Agent Lessons: The Myth of Time Off

Today's post almost didn't happen ... on purpose.

I normally write my posts weeks in advance. For one, I'm more productive that way. I can sit down for an hour and crank out a couple weeks worth of posts (when I'm in the mood). It also helps with my checklist mania, if I can keep from adding "write blog post" every other day.

But I've gotten behind on my schedule. I didn't realize it until just now, when I logged in to blogger before bed to make sure the post went live ... and there was no post.

You see, Sunday afternoons when the whole family is being lazy is when I usually sit down to crank out my plethora of posts. But not yesterday. Yesterday was Easter, and I made the executive decision to take the whole day off.

I'm pretty certain this is the first time I've done this since I started at the agency this past fall.

To be fair, some days all I do is log in to check my email and reply as appropriate. Other days (most of them) I'm cranking out the work output. When you work from a home office in a job that can be done at 3am, it's always work time.

For the most part, I love this. I love that I can take my daughters to play group every Friday morning. I love that we can take time in the afternoons to snuggle and watch Dora. I love that I can take an hour or two every evening to prepare a homemade meal for my family. I can do all those things because I get a lot of work done between the hours of 10pm and 2am.

I'm a big fan of my flexible schedule. It's a perk of being an agent. And those of you that write for a living know what I'm talking about. The downside is that it can be hard to not work. My computer is right there, calling to me. All the Time!

So Sunday, I did not work. I only got on my computer to Facebook (for personal reasons, not work) and do a little video chat with the family. The rest of the day was spent in a state of blissful non-work, enjoying time with my family.

No matter what your work schedule is, it's important for all of us to take some time now and again to not work. We need to recharge our batteries and give our brains a break. Enjoy a little time doing other non-literary things. You do have non-literary things, right? Just like absence makes the heart grow fonder, a little time off makes the work load lighter.