Taking Time Off… On Purpose!

You Deserve More Time Off!

Time off, whether it be from work or other responsibilities is an essential aspect of a healthy lifestyle. Taking time off for yourself or decompressing with people you care about can help relieve stress, improve your mental health and reduce the chances of becoming ill.

You Can Thank Henry Ford for Your Work Week

If you work a ‘typical’ 40-hour work week, you have Henry Ford to thank. In the 1920’s it was common for most men to work six days per week, averaging well over 40 hours. Ford discovered that the extended days and hours didn’t generate significant amounts of product or profits, so he implemented a down-sized work week with two days off.

Since the 1920’s this model has become the average, with some industries working their employees more and some less, including part-time work.

In 2007 Tim Ferriss released “The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich“. Ferris encouraged an entrepreneurial approach to working by creating systems, delegating, and automating to generate income and free up more time.

Whether you work for yourself or someone else, you need time off to break away from responsibilities and keep your mind and body healthy.

Working Hard is a Badge of Honor

For many, being a hard-worker is a source of pride. For others, it’s a necessity to make ends meet. Whatever the reason, working hard is something to be proud of, but it takes a toll on your mind and body. Time off is needed to ease tension, refresh your mind, and keep your mood balanced. Being purposeful with your down time and creating opportunities to take time off can help you:

• Stay physically and emotionally healthy
• Boost your enthusiasm for life
• Build and sustain relationships
• Maintain your off-duty priorities
• Enhance self-care and avoid burnout
and more

You Deserve to Be Taking More Time Off

Time off isn’t just for CEO’s and people with accrued vacation time. Everyone needs time to themselves or time off. Work at home parents need time off, entrepreneurs need time off, and even kids need time off. Working status isn’t the only determination for needing for a break.

Taking time off may feel like a luxury, or downright impossible if you or your employer (which could include yourself, your family, or your sense of responsibility) determine time off isn’t a valued part of your employment or commitment, but it is necessary.

Strategically taking time off doesn’t have to diminish your hard-working, go-getting attitude, it simply helps you thrive both on and off-duty and stay healthier.

Unexpected Benefits of Taking Time Off That Could Save Your Life

You’ve likely heard the term working yourself to death. That’s no joke. In fact, it’s entirely possible that working too much, without taking time off, can lead to an early death. Even non-physical work like office work or minding family can trigger illnesses and injuries that could lead to permanent health-related situations.

Aside from the obvious benefits of time off, including stepping away from work, there are direct benefits you may not have thought of. Taking time off helps regenerate a tired mind and body. Since the mind and body work in tandem, stepping away from responsibilities is crucial to allow both an opportunity to rest and decompress. This healing time directly impacts your life in a number of ways. Consider these unexpected benefits:

Your mood, blood pressure, and heart rate stabilize: Time away from your primary work can have an almost immediate effect on your mind and body. Anxiety, stress, and worries associated with work ripple outward and manifest in physical symptoms including elevated blood pressure, anxiety, and depression. Stepping away from work and taking an appropriate amount of time off can offset the stresses caused during work.

How this can save your life: Heart attack and stroke are two of the leading causes of death. Regular time off can help manage blood pressure, mental health, and stress which can significantly reduce the likelihood of developing heart disease.

Your threshold for stress rises: The more often you allow yourself time off, it’s easier to build up stamina to lessen the intensity when you’re back on-duty. Dealing with the same issues day after day can wear your coping skills down and diminish flexibility, tolerance, and resilience. The more often you take time off, the easier it is to withstand stressful situations.

How this can save your life: Chronic stress can weaken the immune system. Consistently putting yourself in stressful situations without meaningful breaks can put you at risk for being sick more often and with more intensity. Meaningful breaks from work can help boost your immune system and help you be less vulnerable to illness and injury.

You have higher quality relationships: Attention goes where attention flows. That’s another way of saying what you pay attention to, gets the best you have to offer. Working too much and becoming overwhelmed mentally and physically takes a toll on the most important relationships you have. From family to friends, both may suffer if you don’t take a break. Even work relationships suffer when you don’t take time for yourself. The obvious signs of stress may be unavoidable to co-workers, customers, and colleagues could diminish your success on-duty.

