Tip #5: stop being a workaholic
Work can be addictive, especially for people who work in demanding, high-stress jobs.
As you try to relax with your family, you may feel your workload piling up. You may tell yourself you simply can’t afford to take time off. That’s the workaholic in you speaking.
No reasonable job would expect you to be ‘on the clock’ all day and night. If you struggle letting go of work, talk to your boss about taking a vacation. At the very least, unplug – literally and figuratively – over a weekend. It’ll prove that putting work aside from time to time isn’t as catastrophic as you feared.
When you are taking leave, try and leave the work emails and phone calls off. If you have good people working with you, you will be able to come back to a position that is surprisingly under control.
I understand this can be hard, but if you are running your own business or a team, those around you will most likely jump at an opportunity to prove to you that they can step up. Why not give them this chance to shine!
Putting what I have said above into practice, I had the pleasure of doing something last week that was completely out of my comfort zone. Having joined my local Fire Brigade as a volunteer fire fighter in July 2020, I attended the required seven-day recruits training course in Rotorua NTC.
The challenges this threw up were amazing, testing both physical and mental abilities but the feeling of achievement at the end was unbelievable.
I challenge you to do something that is completely different to your daily routine. And then check out the next post, I’m keeping it really simple with tip #6: simplify your life.
And here is a recap on the previous tips which are all pretty simple too:
- Tip #4: have a regular health check
- Tip #3: take care of yourself
- Tip #2: say no to the unimportant
- Tip #1: pace yourself