Summer is almost over. You might be on vacation, about to leave, or just coming back. Maybe you – clutch the pearls – haven’t taken any time off this year yet and don’t plan to. Take it from the woman who just took her first vacay ever: this is a bad move. You’re important but you are not indispensable. And you’re even better when you’ve had a break from the daily grind. So, from one workaholic to another here are eight ways to dial it back a notch:
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- Cut your to do list in half, then half it again so you can see and do what’s really important. Let the rest go. It’s not getting done anyway.
- Stop trying to do “just one more thing.”
- Stop working until you pass out in front of your computer.
- If you set an alarm to get up for work, maybe you need to set one to stop.
- If you have sick time, use it. Don’t be a hero. And yes, mental health days count. (If you’re job doesn’t give you sick time, go to work, infect everybody, and force the company to change its policy. Think of it as the real meaning of going viral.)
- Take a real grown-up vacation, not just a weekend.
- Have your non-workaholic friends do an intervention. Tell them to remind you how much more productive you are after taking time off.
- Remember that working hard doesn’t mean working yourself to death. Dying at your desk is no way to go. And no, your funeral doesn’t count as a vacation.
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Now go play. Go on. I mean it. Don’t make me get up.