How this can save your life: Studies show that people who have healthy relationships live longer, especially once they reach retirement age. Investing in meaningful relationships when you’re in your prime can pay off by ensuring a longer, healthier life expectancy.

You have a greater sense of who you are: Your work is supposed to be what you do, not who you are; however, it’s easy to get your identity wrapped up in the daily grind. From being a business owner to a parent, there is so much more to who you are than what you do to earn income or care for your family. Time off allows you to explore unique interests, enjoy hobbies, and try new things.

How this can save your life: Self-worth is the key to a healthy sense of self. Believing in, valuing, and expecting the best for yourself results in healthy esteem, less depression, and valuing self-care. People who know who they are and what matters to them tend to take better care of themselves and those they love.

Strategic Time Management Tips to Get More Time for Yourself

Finding time for yourself may seem nearly impossible under your unique circumstances. Chances are, your schedule hardly allows for eight hours of uninterrupted sleep let alone any significant time for yourself. The best way to carve out more time for yourself is to be strategic and purposeful about designating time off. Here are some tips that will help.

Create an annual time off plan: When and where possible, strategically plan for time off a year in advance. At the end of the year, sit down with your schedule (and family) and determine what time off is most beneficial. Build out your work and other commitments from there while protecting your time off.

Consider what wears you out: Take time to consider what activities, seasons, and experiences tend to drain your energy and trigger the need to refresh. Build in time off before or after to help you recover and regain your peace and energy. For example, if you know you have a busy season at work, build in time off to help support your recovery or to prepare and boost your energy prior to the season.

Create time in your daily schedule: Everyone has the same twenty-four hours in a day, but some get more free time than others. Studies show that people who schedule time for themselves in the day tend to be happier, healthier, and better able to manage stress. Add time for yourself to your daily schedule, and think about the deep work you will be able to accomplish during this time. This may include gym time, time to grab coffee with a friend, a spa treatment, or time for a brisk walk.

Find a hobby you love- The average person spends up to four hours per day scrolling social media or otherwise being distracted by technology. This is valuable time that could also be used pursuing a passion or hobby. Find something you love to do that will be an easy, relaxing, and positive use of your time. Your passion will make it much more likely you’ll make the time for yourself.

Create a bedtime routine- Women are especially known for staying up too late trying to get some time for themselves apart from their work and family. While there’s nothing wrong with self-care time past bedtime, it may have consequences in the morning. Creating a bedtime routine that encourages self-care before midnight can help relieve stress and allow for proper sleep. Try delegating evening chores to family or prepping for the next day earlier in the day to create free time for yourself in the evenings.

Create a time-off bucket list- In the same way a vision board can help you achieve your goals, planning for time off can help you be more purposeful and adventurous. List ideas, create a Pinterest board, or journal examples of what you’d like to do with your time. From volunteering to vacationing, there’s no limit to how you can use your time. Once you’ve compiled a list, see what you can do to cross your ideas off one by one.

Don’t Sleep on the Benefits of a Staycation for More Time of Your Own

Most people take time off to vacation and while that’s an excellent use of PTO, it isn’t the only way to get time for yourself. One of the biggest barriers to taking time off are the associated costs including, but not limited to, income loss and vacation expenses. One of the easiest ways to reduce costs and still get a break is to treat yourself to a staycation.

Time to Call Your Own: You Don’t Have to Leave to Take Time Off

While an annual trip to Disneyland or your favorite beach destination is a great reason to take time off, you really don’t have to go anywhere to take advantage of some time off. Staycations offer incredible benefits and are a great money-saving alternative to getting away. Here are some benefits-

Staycations are affordable: Since you aren’t incurring expenses for travel costs, you can take advantage of the savings and either save your money or invest in activities close to home while you are off.

