My Christmas break of 2008 – four principles to help me relax
I work from home building wheels and building websites so in order to appreciate free time at home I need to make that the task. What does that mean? It means that I normally start my day by making a list of things to do and then assigning them to particular times of day. I make those tasks as specific as possible. Once I’ve completed one task I look at the list to see what is next. I am so used to looking at the list I realised that in order to have a proper break in this my usual working environment I needed to make a break-time or holiday list.
They aren’t as specific as my tasks for the day but as the Christmas break continues they have helped me to relax and unwind in a way that I usually cannot. Here is my list of four principles that I put on my list on Christmas Eve.
- This is holiday and not work
- Do what you feel like doing even if it feels odd
- Don’t feel that you have to really USE this opportunity
- Allow yourself to waste time
Writing out these guidelines to help me relax and give me a framework and disentangle myself from trying to achieve anything showed me how much of a goal oriented person I am. If you read those principles with the opposite meaning you get a sense of my normal attitude to waking hours. Is that how I really feel most of the time? 