How to Know When to Take the Day Off

Sometimes more money can be made by just allowing your mind to cool off after a hard days work. When in doubt, always sit down, close your eyes, and forget all the reasons you should continue working. Do you have a ton of vacation hours? Are you a workaholic? I have been in both situations. What I found is, sometimes I feel guilty after taking a day off. I would do all these things to make money, only to be as empty as my gas tank. Yes, you can make money. And yes, you should allow yourself to take a day off. Consider these steps as reasons for taking days off and knowing when to take the plunge of a vacation.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. You're mentally exhausted and it's beginning to show in your quality and productivity at work. When you start pushing through the days thinking of all the ways you can lose your job; when the idea of quitting sounds good; and when you think those who take breaks are poorer for their own sake. This is a dangerous place to be in. In order to combat it, I always recommend considering every day off a way to recharge the mind. This is a mental battle more than a physical one. Sometimes we need the break more than we know. And when the boss or employer sees our work improving because we have these fresh mind.

2. You've begun to act out your stress with addictive behaviors. When you act out in different ways, like drinking a six-pack of beer in a night or downing a whole cake, there is something else going on. I would never consider myself an expert on the mental part of a worker, but I can speak from experience. When I hated doing a job, never took breaks, and avoided work, I was doing more harm than good. I knew then I had to take a break.

3. Maybe you work from home, as millions of people do, and millions more want to do. How do you know when to take a break? This will be hard in the beginning. Here is one personal example. As a writer, I get up every day about 9 AM, immediately going to work (or trying to). But in recent weeks, working 6-7 days in 8-10 hours shifts, I avoided the writing for several hours, doing other things. I figured out, eventually, that I needed to stop pushing myself so much. I took two days off just to refresh my mind. Working from home is a tough one to calculate. Most of us know when enough is enough through trial and error. Any freelancer can tell you long weeks are necessary, but every now and then think of ways to shorten your work time while still having the same output. Consider changing your routines up, like working on a different project in the morning, pushing one back to the afternoon.

4. Depression is the last ingredient to this mix. It could go hand-in-hand with addiction, as the signs are similar, and many treat depression with drugs, food, alcohol, or other impulsive things. The problem is each of us experience depression in a variety of ways. Here is where I stray from the usual doctrines: you can combat depression at times by embroiling yourself even more in work. Sometimes putting one foot in front of the other really does work.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't feel guilty just because you take a few days off. Again, you will work better in the end.