That might seem like some strange advice, but sometimes a day off is exactly the right medicine.  Let’s face it, many of us in the interior design industry are either in business for ourselves or working at a small, close-knit firm where the lines between work and not can become a little blurry.  We love what we do, making it all too easy to work, work and then do some more work.  Add to that, the fact that most of us are reachable 24/7 and you have a nice recipe for burn out.

The past few weeks I found myself growing increasingly more and more exhausted.  I love my job, I love it so much that I spend most of my waking hours thinking about it.  Between work, balancing a busy family life, and volunteering commitments I was beyond running on empty…which reminds me I forgot to list fitting in time for work-outs. 

It could have been the cranky emails I started sending out to various members of our team, but soon I was being told to take a day off.  While I was busy being impressed with myself for working so hard, I neglected to realize that my exhaustion was leading to a decrease in productivity and effectiveness (not to mention an increase in crankiness.)  So, last Friday I did something I haven’t done in a very long time, I took a day off and did…nothing.

To be honest, I did do a few loads of laundry, plant some tulips I’d bought a month ago, and tackle a couple of jobs around the house I’d been neglecting.  This freed up more time to enjoy relaxing with my family on the weekend, so I told myself it was a good idea.  Apparently, I’m not alone in using my day off in this way.  One study I found conducted by the Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. found that “in today’s busy world, many of us are using our time away from work doing all the things that must be done to take care of ourselves and our family.”  The study noted that “this leaves less time to re-energize our bodies and minds.  A lack of ‘downtime’ often leads to fatigues and stress.”  However, since normally I am running around cramming these mundane tasks into a busy work-day it felt like a treat to be able to leisurely take care of things; to actually not schedule in my daily run and go if and when I felt like it, and to completely focus on each of my three children sharing the details of their day at school. 

For the first time in quite a while I wasn’t going from task to task thinking about the next 800 things I needed to accomplish and you know what happened?  The world didn’t stop, Gibson Design Management actually managed to function without me for a day.  Rather than going into the weekend thinking about work, I continued my “day off bliss” through the weekend.  I even slept in on Saturday instead of waking up at 6am for no reason other than to think about work.  Crazy, I know. 

But wait, the best part is what happened to me on Monday.  I woke up with that “loving feeling” again.  I made myself a giant list of what I wanted to get done and for the first time in quite a while actually accomplished most of the list. 

So, the next time you’re having a hard week, I encourage you to follow this advice and take a day off.  Yes, you are important and critical to the success of your design business.  Yes, you will have a few messages waiting for you when you return.  But by allowing yourself a day off, you will give your body, your mind and your soul the opportunity to take a deep breath and re-charge.  You might just be surprised at how effective this can be.  My guess is that in the days following you will undoubtedly more than make up for that day off.