Knock things off your to-do list: Staycations are a great time to tackle projects you’ve been meaning to complete, but can’t find the time. Taking time off on purpose to finish projects, remodel, or get a handle on things at home is an excellent idea.

Focus on your family: There’s a reason family leave is so important. Caring for loved ones, adjusting to a new baby or loss of a loved one are all important reasons to take time off. A staycation can help you carve out time to be with your family for a variety of reasons. Simply spending time together can be a great reason to take time off. Or expand on an event like a birthday, graduation, wedding, etc… to include more time to spend with family.

There’s no place like home: If you’re an introvert or tend to love the coziness and comfort of your home, staycations are an excellent way to unplug and decompress from the world. Take a tech-free staycation and completely disengage from the world while surrounded by the comforts of your home. Putter around, engage in hobbies, or binge watch your favorite series.

Use your home as a base: Many times, there’s an amazing number of things to see and do within a day’s drive from your home. Think like a tourist and map out what there is to see and do within a day and use your home as a nightly home base. Enjoy a day trip and save money on hotel expenses and other travel costs.

Avoid getting hung up on having to have a plan to take time off. You don’t need a vacation looming to feel good about taking time for yourself. Take time off on purpose and enjoy your time from the comfort of your own home.

Can’t Afford Time Off? Money-Saving Strategies for Taking Time Off

Some of the biggest barriers to taking time off are cost related. From income loss to expenses, it’s easy to avoid taking time off in order to make or save money. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to create the income you need to strategically take more time off.

Strategy- Get Money Back on Purchases: You can strategically get money back on items you already buy by using credit wisely. Finding a credit card that offers cash back or points towards flights, hotels, or other travel-related expenses can dramatically lower your costs giving you much more purchasing power.

Strategy- Use the Envelope System: If you love the challenge of saving for something, the envelope systems is a great way to gather money over time to cover for lost income or expenses during time off. For example, if you want to take extra time off during the holidays, calculate how much you’ll need for expenses and divide that number by the number of weeks you’d like to save. Set aside that amount into an envelope every week.

Strategy- Create an Extra Money Challenge for your family: Create some extra income for time off by saving or generating income in fun ways. Recycling, garage sales, Facebook Marketplace, or even bake sales are all unique ways to make small amounts of money that add up over time and can be used to cover costs for time off.

Strategy- Pay Debt Early: You can easily create income or save money by paying debt early. If you calculate your month’s bills and divide them by twelve, you can set aside a month’s worth of expenses into savings one month at a time and give yourself a month of debt free living to take time off. Imagine having your budget covered the whole month of December. What activities could you engage in by taking extra time for yourself since your bills are pre-paid?

Strategy- Combine CTO, PTO and Holidays: If you work for a business that offers vacation pay and paid days off, you can extend your time off by being strategic with your comp time off (CTO), paid time off (PTO), and paid holidays. Look at the dates holidays fall on and you’ll often find you can extend your time off by adding CTO, PTO, before and after holidays. If you already have weekends off, this can really extend your time off with minimal expenses.

Strategy- Trade Resources: Taking time off can be expensive. Investing in lodging, travel, or activities can prevent people from taking time for themselves. Try trading with other people for resources. If someone has a travel trailer, trade with them for use of your boat. If someone has a second home, trade with them for time in your home.

Consider what resources you have to offer and list them online or share them with your community. Many people use a bartering system for babysitting, lawn maintenance and care, pet watching, and more. Early on, I traded my marketing knowledge for tech work and graphics design and both of us believed we were getting the best deal. This allowed for taking time off and it made a difference in many areas of my life.

Are You Ready to Double Your Productivity and Live the Life You Want and Deserve? This May Be Exactly What You’ve Been Looking For!

I’m bestselling author, marketing strategist, and entrepreneur Connie Ragen Green and I would love to connect further with you to help you to achieve your goals. If you are interested in learning how to optimize the syndication of your content, please take a look at my popular Syndication Optimization training course (Save with Code: INDEPENDENCE) and consider coming aboard to increase your visibility, credibility, and profitability.