When did you take your last day off, the weekend off, or vacation?
📢 ATTN: Indie hackers, developers, & founders who are caregivers or parents.
Since becoming my mom's co-caregiver, I haven't had a day off for a year. So I decided to give myself a 50-day sabbatical. I plan to rest & get my life together. Or the very least a healthy routine where I don't burn myself out working on Jovial & taking care of family.
If you can relate, pls take or RT my twitter poll. I appreciate the help!
Well, that depends on the definition of "off" 😅. I do take off from full-time work regularly, but then I often still find myself doing project work.
RE: "definition of off"
As in you don't have to do anything. You can use your time as you see fit. You're choice to do whatever or nothing. Time to yourself.
What's regularly? What do you do when you "take off" from work?
Alright, fair enough. Real time "off" I would say at least 2 - 4 full weeks a year. I would use this to travel and disconnect from anything work related. I've got a pretty lenient policy in taking time off, if it's leaving a few hours early or maybe one day. I tend to spend those in or near the ocean. Preferably doing one of the following: surfing, photography, hiking etc. The best thing for me is to get away from the screen, and be out in nature.
Sounds like you deserve a good break!
I try not to take too many small breaks and instead try to optimise for fewer longer ones as this gives you the time to really decompress. This can at times be hard though, but I think being flexible with your day to day work can really help in not burning out in the longer working times. If you don't set too much of a strict schedule day to day and instead work when it is convenient or you have time, around all else that life throws at you then your days can feel a lot more relaxed and less like "work". Obviously that isn't always the way things work out but as a goal...
Everyone needs time off and a break for the day to day sometimes so make sure you use this time to relax and do the things you love!
I 100% agree w/ you about taking a break.
You mentioned being flexible w/ the day-to-day stuff. Curious, then what makes taking longer breaks hard?
Apologies, my previous comment was not clear. What I meant was the time working between the longer breaks can be hard (just because of the longer periods of focussed work) but by being flexible about when you work makes those longer periods easy. Taking the break is the easy part, as long as you (and others around you) are prepared for it.
Best of wishes Helen on your sabbatical
I usually try to take a day off every 3 to 4 weeks and always work heavier loads the week before to offset any impact.
Gotcha. What did you do for fun on your last break? I'm open for suggestions. 😂
I want to enjoy my sabbatical and not waste it.
Road trips! I also race go Karts and that goes perfectly with a roadtrips as i live far from most kart racing tracks.
I started a company so that I could take control of my life and not yield my time and sanity to the goals of some other party. This means that I'm a big proponent of taking vacation days as often as I feel that I can.
How do you keep yourself from losing control of your life?
A lot of us became indie hackers for that very reason. But a lot of time we slowly take on the company mindset which forces routines onto us we wouldn't normally do.
A lot of us have been conditioned to be that way since we were in our early twenties, maybe earlier. That's all it is: conditioning.
You take it day by day, reminding yourself that you are in control now. Be cognisant of your thinking. Maybe look into meditating or maybe create a routine around mindfulness. Always have a clear understanding of the life that you want to have and strive to make that a reality.
For 10 years in my youth I worked every day. Then I forced myself to have 1 day off a week which I found to be very important relaxation time.
Now I’m a single parent who plays Poker for a living so in a way I’m never at work, and in other ways I’m always at work.
At the end of the day, life done well includes lots of hard work, but both your body and your mind benefit from relaxation. Not necessarily at the same time.
Do you travel for poker? Being a single parent, how do you take breaks or get to really relax? You can't put up you're closed shingle. 😂 After all parenting is a 24 hrs operation.
I don’t travel I just play online, so, after bed and while she’s at school I do my work.
Parenting isn’t 24hrs of work. It’s more that you have no life of your own when you’re a full time single parent. You’re always on call, can’t go pub, relationships are dodgy if you do find one, any money is spent on your kid, holidays are hard work, etc.
I don’t ever do what I want anymore. I just do what she wants/needs.
I take time off every week, at least 1 or 2 days. Went on a 5-day road trip the week before last, and did a little work from the road, but mostly just drank wine, ate good food, and enjoyed the road.
I don't think I ever took a road trip. If you consider going to Cedar Point a road trip. 😂
Curious, w/ your 1-2 days off... are you spontaneous or plan what you do w/ your time?
Mostly spontaneous. I just go with whatever happens, if friends text me to hang, or I feel like working on another project, or spending the day with my girlfriend, etc.
Speaking of me, I take a full day off once a week. Usually it's Saturday or Sunday. I turn off my phones and go about my business. and regarding your situation - please take a rest! whatever you do, you must rest. I don't know what country you live in, but you can study civil rights. this is important and will help you in the future. all basic rights look at https://artscolumbia.org/free-essays/civil-rights-movement/ if you wish. it is written very briefly. you won't earn all the money in the world anyway, and your health is the most important thing. Please, take care of yourself!!
Thanks Morgan for sharing this resource. This isn't a civil rights issue. For me, it's a self-discipline and boundary issue. I'm not a professional caregiver - I help my mom. So it's less industry pressure, more personal & family pressure.
But you're right, I do need to take care of myself. I'm using this sabbatical to re-evaluate decisions & form healthy habits.
Last weekend! I make it a point to take weekends completely off. I find that if I distract myself fully from what I'm working on for a couple of days, I'm more productive throughout the week. That being said, I'm bad at limiting the hours I spend working throughout the week, so I often end up working long days that drag into the evening. Something that helps me detach during the weekends is to not use my laptop at all, and to keep my phone in another room unless I'm waiting for a specific call/message from someone who wants to meet up.
I might have to try your laptop trick. See the phone is a tricky. Mom text me when she needs me esp when I'm in other parts of the house.
I generally turn my phone on silence while I sleep. But that even makes me nervous esp w/ an elder parent in the house.
What helps me to stop working during the week, I time block my mom's meal prep & dinner/movie time. When I do work long days, I tell her. This accountability helps me track how often I do this. Mom has a way of giving you those puppy eyes. 😂
Hope you get the rest you need with your sabbatical!
Thanks, Vivek! First week in my body took over and said SLEEP. 😂 I never slept in so much in my life. My alarms didn't have a chance.