Protect Your Most Precious Resource – Your Time

I’m self-employed and recently took two weeks off.  I didn’t work at all and spent time with my family.  And guess what?  It was a challenge to allow myself the time without feeling guilty about unfinished work – work that I control 100% of the time.

Before I dive into tips that might help all of us, I want to share the following story.  Our family was watching old family movies while they were visiting.  Waves of nostalgia came over me as I watched them with their toy kitchens, play with our long-since deceased dogs and go about the simple things that families do as they celebrate milestones together.

Something else caught my eye as well.  In every video, I look completely exhausted.  Not just tired, exhausted.  I barely recognized the person in the videos, and it broke my heart to see myself.  I was present for my family, but not myself.  I was raising children, working hard to keep my marriage healthy, going to school, and working full-time.  It was just too much, but I didn’t have the tools to ask for help or even to admit that I needed it.

Luckily, I am much healthier now than then although my recent guilt trip helped me to realize that I’m simply a person in recovery who must continue to work at guilt-free relaxing. I’m blessed to coach executives, and I see so much of myself in them more times than not.  They’re driven to succeed but I want them to know that downtime is absolutely a requirement for good physical and mental health.

With the above in mind, here are a few tips that I hope will help you (and serve as a reminder to myself) value and protect downtime.

Schedule your work hours

Don’t deviate from that schedule unless there’s an urgent matter that needs your attention.  When you work at home it’s easy to let work and life commingle more than is healthy.  When your scheduled time is done, shut down all technology and be present in your personal life.

Schedule breaks and lunch

These don’t need to be long breaks, but take a walk, exercise, eat a healthy lunch, chat with a friend, etc.  Put these times in your calendar.

Unplug from Work When on Vacation

Let people know that you are not available unless it’s an absolute emergency.  Think of vacation time as healthcare.

Learn to Say No

Every time you say yes to something, know that you’re saying no to something that may be far more important to your life.  Trust me, the more you do this, the better you will feel and the better you’ll get at not feeling guilty.

Know You Can’t Do It All

You might be guilty of thinking that if you don’t do it, no one else will, or at least they won’t do it as well as you would have.  Does it really matter if that’s true?  I learned that at work other people could do what I could, or they were capable of learning.  And at home, let me tell you, I was a lot happier when I accepted that my husband would never fold a fitted sheet as well as I could, but it didn’t matter.

Ask for Help

I am terrible at asking for help of any kind.  I know from helping others that it’s an honor to help.  Ask for the help you need.

Life is short. Do the stuff that really matters and let go of the rest; it’s not serving you.  It certainly wasn’t serving that young woman I saw in the home videos last week.

Big hug.  If I can help you, please contact me through my social media links.