TL:DR:
Michelle the founder of SoGather shares how intentionally planned breaks can support mental resilience to overcome burnout during the never-ending entrepreneurial journey.
The positive and negative mentality of taking breaks.
Three types of breaks, the benefit of each and how the breaks are taken.
In the early years as an entrepreneur, I realised that entrepreneurship is a never-ending journey and that burnout was real! So I developed an approach to minimise burnout by pacing myself and building sufficient energy reserves for short to medium periods that require intense effort. To do this, optimising my physical and mental health were key!
One mistake I made early on was believing that avoiding breaks was a sign of strength.
Since young, I’d been taught that “too many breaks” would cause me to “fail in life”. I accepted that taking many breaks meant that I was “weak”. This nurtured a self-sabotaging mentality that lead me down a spiralling “guilt trip” whenever I contemplated a break, or finished one. Guilt would feed me thoughts like, “Just how could you justify a break against the long unchecked list of “to-dos”? What if this makes you a bottleneck?”.
As a solopreneur and freelancer, I don’t have a fixed 9-to-5 schedule to follow, or a boss to breathe down my neck. This can present a challenge when it comes to taking breaks. On one hand, lack of mental discipline can lead me to justify unnecessary breaks, or extensions– much to the detriment of my business’s progress. On the other hand, I am in control of how many, and when, I take my breaks. This is the freedom that my friends who have full-time jobs say that they wish they had.
To regulate my breaks, I have a guideline that I work with based on my needs and circumstances.
These three types of breaks* are I interspersed into my life to maintain a work-life balance: micro, short and long breaks into my schedule as described below:
*Refers to breaks from regular work days. Does not include off-days for medical recovery or family emergencies.
Micro - “the rest of the day” or up to 2 working days.
I allow myself a micro break when I need the space to clear my mind and deal with the negative emotions triggered from a setback. Granted, it could take more than a day to calm down, but the micro break minimises the potential to spiral into a negative and unproductive mental cycle. I also allow myself a micro break after a work submission to make up for the temporary neglect of physical and mental well-being. When on a micro break, I could attend to less stressful, lower priority work tasks such as reviewing new work tools, run errands or spend time on a hobby. But usually, I decompress by sleeping, praying and doing something food-related because it helps reset my mind and emotions.
I would take as many as needed.
Short - 2-3 working days.
These short breaks are planned in advance in conjunction with a weekend. Since breaks are a motivation to me, I use short breaks as a reward to celebrate the end of major projects or when a major milestone has been achieved. Another purpose of short breaks is for recharging and resetting.
As a freelancer, jobs can come and go abruptly. It helps that I have clients whose advance work schedule is reliable and allows me to plan ahead for these short breaks. Of course, sometimes I have to work a couple of hours, but it’s a small price to pay to enjoy the short break.
I take one of these every 3 to 4 months.
Extended - more than 5 working days.
These are tricky because it is likely I have to work with my clients to reschedule deadlines, and in worse cases, turn away work. As a solopreneur and freelancer, I am cognizant that extended breaks equates to loss of income. But the beauty of my situation is that I am able to do my work from wherever I am.
To mitigate the negative effects of extended breaks, I do not have a 100% "offline" policy and the laptop has accompanied me on my extended breaks to do the necessary and urgent. I'm fundamentally fine with this since I enjoy what I do.
Long breaks have benefits that money alone cannot provide. It has allowed me to gain:
A renewed sense of purpose
Fresh inspiration
“White space” to take a strategic pause when thinking about the future.
I take these every 12 to 18 months.
The key benefits of my breaks can be summarised as follows:
Bringing back mental balance
Strengthening mental, physical and emotional resilience to succeed in extended tough times
Gaining clarity and inspiration to make sound plans for the future
Maintaining my joy and strength through the journey
I hope that it gives you something to consider as you establish yourself as an entrepreneur, solopreneur or freelancer.
Remember that we do this because one of the purposes of taking the solopreneur and freelance route is to:
“have control over our life so we can be our best for our family, and make a difference through our life and work”.
If you want to continue your journey with fellow Solos, sign up as a member and connect and grow with fellow Solos to create positive change in your own unique way!
Go Solo, Together!
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