How to Tell When It’s Time to Take a Break
Posted March 8, 2010 in Freelance Stories, Lifestyle 38 Comments »
I threw my neck out something fierce not long ago. I don’t know how it happened. I must have been fighting this big monster in my sleep, rolled over so I could grab a rock to clonk him over the head with, and was suddenly awake, clutching my neck in pain. Either the monster got me or I twisted my head so fast in my sleep that I pulled a muscle.
Either way, I was in serious pain. And I had work to do the next morning.
I had clients to call and clients to email. I had to delegate some work to my assistants. I had to manage my team. I had to be there, damn it. Without me, my business grinds to a halt. It’s the siren song of the freelancer: if I go away, even for a minute, my business goes up in smoke.
Guess what? It’s not true.
Why Freelancers Need a Break
Freelancers need a break just as much as any nine-to-five person punching a clock. That nine-to-fiver gets a certain number of vacation days a year, and he often gets sick days too. If he doesn’t, he can use up one of his vacation days to stay home and tend his cold or his injury.
You don’t have that problem. You get to say when you get to take a break.
The problem is allowing yourself to say it.
I know this problem all too well. Here are a few moments when you really need to stop and say, “You know what? I’m taking a sick day.”
1. When You’re Injured
When I hurt my neck, I was putting strain on that injured muscle every minute I spent out of bed. Your head weighs around eight pounds. When your arm is injured and you try to pick up eight pounds, it’s painful. You might even make the injury worse. The same goes for your neck, only it can’t possibly avoid picking up your heavy head.
I should have spent the day on my back, napping a lot and letting the injury heal so that I could be back on my feet the next day. Instead, I kept laying down and getting back up again to try to get some work done and stay on top of things.
The injury lingered and didn’t heal as quickly as it could have, because I didn’t take a full day or two off to give it a fighting chance.
What happened during that time? Well, I definitely didn’t do my best work. I was distracted, and I was in pain. I was cranky every now and then because my neck hurt. I wasn’t available as much as I usually was because I had to keep taking breaks. Even the most minor thing, like cradling the phone between my shoulder and ear, was impossible for me.
And every time I forgot my limitations, I hurt myself more.
I should have taken the day off. So should you. If you’re injured in any way that affects your ability to work–back, neck, tendonitis, RSI–take the time to let your body heal fully so you can go back to work at full strength, instead of hobbling along at a fraction of your ability for weeks.
2. When You’re Sick
Most of us remember working nine-to-five and having those days where you’d call in sick just because you couldn’t face going in that day. We’d fake the cough and weary voice, and we’d try to sound sincere when we said we were so sorry, but we just felt too terrible to show up.
Now you’re a freelancer. The only person you can lie to in order to get out of work is yourself. That’s kind of too bad, because it means you probably don’t pretend you’re sick anymore. You work even when you don’t feel like working, because after all, you don’t have any excuse not to.
But when you’re really sick, you still work. Even when you have the excuse. That’s not good.
If you work through sickness, you’re going to put out low-quality work. No one’s brain functions well when illness chunks it up with snot and you have that blurry-vision, itchy-eye thing going on. Clients are going to be less than pleased if you sniffle your way through it and deliver a project on time but below your usual standard.
They may even wonder if your previous good work was a fluke.
Don’t make clients question your skills. Call them up or email them, explain that you’re very sick, and ask if it would be possible to extend your deadline. Make sure they understand this is optional: you’re willing to deliver on time if they need you to. However, you want to make sure they get your very best work, and you’re afraid they won’t get that if you work through the illness.
Nine times out of ten, your client will choose to wait until you’re well again. That one time out of ten? You can take care of him because you’ll have cleared the rest of your plate. Try to wait until you have at least one day of feeling not so bad, and knock it out of the park.
Then you can catch up on your nicer, more sympathetic clients at your leisure once you’re all better.
3. When You’re Burned Out
It happens to all freelancers. Every single one of us. You simply run out of juice. You stare at the screen for hours, trying to summon the strength to be creative. You know you’re never going to get there. You want to run away from everything. You want to quit.
And you know what? Sometimes you should do just that.
Quit for a day. Just one. If you can manage it, try for a long weekend. Then leave your laptop behind with a nice autoresponder for anyone who sends an email: “I’ll be out of touch until Monday. I’ll get back to you promptly first thing Monday morning.”
If you have an assistant, ask him or her to take messages and send any urgent clients to peers of yours whose work you can vouch for. Odds are slim that you’ll get a last-minute rush client during the very weekend you’re taking off, but if you do, don’t stress. He’ll get taken care of by your colleague. You’re having a break, a mini-vacation, getting over your burnout.
