You’re staring down the calendar at one of those precious 4-day weekends, guiltily wondering if it’s okay to unhook from work this much (and whether you need to be super productive around the house to make up for it!).
Use these 3 hacks from my own recent 4-day mini vacation to reset your OWN break-vs.-business energy!
I had a Friday to Monday staycation, a few house projects (the fun kind, not the honey do list), a stack of library books, and great weather for a change.
So I started that first day from an attitude of “I’ll sleep in and see how it goes.”
First hack: never give yourself deadlines if you want a truly vacation-y weekend. Just let yourself naturally wake up, feel how your energy is (high or low), and schedule your day accordingly.
For me, that meant doing a little menu planning (so I could say I was productive) and going straight to the bookshelf (for some fun reads). Because I was actually feeling pretty low energy, and I didn’t even want to hit those decluttering projects on my list. (And you know I’m an organizer, so that means it was pretty bad!)
Instead, I mowed through 3 books and enjoyed a floppy sort of Friday at home.
Then on day 2, I slept in again (seeing a theme?) and did my couple of food prepping chores.
It sounded refreshing to go on a long date with my husband, so that’s what I suggested. (It was great!)
We came back, I was re-energized, yet I STILL didn’t feel like tackling my just-for-fun house project.
So I didn’t. I caught up on my business courses instead. (I’m a perpetual study-er.)
Second hack: keep your meals super easy. Think “clear the fridge” stir fries or leftover nights, pull something from the freezer you’ve been saving for an easy night, or dump some chicken in the crock pot and shred it.
That level of easy.
Third hack: take a COMPLETE break from all productivity expectations this weekend. Only do what’s necessary (minimum style), and let yourself catch up on all that relaxing.
You’ll know when you’re ready to get back to work (or to house projects, as the case may be).
For me, by day 3 on vacation, my energy was pretty high. But I was mowing through my stack of books, and I’d already finished that business course – so I had to find something to do.
Guess what – bookshelves to the rescue! (I was rearranging our double set of bookshelves to be more accessible to the kids.)
(Yes, I finally got to my “chore expectation” for the weekend – but only because I got bored enough to do it!)
Remember, the point of this mini vacation is to have fun.
(Not see how many “honey do” projects you can cram in!)
This is how to *actually* make sure you’re taking that recharge time. Even if you don’t think you really need a break from your business.
Go book yourself a 4-day staycation, schedule your to-do’s *off* the calendar, and let yourself just lounge around and only do things for fun!
Good things are gonna happen when you let yourself out of the “do-do-do” all the time prison.
So number one: ignore your to-do list. Wake up when you wake up, cook when you need to cook, do laundry if you have to, and otherwise just be.
Number two: keep that cooking to a minimum. Don’t increase your cook load just because you’re “off” from all other chores.
And number three: ditch any and all productivity projects you had in mind for the weekend.
You’re either going to refresh, or you’re going to get your fill of that and be bored – that’s the only time you’re allowed to break out the to-do list (to stave off boredom).
Because your brain (and body) likely need a longer break than you think they do.
When was the last time YOU gave yourself 4 days off work, just to relax?
