It would be easy to assume that when you love what you do, you don’t need to go on holiday. 

What I discovered this year, is that in my first year of working for myself there’s an awful lot of “creep” of work. What do I mean?  Well, one of my favourite hobbies, as you might be aware is yoga.  But having spent all of the year previously studying during my yoga training and then starting to teach, it detracted a bit from my escape.

As a result, I’ve dialled down on my teaching a bit for now.  The “creep” also happens in the evenings. More time spent on social media, more time reading psychology and self-help books (can’t get enough), more time planning. And inevitably, this also spilled into the weekends.  Because what’s not to love about learning? I didn’t really realise I wasn’t giving myself anytime off. And then I started to notice the tell-tale signals of stress.  Having learned the hard way in the past, I know when I’m in the danger zone so to speak and prescribed myself a week-long holiday.  I even attached conditions – no thinking about work, no writing anything, no reading any books on psychology, spirituality or yoga.  Wow.  I felt like a different person when I got back. Lesson learned, plan holidays and PROPERLY switch off to recharge.  Can you recognise your stress signature?

The “switching off” also gives me a segway into my next realisation.  For as long as I’ve had a mobile phone, I have been ON IT. And I know we all are. But literally, I’ve been a texting demon. My infatuation with Whatsapp began circa 2011. Instant messaging ruled, because iMessage, well it seemed just so slow in comparison. And some of my Whatsapp groups bring me so much JOY - I mean that word. Like when you return to your phone to find +100 unread messages and soon you’re crying with laughter - just me? But what I realised this year, and I really don’t know why it took me so long, is that it’s a HUGE distraction.  There are claims that digital distraction reduces our productivity and by “quickly” checking your phone for 30 seconds it might take you 25 minutes to get back into the flow of what you’re doing.

I also realised that I had a habit of instantly responding to people. No bad thing, you might say, if you work in a client service role. But it does mean that other people’s priorities become your own and you pivot to service mode rather than fulfilling YOUR priority tasks first.

Here’s how I’ve changed this habit of mine.  I now regularly put my phone on “do not disturb” mode. I find it’s better than Airplane mode, because you’re not hooked up to the WiFi and that way, ZERO message distraction. I’ve stopped looking at my phone as soon as I wake up – tempting as it is, because it pulls you into someone else’s priorities before you’ve even had a chance to think.  I suggest you give yourself at least 10 minutes after waking before you look at your phone and if you can, do something to set you on a good track for the day.  I also made the revolutionary move of not letting my phone sleep with me in my bedroom.  I know, I know, you use your phone as your alarm.  Pre-smartphone you probably had a perfectly good alarm system, so maybe revisit that or get yourself a fancy new alarm that wakes you up with a gradual sunrise effect.

What are you switch off plans for the holidays?