When Downtime is Your Most Productive Choice!
Photo by Parthiban V on Unsplash
Every Thursday, I share one action, habit, or project you may want to undertake in order to improve your health, happiness, and sense of well-being.
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PROJECT OF THE WEEK
When Downtime is Your Most Productive Choice!
As we head into Memorial Day Weekend, I find it necessary to remind myself that it’s okay to not use the long weekend to tackle a to-do list. Instead, choosing downtime may be your most productive choice!
Recently, I woke up on a Monday and felt exhausted. The prior week had been super busy and we had gone away for the weekend.
But it was Monday, my to-do list was long and I wanted to start the week off right. So I pushed through.
The evening was smooth, bedtime went great and everyone, including me, was asleep before 9:00 pm.
I thought that if I just got a good night's rest, Tuesday would be better. My body had other ideas.
I ended up getting sick overnight and being forced into canceling everything on Tuesday that was not a client meeting.
After spending the first half of Tuesday sleeping, I started to feel better. Following a full night’s sleep on Tuesday, I woke up Wednesday morning feeling like my normal self, ready to enjoy the day, and get stuff done.
In fact, the remainder of the week was SO much more productive.
This was a great reminder of how important it is to listen to your body and know when taking some downtime is your most productive choice.
Looking back, even though I did cross a number of items off my to-do list on Monday, they were not items that were overly important, and they, no doubt, took much longer to do than they would have if I had not been exhausted. In addition, I purposely did not do any work on Monday that required a lot of thinking. In other words, I did not do anything that important.
In the end, I didn't accomplish anything of value on Monday and I totally lost Tuesday.
In retrospect, I should have rested on Monday. Had I rested, I likely would have slept well on Monday night and then had a productive day on Tuesday.
This is a lesson that I have had to learn over and over again.
I need to recognize when taking the time to rest is my most effective work strategy.
Are you able to recognize when you need some downtime before it's too late?
We would love to hear about it!
Ready to Get Started?
If you feel excited about implementing this strategy and want some additional accountability and support to get started, the It’s All in the Planning Starter Pak was designed for you!
A Note from Happy Spaces
The goal is to add value to your life. If you think this project will add value:
Estimate how long you think it will take. I would recommend doubling the time you estimate.
Look at your calendar over the next week and pick a date and time to get started.
Make an appointment on your calendar for the estimated time.
If you estimate that completing this project will take longer than one hour, I recommend doing it over multiple days. This will support you in getting started!
Prior to starting this project, take a few minutes to make a step-by-step list of EVERY action you need to take to complete this project.
It's not all or nothing. You can choose to implement only the parts of this project that add value to your life.
An Accountability Partner can be a great support in following through on your goals and commitments.
We understand how challenging it can be to implement new habits and systems. For additional support please go to HappySpacesBySarah.com.
Creating a life you don't need a vacation from! ®
Sincerely,
Sarah Weingarten
Meet Sarah
Growing up as the oldest of nine siblings in Upstate New York, I learned to use organization to create sanity among the chaos. Today, I work together with individuals, families, and small businesses to create habits, systems, and spaces that support their needs, goals, and dreams. Clients often refer to our work together as "life-changing" and "better than decades of therapy". What I love most about my work is the lasting impact it has on real people's lives. Nothing makes me happier than hearing the many success stories of clients I have worked with.