I am exhausted. Truly and totally exhausted. This week has seen numerous late nights, one of which did not end until 5am the next day; it has featured little sleep, long days at work, and even longer days at home in my personal time. That last bit is of my own doing.

Reading – deep reading with the goal of analyzing and validating information, premises, and arguments – is like strength training for the brain. Combined with the mental exercise required to function in a typical day job, it is easy to overwork this organ.

It’s pretty common knowledge today that you shouldn’t strength train 7 days a week; strength training should be interspersed with active recovery, lighter exercise of different types, rest, recuperation, and restoration. You also need to get plenty of sleep so that your muscles can repair themselves.

The brain is no different; strenuous reading and self-education combined with long, stressful days at work, with a little sleep deprivation sprinkled in, makes for a drained individual who will not be able to comprehend or retain much of the information being studied.

As important as self-improvement and mental growth is, it is as important to make sure you are approaching it the same way you approach training your body. Take the time to rest, especially if you are just starting out on a course of rigorous reading or coursework. Perhaps only read for 30 minutes a day, three to four times a week, much like a novice would approach a new exercise regimen. You can always increase the length and frequency later. Just like exercise, the habit of mental growth and development is more important in the beginning than how hard and how hard you push yourself.

Study hard, then rest hard. That’s what I’m doing for the next few days.