WPR + I

Do you rest? I mean really rest?

I worked with a client a while back who reminded me a lot of… well, me.

We’ll call him Jerry. Jerry was a road warrior—always on the move, always selling, always grinding. He’d be out all week, making the rounds, closing deals, doing the thing. And he was good at it.

But he was exhausted.

He wouldn’t have said that, of course. Guys like Jerry—and like I used to be—don’t say that out loud. But it was written all over him. He was worn down. Drained. Bone-tired in a way that sleep alone doesn’t fix. Ever known anybody like that?

And here’s the thing: when he got home, he didn’t rest. He’d go straight into trying to catch up on everything he felt like he’d missed—family, friends, errands, life. The weekends were packed with activity but empty of restoration. Just go-go-go until Sunday night rolled around… and that pit in the stomach would hit.

You know the one. Monday’s already knocking and you haven’t even caught your breath yet.

He was living what a lot of us are told is the dream: work hard, play hard. But he was burning out fast. And I knew that feeling too well.

WPR + I: Work, Play, Rest… Plus Intention

The problem isn’t that we’re working hard. It’s that we’re not living with rhythm. Most of us default to this all-or-nothing cycle: push like crazy, then crash. Push again, crash again. And that’s where burnout breeds.

So what if we changed the equation?

Work. Play. Rest. + Intention.
Not one of those things gets to run the show. They all matter. And the key is bringing intention to each one.

✅ Work intentionally.
Don’t just grind. Know why you’re working. What’s the outcome? What’s the impact? What gets to be enough for today?

✅ Play intentionally.
Play shouldn’t just be zoning out. It should bring joy. Laughter. Connection. You deserve fun that fills your tank, not drains it.

✅ Rest intentionally.
Real rest isn’t just sleep or sitting still. It’s whatever restores you. Maybe that’s a nap. Maybe it’s a walk with no podcast. Maybe it’s saying no to plans because you need some quiet. But you have to choose it.

When we add intention, we stop living on accident. We stop collapsing at the end of the day and start designing our days.

Now Jerry—the one who used to work like crazy, play hard on the weekends, and never actually rest?

We made one small change.
He started scheduling one full day off each weekend.
Not a day to catch up on work.
Not a day to run errands or clean the house.
A real day off.

No agenda.
No pressure.
Just time to be.

He’d sleep in a bit, make a slow breakfast, journal, maybe take a walk or sit on the porch with a book.
And you know what happened?

He started looking forward to Monday again.

Because he wasn’t showing up to his week on empty anymore.
He was showing up with intention—with energy to pour into work, play, and life.

So how will you rest with intention?