Forget about everything. Go someplace you enjoy, or just hole up in your own house. Banish the computer and the phone to the basement or a dark closet. Read a book you’ve been meaning to read. Spend time with your significant other or your kids or some friends. Just relax.
When you get back, you’ll be recharged, ready to take on anything, and a whole lot happier with your job.
Your Turn
Can you think of other times you need to take a break? Have there been times you’ve pushed through it and regretted not taking a break? Let’s hear it!
Image by danielfoster
About the author: If you want to learn more about improving your writing, blogging and web business, head on over to James' blog, Men With Pens,the place where warm fuzzies and positive words are all you'll ever hear. Better yet, subscribe to the Men With Pens RSS feed today.
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38 Comments
Damian
March 8th, 2010 at 9:57 amWhen I find my “flow” I get lost in a project and time seems to almost stand still, and I can go for up to 2 hours without noticing it. It’s usually web development work rather than writing or blogging that will keep my interest that long.
As a cigarette smoker, as bad as they are, they do cause me to go outside and “get some fresh air” every hour or so when I’m NOT in the flow. I’d like to quit, though.
Some days I know are just tanked. I know it from the beginning and I’ve learned to not push it.
Jordan Walker
March 8th, 2010 at 10:15 amI have taken a break after an all night stint at programming a solution to a very complex problem ( well, at least for me :) The break I really enjoy, is taking an entire day to read. There is something about the minds eye that calms me, more so than sitting and watching a mindless television or getting a monitor tan surfing.
Christopher
March 8th, 2010 at 10:54 amWhen I need to take a break I tend to try and find something to just take my mind of it completely. Maybe instead of working one night I’ll pop a movie in instead. Or sit down with a video game. Or read a good fiction book. I just kind of get away and forget about things for awhile.
Amberly | Web Designer
March 8th, 2010 at 11:12 amReally interesting read. Its is good to take a Break after a long or tiring day, to get the relief from the stress. According to me the better option is Yoga. 10 Minute Yoga will give you peace of mind and will keep you going all day.
Customized Web Design Studio
March 8th, 2010 at 11:54 amA short nap, every day, is THE BEST to have thge brain working fine!
Carol Logan Newbill
March 8th, 2010 at 11:57 amFlying Spaghetti Monster, James, are you living inside my head? This, plus your series last week and your post this morning on your own site… it’s scary. I had a meltdown last night trying to deal with a client crisis on a Sunday. Haven’t thrown my neck out yet, but lots of other signs coming from a body screaming “LISTEN UP! WE NEED REST!”
Travis
March 8th, 2010 at 12:00 pmGreat read, I try to take 15 minute breaks every 2 hours or so. Amberly’s comment about Yoga is interesting, haven’t tried that yet, but I just might :)
Shabbir Bhimani
March 8th, 2010 at 12:16 pmI think I am currently in a phase where I do not feel like working for clients and so I think at times there has to be a no reason as a reason to take a break.
SnarphBlat
March 8th, 2010 at 12:49 pmSuch a good article! I usually always take Sunday’s off. Last week it was a burnt out stage, and decided that for one day I would not check any of my emails, work on projects, or even check my tweets. It was an amazing and freeing thing to do. I am going to do it a again next week. It’s good to take breaks away from screens that we all stare at so much.
Also, I know when it’s burn out time when clients really start to get on my nerves and I can’t even think about working on their project because I am so upset. DO NOT work when you’re upset with a current project. It will not turn out the way you wanted it too, and you’ll regret it in the end. Walk away from your computer, take a break, drink a cold beer, anything to relax and sit down later to work on it again. If you need to take a day away from it, do it. You’ll be much happier in the end and so will your client.
sandman6665
March 8th, 2010 at 12:51 pmIt’s time to take a break when simple small tasks took longer than expected to at least finalize.. things gone long, things gone wrong and i agree taking a nap most of the times works for me to get back working again..
Amber Weinberg
March 8th, 2010 at 12:53 pmI feel the same and every couple of months end up “taking it easy” for a week, where I don’t schedule any major projects and instead spend the time catching up on other aspects of the business and taking time out for myself. It’s good to do that, we didn’t go into business for ourselves to be slaves :)
Russell Hampton
March 8th, 2010 at 1:03 pm@SnarphBlat
Good point on not working on a project when you are upset with the client. I have been a victim of that and the end result definitely did not turn out the way I wanted to. Next time I will take your cold beer advice ;)
Steve Diamond
March 8th, 2010 at 1:09 pmI can relate to Damian’s comment (except for the smoking part). When I get engrossed in solving a problem, the time can just slip by virtually unnoticed for hours. Then I shift my awareness to my surroundings and realize that my neck is stiff, my butt is sore, and it’s time to get up and have a walk or go to the gym.
