I’m curious… how often do you take breaks or time off from work?

I know in my 20’s I was lucky if I took breaks from work & time off for vacation more than 2 times a year!

Why?

Because you see… the higher I worked my way up the corporate ladder, the busier & more responsible I became.

To be honest, taking time off was something I didn’t have a lot of time for & quite frankly, just didn’t prioritize at the time.  

In fact, just the stress it would cause to make sure everything was covered while I was gone & face the mountain of emails I’d have to catch up upon my return made it extremely difficult for me to disconnect from work & embrace regular & consistent time off.

Can you relate, dear one?

Later, after I left the corporate world & started my own business, I had less demand on my time & more flexibility but without a guaranteed income to rely upon, I often chose not to take breaks & get away because I believed that I had to work hard for my money & it would make me feel guilty about getting away.

As you can imagine, not feeling like it was actually OK to take time off is a big part of the reason I struggled with burnout TWICE within my first 20 years of being in the workforce!

It wasn’t until my mid 30’s when I finally began to learn about the importance of managing my energy (vs. my time).

As a result of switching my focus from time management to energy management, I began to learn smarter, better ways to approach work & feel differently about myself.

You see, dear one…

I thought I was doing everything I could be to maximize efficiency & productivity at work.

In fact, I was so task-oriented, goal-oriented & action-oriented at work that I was often recognized & rewarded for having such a strong work ethic during annual reviews & chosen often to attend fancy award trips, ceremonies & dinners held by my company.

I was GREAT at time & task management but the problem is that I was so busy DO-ing, DO-ing, DO-ing all the time (i.e. masculine energy) that I literally had no idea what it was like to rest, relax, recharge & just BE (i.e. feminine energy) on a regular basis.

As you can imagine, operating so heavily in my masculine & out of balance with my feminine for so long took its’ toll on my body & it wasn’t until I experienced burnout a second time as an entrepreneur that I realized the problem wasn’t with the corporate career I had been previously been in…

The problem was with ME & how I was choosing to manage my time & energy.

Ultimately what was missing was an understanding of what my limit & capacity actually is when saying yes to things.

In a nutshell, I had gotten so good at saying YES to everything I was asked of that my boundaries were non-existent & I had become a high-achieving, over-producing machine.

As a result, I found myself over-committing my time, energy & worth to my daily tasks, my projects, my clients & everything else in between, not just at work but also at home.

Because of this second round of burnout in business, I learned an important & valuable lesson about the importance of taking regular & consistent breaks & time off from work… one of the keys to energy management!

And, at the advice of a business coach, I scheduled a week-long vacation just for myself after 2 years straight of working to see what it would feel like to get away & just BE for 7 straight days away by myself with the intention to only do what I was divinely inspired to do each day.

It was absolutely glorious & I came home feeling refueled, energized & actually excited to come back to work!

Slowly, little by little, I started thinking ahead about my energy more & begain managing my schedule months in advance (vs. just the day & week ahead) so I could more deliberately incorporate breaks into my schedule on a daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal & annual basis.

As a result of incorporating more consistent time off & breaks into my routine, I actually became FAR more effective & productive in how I was managing my tasks & time because I was no longer running on empty & at capacity!

• I became less distracted by miscellaneous & unimportant items throughout my day.
• I was able to stay in single-focus & concentrate on projects at hand for longer periods of time.
• I was able to be more calm, loving & patient with myself AND with others.
• I was triggered less by things that were outside of my control.
• My mental stress & physical aches & pain in my body disappeared.
• I held space for my clients WAY more effectively.
• I was able to stand stronger in my boundaries.
• My confidence went up & my mindset improved.
• I felt more supported because I was finally supporting myself.
• I was more capable of handling challenges that came my way with more ease.
• I began to come up with ways to create efficiencies & work smarter (vs. harder) in my business & my life.
• And so much more!

So with all of the above in mind, I have a few questions for YOU to consider…

• Are you over-whelmed & stretched too thin, either personally or professionally?
• Do you feel exhausted & depleted by all that you have to do each day?
• Is there never enough time for you to say YES to YOU?  

If you’ve said yes to any of the above, it means you’re DO-ing WAY too much & operating far too heavily in your masculine energy!

To correct this, you’ll need to learn how to live, love, lead & work in a softer, smarter, more feminine way that allows you to manage your ENERGY more effectively (vs. just focusing on time or task management).

If this sounds of interest to you & you’re ready to learn how to take time off & breaks in a way that will help you be just as productive (if not more!) than ever before without sacrificing yourself in the process, I’m going to be teaching about this topic in my Brave-Hearted Woman Self-Rescue Community on Facebook over the next few weeks on the following key points:

• What energy management is & why breaks & time off help you get more done
• How to create more time for you to BE (vs. DO)
• How the cycle of giving, growing & receiving helps you better manage your time & energy
• How to incorporate daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal & annual breaks into your schedule

Simply type “BRAVE” in the comments below if you’d like to learn all of the above in the live training posts I’ll be leading over the next several weeks inside the community.

And finally, if you’d like dive even deeper by assessing where you are now & start mapping out a personalized support plan that will help you save yourself from yourself (i.e. self-rescue), type “ASSESSMENT” in the comments below to receive access to my complimentary Self-Rescue Assessment & set up a time to meet so we can discuss what you’re own self-rescue journey might look like!

I hope you found today’s topic helpful & here’s to you learning how to get more done without sacrificing yourself in the process. ❤

Jess Bonasso, also known as The Self Care Goddess, is a Brave Life Catalyst & Self-Rescue Coach, Author & Keynote Speaker who has been teaching worn out working wonder women how to master the art of self-rescue since 2007.

After unraveling at a cellular level the self-sabotage from her corporate-climbing 20’s & business-building 30’s that led her into burnout, breakdown & a proverbial midlife crisis, she created The Brave-Hearted Way, a self-rescue compass & road map to brave-hearted courage, authenticity & wholeness that empowers worn out working wonder women to live, love, lead & work in a way that leads to happiness, health, wealth & wholeness.

In addition to being the creator of The Brave-Hearted Way & a published co-author of Speaking Your Truth: Courageous Stories from Inspiring Women, Jess is also an accredited practitioner of The Journey Method®, a highly effective form of cellular trauma release therapy that can unravel at a cellular level the core fears, limiting beliefs & unhealthy behaviors that cause us to sacrifice our soul, sanity or health.

Be sure to follow Jess on social media where you’ll receive daily inspiration & support on how to heal & fuel your life so you can embrace your greatness on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or LinkedIn! :)