Finding Time to Recharge in Your Home Business

When you operate a home business, getting the work done depends on you, your family members or partners.  If you take time off, products won’t get produced or services completed.  So….where and when do you find time to rest or recharge?

That’s a problem I have and my family often says, “Mom, take some time off.”

Perhaps I was conditioned from growing up on a farm.  There you couldn’t take time off unless someone filled in for you.  The cows needed to be milked, the crops planted and harvested, the barn cleaned, the eggs gathered and chickens fed.  We’d just get to sleep at night and a neighbor would call, “The cows are in my garden!”  So we’d bound out of bed and round up the cattle.  Or we’d hear rain in the middle of the night and realized no one had covered the loads of hay.  So there was a dash for the hay field.

However, my dad did find time to take Sunday afternoon off for a drive or to visit relatives, and a week’s vacation in the summer (alternating ours with the hired man’s). We’d also have celebrations like a clam bake after haying was done,  watermelon or ice cream on a hot afternoon. 

When you operate a home business, you do need a work ethic, but still must find time to relax and recharge…or you can suffer burn-out.  It’s great when you truly enjoy your home business so don’t find it a tremendous chore to work long hours.

*Find activities that help you relax…walking, reading, working out, swimming, a hobby

*Enjoy time with your family away from your business

*Have lunch with a friend

*Find your pace.  Often when you take time off each day, every few days, or each week…you’ll get more done than if you work constantly without any time off to recharge.  You need to find your pace, what works for you.