It's Free Time Podcast - Number Five

How many times have you gone skidding into vacation, arriving exhausted from trying to “earn” it before you leave? Then feeling guilty for any loose ends you were unable to tie up in time, maybe even brooding the first few days because you’re so burned out that you aren’t even enjoying your precious time off nearly as much as you thought you would? 

Research shows that we can experience diminishing returns when we have too much free time, which might explain the onset of vacation blues. In this episode, I’m sharing my rollercoaster that arises at the beginning of longer stretches of free time and a few strategies for settling in to find true peace and relaxation. 

🌟3 Key Takeaways:

• Give yourself transition time on both ends of time off: switching from a pre-vacation work sprint to instant R&R is highly unlikely! 
• Sometimes you just need a day to float and not ask anything of yourself, including the pressure to relax (oh, the irony!). 
• Tune in: What’s sitting just below the surface? What are you noticing once the busyness and daily routine recedes?

📝Permission: To relax! Leave things undone. You do not have to “earn” your time off by working yourself into the ground preparing. You also hereby have permission to take a longer break than you think you need, allowing space for a slow unwinding when you arrive.

✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: For your next vacation or big block of free time, buy yourself extra time and mental margin by starting your email autoresponder a week early, and ending it a week after you return.

📘Books Mentioned:

• Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business
• Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One
• Grumpy Monkey, Bragging Rights by Lisa Bragg
• Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Happier Hour by Cassie Holmes
• Goal-Free Living by Stephen Shapiro
• Invisible Solutions: 25 Lenses that Reframe and Help Solve Difficult Business Problems by Stephen Shapiro
• Outrageous Openness by Tosha Silver

🔗Resources Mentioned:

• Free Time’s Author Toolkit
• UCLA research via Cassie Holmes: Too Much Free Time? Blame Solitude or Lack of Productive Activity
• Article: The 7 types of rest that every person needs by Saundra Dalton-Smith MD

🎧Related Podcast Episodes:

• 126: Creating Time Buffer—7 Strategies for Spacious Scheduling
• JB on SPARKED with Jonathan Fields
• 'White Lotus' Creator Mike White on Fresh Air podcast
• JP on the Good Life Project: How I Took a Month Off to Write & Make Art (then what REALLY happened), Jenny Blake | How to Create More Free Time

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