Taking Time Off - EP 124 Advanced Freelancing

Have you developed a toxic working relationship with yourself?  In this episode, I discuss the power of rest and share the importance of time off, both scheduled and unscheduled, where you're able to just decompress from your business.
You’ll learn how taking time off allows you to feel rejuvenated and recharged and show up as strong as possible for your business and your clients.
Here are some things we covered in this episode: How to avoid burnout by taking time off Why taking time off is essential for you to be able to grow your business Taking time off gives you the mental and physical capacity where you're excited to work on your clients' projects Why you should keep track of your time Discover how you are really procrastinating on a lot of projects or taking a lot of time on things that didn't need to take so long The importance of establishing creative ways to step back from your business How to know if you are treating yourself like a boss or a worker Discover if you have developed a toxic working relationship with yourself Why you need to review the last year, decide what you want the following year to look like, and put some immediate stop gaps in your schedule How getting out of the office triggers creativity and new thinking processes How the power of rest is essential physically and emotionally for you to feel rejuvenated and recharged Why the more you run yourself down, the more exhausted you're going to be for your business and for your clients How you can show up as strong as possible for your business and your clients Resources Mentioned: toggl.com Book: The Passion Paradox by Brad Stulberg After listening to this episode, share your action steps and take-aways with our group:
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Read the Transcript:
(00:01):
Welcome back to another episode of the advanced freelancing podcast. I'm recording this episode in August, which historically has been a month that I have usually taken off from freelancing or scaled things down to a very part-time status. And there's a reason for that, right after freelancing for eight years, there are certain months of the year that are just slower than others. And I usually record episodes around this time of year about how to recalibrate, how to look at your work samples, how to take a step back. Um, you prepare yourself for the busy fall season, but this year, I also think it's more important than ever to think about taking time off from your business, particularly because the pandemic has really shifted what that looks like for so many families. And it's very possible that you've been working remotely for years, but now your spouse is suddenly at home or your kids are at home and the school schedule is all different and it becomes very easy when everyone's in the house doing work for it to feel like all you ever do is work and that you're working constantly all the time.
(01:03):
And that's a really vicious cycle that can set you up for burnout. So in this podcast episode, I want to talk a little bit about how to take time off both longer stretches and also on a more ongoing basis to step away from your business. I've dealt with burnout multiple times as a freelancer, as an employee. I've seen it from so many different perspectives, but I've also coached many of the freelancers that I work with. One-on-one about what burnout looks like for them and how to guard against it, or to take that step back when you realize that you are entering into burnout so that you can put in place some proactive measures to avoid going into that again in the future, but also to make it a little bit easier on yourself in the moment. Now, one of the most important things you can do to guard against burnout is to take regular time off in your business.
(01:54):
And not just time when you're at stepping out a