JuliannTrott
March 8th, 2010 at 1:20 pmBeing student + intern + blogger is hard and sometimes I do need a break but I can’t, I’ve so much work to do. My left shoulder is starting to hurt a lot, may be is time to stop a little bit
Lexi Rodrigo
March 8th, 2010 at 2:44 pmIf I have to get sick to take a break, then something’s really wrong!
I think it’s time to take a break when I’m getting crabby and when everything just feels like work. You know, when the juices aren’t flowing and even the things I normally enjoy feel like a chore.
It’s a good idea to take regular breaks – even small ones – throughout the day and certainly way before any of these “symptoms” appear. However, I know this is easier said than done. It helps to have some sort of a routine that forces you to take a break. For example, when it’s time for me to put the toddler down for a nap, then that’s an imposed break I need to take.
Minna
March 8th, 2010 at 3:17 pmI know I have a hard time “unplugging” when I’m really going at a project. What I try to do is take little brain breaks, where I am not doing anything related to work. Play some Bejeweled, get up and get a coffee, even do a little light housework. Switching off for even 15 minutes helps get through the day!
eve
March 8th, 2010 at 5:21 pmGreat article, and so true! I recently started taking a day off a week, before I wouldn’t let myself. I have yet to have a client say anything negative when I let them know I am going to be offline for a day. In m head I thought they would be upset, but all of them (so far!) have been fine and even encouraging me to actually take a break!
James Chartrand - Men with Pens
March 8th, 2010 at 5:27 pmWow, all my guest posts go live on the same day. SHEESH, people, I need a break!
Oh wait… Right. ;)
@Minna – I’m currently trying to figure out my best balance for mini-breaks. I definitely don’t stop writing if I’m on a roll, but I do try to stop after I finish a section, or a chapter, or a post. Small break, just a five minute one, and I go back to it. I find it’s easier to stay in the swing of things with shorter breaks. Half hour breaks are good for switching task (like moving from accounting to writing).
@Lexi – Ah, crabby. Yeah, I think we all get those days and it’s a sign we just haven’t been paying attention to our own needs. I have the cure: Play some Great Big Sea. There ain’t no crabby mood that can survive three of their songs. Even better if you learn the words and sing along!
@Juliann – I can say from experience that if any part of your body starts to hurt, that’s it’s way of saying, “If you don’t rest me up and give me what I need, I will curse you with repetitive stress injury that will force you to a halt for two weeks.” Listen to your body. Mmhm.
@Steve – Yeah, for sure. “Oh wow, my shoulders are killing me…” I get that too. I haven’t found a cure for The Zone yet. Hard to fix something you aren’t aware is hurting!
@Russell – If we’re into distributing beers, I’ll take one…
@Amber – A week sounds pretty nice. You and me and Russell need to get together.
@Sandman – If something’s not going quickly, that’s definitely a sign to stop and switch tasks or take a rest.
@Snarph – Russell’s having a party, I hear… You comin’? We’ll have it on a Sunday!
@Shabbir – That’s the beauty of what I call screw-off days. For no reason, you call a day off and go screw off and have fun. THAT’S refreshing.
@Travis – Keep a timer handy – those are the best for calling breaks at regular hours.
@Carol – Flying spaghetti?… Okay, Russell? Carol’s cut off, man. I think she had too much beer… ;)
@Customized – I know a lot of people who swear by naps, and they sound great. I tend to wake up feeling all groggy and out of sorts from naps, so I’ve had to find other ways to rejuice the brain.
@Amberly – Yoga seems to be the big thing, and I have to say that the people who do it have nothing but good stuff to mention. Keep on with that!
@Christopher – Yeah, something that’s a complete switch and that doesn’t require anything but your enjoyment is the best way to take a break. Rests the body too!
@Jordan – I’d go blind if I read all day. Then again, how does that work if I’m reading writing all day? Oy…
@Damian – Ha, too funny. “Some days are just tanked.” Hooo yeah. Screw off day!
Natalia M. Sylvester
March 8th, 2010 at 5:32 pmIt’s hard for me to take a break without feeling guilty about it, but it’s so important. One thing that helped me recently was when I had family come in from out of town. I worked only in the morning and spent the rest of the day with them. Since my time working was limited, I really made the most of it. It made me realize that it’s not the end of the world if I take a break.
