The Requisite Rs

Let’s Talk is all about achieving an exciting, easier, and exceptional life or what I like to call, the “essential Es.” Now, in order to achieve those essential Es, you must observe the “requisite Rs.” Let’s talk.

Brigham Young had this down to a science when he figured out why God gave us 24 hours in a day. Brigham Young said a day should consist of eight hours of work, eight hours of sleep, and eight hours of recreation. To me, that’s exactly what the requisite Rs are: responsibility, rest, and recreation. In order to achieve an exciting, easier, and exceptional life, on a daily basis we must observe responsibility, rest, and recreation. Let’s break those down, starting with responsibility.

Responsibility—Winston Churchill said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.” And there’s no doubt that to achieve great things, we must be responsible. In this sense, I equate responsibility to discipline in our labors, in our work, and/or whatever our particular calling may be.

Of course, there’s also responsibility to your family, responsibility to your debts, responsibility to your tasks at work. To all that, you must be responsible to make a living for yourself and for your family. But also to achieve greatness, you must be responsible in your discipline in achieving your goals and having well-defined steps to get yourself to that greatness you’re seeking. For me, that’s what responsibility is all about.

So, we go back to Brigham Young—the first part of the day we have the eight hours of work. Responsibility equates to each of us putting in a good eight hours of work every day, except Sundays. Because you know how I feel about lazy Sundays.

About Saturdays—I like to work a little bit on Saturdays. Some people don’t, but you could, maybe, put in three or four hours of work. Frankly, I tend to get more done on a Saturday in half a day than I do Monday on a full day. But anyway, eight hours of work equates to the responsibility aspect of the requisite Rs.

Now, we turn to the second R—rest. Notice that I don’t talk about “rest and relaxation” as a combined unit here. That’s because “relaxation” for me is the third R, which is recreation. Rest, the second R, is in its own category, and it is about actual sleep, being in bed, resting your body. Or, as science-fiction writer, aeronautical engineer, and retired Naval officer Robert A. Heinlein said, “Happiness consists of getting enough sleep. Just that, nothing more.”

When I talk about rest, I am talking precisely a solid eight hours of sleep—being in bed, resting your body, letting the body do what it needs to do to recuperate, to be able to regenerate, to rest from the day’s toils. So the requisite R, rest is very, very important.

So we come to the last requisite R, which is recreation. Miguel de Cervantes wrote, “The bow cannot always stand bent, nor can human frailty subsist without some lawful recreation.” Sometimes the inessential is essential.

There’s no doubt that in order for you to achieve that exciting, easier, and exceptional life, you must have recreation in your life. You must have fun. And Brigham Young advocated eight hours of recreation every day.

Please note that it works out perfectly: eight hours of work, eight hours of sleep, and eight hours of having fun. To return to the venerable Cervantes, this time paraphrasing his words, he pointed out that as long as it’s some sort of lawful recreation, the human body needs it. And if we don’t engage in fun, we become frail.

Recreation is what I talk about in Let’s Talk, Book One, as in—having fun; making sure that you’re enjoying life; being extra, but not extravagant; engaging in a regular weekday happy hour; enjoying the one wine lunch during the workweek; and taking your hundred hours of solitude a few times a year to take your mind (really, your whole self) away from your responsibilities. Whatever takes your mind away from work, that’s recreation.

Those are the joys of life that I talked about in Let’s Talk, Book One and how each of us must make it a priority to enjoy our life because, at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.

Quick recap: Brigham Young advised a daily eight hours work, eight hours sleep, and eight hours of recreation, which I call the requisite Rs, responsibility, rest, and recreation.

Responsibility equates to your work duties and how you generate your income, how you make a living.

Rest is flat-out rest, not just resting and relaxing. It’s flat-out lying in bed and sleeping, actually getting eight hours of solid sleep.

Recreation is eight hours of fun EVERY SINGLE DAY. Think about it. You know, you work for eight hours, but you can still have eight hours of solid hedonism having a great time in your life and still get in your eight hours of sleep.

So, my friends, there you have it—responsibility, rest, recreation—the requisite Rs. I hope you’ll follow these three requisite Rs, and it will get you to that great life that we all want to have. I can’t wait to hear what your thoughts are on the requisite Rs. Go ahead and share on this blog post. Let’s get a conversation going. You know—let’s talk!

If you’d rather, you can send me an email—art@riostalks.com. And visit the website for more information and engaging content: www.riostalks.com.

And until we talk again, stay happy and healthy, my friend.