you.

In the middle of 2025, I'd lost this. I was so deep in survival mode that I forgot to zoom out and remember why any of it mattered.

You cannot lead well when you're depleted. Not tired — depleted. There's a difference.

A tired leader needs a good night's sleep. A depleted leader needs to understand which type of rest they're missing and address it specifically.

I've watched leaders grind themselves into the ground believing more effort equals more results. It doesn't. Not past a certain point.

Past that point, the grind just produces worse decisions, shorter fuses, and a slow erosion of everything that made you effective.

The leaders who sustain high performance over years (not weeks, not quarters, but years) understand that rest isn't the opposite of productivity. It's the foundation of it.

Look at those 7 types of rest. Be honest with yourself.

Which ones are you getting? Which ones have been empty for weeks or months?

Pick the one that's most depleted right now. Just one. And do one small thing about it this week.

Take a walk without your phone. Say no to a social obligation that drains you. Sit in silence for 10 minutes. Tell someone you trust how you're actually doing.

Rest isn't quitting. It's how you make sure you can keep going.

Keep leading forward,
Justin