How to confidently carve time from your busy schedule and reset on your terms 😁🌴

How do we recharge, relax, and switch off when the world won’t let us?

With never-ending obligations, commitments, responsibilities, and deadlines it feels like an impossible ask.

Even when we give ourselves a “vacation,” it immediately becomes about assembling together as many activities as possible.

That’s not rest. It’s a different kind of work.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned the hard way, it’s that little to no rest is a surefire path to burnout.

But the question remains—How?

How do take time for ourselves?
Better yet, how do we use it to prevent burnout?

First, we have to get to the time off.
Then, we have to use it well.

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Carve it out

Imagine you’re an explorer in an untamed jungle.
You’re searching for a treasure lost to time itself.

In a turn of good fortune, you’ve obtained a map to find it.
The overgrown wild is all that stands in your way.

It won’t be easy.
You need to carve your way through.

Do so shamelessly.

If you don’t, you’ll never find the treasure.

• The jungle is all the overwhelming “stuff” that piles up. It’s the robust accumulation of responsibilities, commitments, dependents, and deadlines.

• The treasure is the time we give to ourselves to recharge. It’s been “lost to time” for most of us because we rarely allow ourselves adequate space to reset.

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Plan to Plan Nothing

Finding the treasure is only half the battle though.

Once you get the time, how do you use it wisely?

As productive creatives, we rarely give ourselves time away from responsibilities—ever.

A creative on vacation might naturally want to “Do a project they’ve been putting off” or “Travel the world.” While both sound fabulous and fulfilling, they're just that—filling.

Instead of making vacation efficient, I ask you to consider making it easy.

Make an Anti Plan.

Don't plan a bunch of activities. Plan everything you “won’t do” during your time off.

• No meetings.

• No events.

• No deadlines.

What does this look like in practice?

Every year I take at least two weeks off in December.

What do I do?
Nothing.

At least, nothing you would consider “productive.”

During my time off, I schedule as few things as possible and shut down everything unnecessary. It doesn’t need to be efficient. Rest is the efficiency I’m searching for.

In an Anti Plan, the only project you have is yourself.

The one thing you might have at this point is, “Yeah, that’s all great Mike, but how can I actually get away with that in my own life?”

I'm glad you asked >>>

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How to take time off in the real world

5 steps to carving out time and making it count.

1. Choose a time length — If it’s possible, take at least 2 weeks off for maximum effect. If you have less time available, either take 1 week minimum or wait until you have enough time banked at work to do so.

2. Schedule it with the world — Once you know when and for how long, let your team, clients, friends, family know (as necessary) as far in advance as necessary. It’s important that anyone who might “interrupt” you during your time off is aware of what you’re doing. While expectations may vary at your job, I recommend giving at least a month or month and a half notice ahead of time to your supervisor or boss.

3. Set expectations — Send a clear email at work that you’ll be completely unavailable during this time. Meet with your team to discuss deadlines. Assign a proxy to represent you while you’re gone if possible. Create an away message that lasts the entirety of your time off.

4. Go dark — Disappear into the night. Don’t answer your work phone. Don’t look at email. Don’t worry about anything in the time you have off. If you’ve prepared everyone to continue as normal while you’re away, you shouldn’t have any problems.

5. Do nothing — Ok. To be clear, you can do whatever you want to do. And you should. When I say “nothing,” I really mean nothing productive. Such activities can trigger that productivity monster to return. The point of time off is actually to take the time to reset. Do the least you have to take care of your basic obligations and let everything else go. Do the things you want to do, not the things you think the world wants you to do.

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This method may not be possible for you right now. But ask yourself what it would take to make it possible.

It can be difficult to carve out time from a life of busy.

But if we don’t give ourselves regular opportunities to reset properly, we open the door to anxiety, exhaustion, and burnout.

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TL; DR

• Vacations often become a different kind of work

• Carve out time for yourself

• Let everyone know you’re taking time off

• Set expectations while you’re away

• Disappear temporarily from unnecessary obligations

• Spend time off doing things that energize you

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Recent Finds

💡 Ideas from the creative wilderness to help you build a better life.

Lifelong Learning

• Tim Ferriss — How I Digest Books (Video) | I read a lot about self-improvement, psychology, wellness—knowledge I want to bring into my own life. The problem: I used to read without taking any notes. We think we’ll remember all of the great ideas later, but it never happens that way. In an effort to combat misremembering and forgetting, Tim created a solid methodology for how he refers back to the books he’s read. If the goal is to impact our lives with what we read, then we need ways to measure that the reading is working for us. This one is something I plan to start implementing to track that impact in my own life.

Mindset

• George Resch via Tanks Good News — Comparison is the thief of joy (Video) | Do you compare yourself with others? I do sometimes. We see something another human is or has and we think about what our lives would be like if roles were swapped. But it’s all about perspective. This story from George Resch (aka “Tank Sinatra”) is a thoughtful example of how comparison can either steal our happiness or give it meaning. The choice is up to us of where we lead it.

Career

• Ryan Rolansky via Harvard Business Review— I trust you to get your job done based on where it works best for you (Video) | As the world begins to determine how businesses will operate after the Pandemic, the results are varied and mixed. Some companies are forcing employees to return completely, others have more open policies about working from home. This sentiment though from LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky is where I too believe the focus should be instead—just get the work done (especially for creative/knowledge work). How you do the work is less important than the result. Trust between owner and employee is thing that needs focus.

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A Quote I'm Pondering

💬 Motivation for the days ahead of you.

"You will disappoint a lot of people when you start doing what’s best for you. Do it anyway.”

— Dr. Josh Mirmelli

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Thank you for reading! I’m grateful you’re part of this community and that you’ve taken time out of your busy schedule to read this week’s newsletter. 🙏

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That's all for now.

Stay creative, my friends—and have a great week!

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