Jose da SIlva
March 8th, 2010 at 7:37 pmHi James,
Thank youm for the heads up on this.
I believe that this is one of the most difficult things for a freelancer, believe that the business doesn’t die if they got sick or offline for 1 day.
You know that you are on top of your business when you understand that if you are sick for 1 day your business will be there for you on the day after.
This is one sign that the freelancer is getting into a good maturity level.
My 5 cents.
Sandra
March 8th, 2010 at 9:39 pmIf you take a break once your neck hurts or you’re getting crabby you’ve left it too late – although we’ve all done it !!
Schedule a couple of days off every few months (but do it well in advance) and work projects around those dates – if you know its coming up you can advise clients with active jobs accordingly.
Then Just Do It.
Sean Love
March 9th, 2010 at 1:14 amHave a colleague of yours hold a 5 lb bag of sugar for 5 mins.
Set it down for a min… pick it up again
Set it down for a min… pick it up again etc…
Now.. YOU, hold a 5lb bag of sugar for as long as you can without setting it down.
The same holds true while working on or through ANYTHING! You will hold that “5lb bag of sugar” much longer if you take breaks.
Work in spurts, 15 min breaks, 5 min breaks.. whatever your preference, at whatever intervals. You will accomplish more when you take breaks. So if you take a look at my website right now, I’m in the middle of a month long break/spurt. LOL
Take care my fellow creatives.
Shane
March 9th, 2010 at 3:08 amSuch a true and relatable article. I am kinda a novice freelancer with no clients and no real experience, so can I really be called a freelancer? I suppose that is a question for another time. My point is that I agree wholeheartedly to this article as I have been known to just grind away at a site for days and weeks on end until I eventually burn myself out, which is horrible I know, but I can’t help it. The problem is though that I then won’t touch the code for weeks and nothing gets done.
I have attempted to redesign my blog around 6 times now, so I think it is great advice to not work forever and to try to see whatelse the world has to offer me, inspiration will come and a rejuvenated set of eyes will make things that much easier lol.
Linda White
March 9th, 2010 at 3:03 pmYes, we need to take breaks. I have learned that the one regret I have is not taking breaks to spend time with my family. When I was working for a particularly nasty employer, I missed my brother-in-law’s promotion ceremony (Navy ceremony, very formal, he was promoted to a high rank) in Washington DC. The whole family was there but me, because I was coordinating a golf tournament! Well, nothing in me said I was going to take that time off, because I wanted to get the job done. But my employer later proved to me that nothing I did for him was going to be good enough, and I have decided that I am not going to miss any more important family occasions.
And when my son is home from college for spring break, I will take a day and do something with him. Last year when he was graduating from high school in June and I took two days to spend getting ready for his party and be with out of town company, my client got real snarky. I won’t work with her again…
There are some things that you just don’t get to do again. Work isn’t one of them!
Online Outsourcing
March 10th, 2010 at 3:31 amWill take deep breathe once in 15 minutes.It helps me to be a cool and concentrate on the project whether it is large or small even in a single work.keep sharing.
Mike B
March 10th, 2010 at 4:53 amI agree that its not worth burning out and you need to give yourself the chance to refresh – but also its worth avoiding burnout by doing all you can in terms of getting to bed on time and just not getting stressed. But if you do reach that point then a day or so off can help.
Kenny H
March 19th, 2010 at 9:34 amSo recognisable this article. I had the same problems, working around the clock seven days a week with hardly any time to relax and take breather. The result? Creative juices stopped flowing and I couldn’t deliver the quality I used to and closer to a burnout than ever. I took a two week break, grabbed a last minute to a sunny island and came back relaxter and more motivated to change my way of working than ever.
Nowadays I stop working at fridayevening 19.00 and won’t return till monday 08.00. I take my regular breaks during the day, even if it’s 5 minutes going outside smell the fresh air. Weekends I use to spent time with my significant other, friends etc. Weekdays I stop working at 19.00 in the evening. Go to the gym, read a book etc.
Everybody needs a break, otherwise you’re only working towards a burnout.
Jeff
March 22nd, 2010 at 12:07 amThis article definitely came at the right time…thanks for the good posts. I always like to reward my self with something after a long month of work. I usually end up buying something like software or something to help me make more money so not sure how rewarding that really is – but it works for me!
Isaiah Frazier
May 1st, 2010 at 8:30 pmI know its time to take a break when my stomach starts to growl I have a tendency to be so entrenched to my work I put of eating; All I need is some rest and a little bit of food and I am right back on it.
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