Relaxing is really important for your mental and physical health and your productivity, so it is really important that, no matter how busy you are, you take some time out to relax, lower your stress levels and give your brain the break that it needs to come back fresher and sharper, but how exactly do you do that?
Schedule your breaks
If you’re serious about finding the time to relax – and you should be – one of the best strategies you can employ is to schedule your breaks. No matter how busy you are, you should be able to find at least 15 minutes in your day most days to just sit down and meditate, read a good book, or whatever it is that relaxes you the most. Why schedule it? Because when you’ve penciled it into your diary, it means you won’t add any extra commitments, and that time will be held for the specific purpose of relaxation so there will be no reason not to take it!
Free up more time
The more time you can free up out of your day, the more time you can spend relaxing, right? Sure, but how can you free up more time? We’re living in the 21st Century which means there have never been more opportunities to fee time up. From using a robot vacuum or window cleaning robot to cut down on the amount of time you spend doing chores to using bookkeeping apps to take care of your accounts, it has never been easier to hand off various life tasks to technology, thus easily freeing up more of your time. The key is to not fill that time with more work but to keep it free for rest and recuperation.
Take lunch
Work through lunch? Stop doing that. You are entitled to take a break, and you know what? It has been proven in numerous studies that taking breaks will make you more productive, and more effective at your work than working every hour possible. Take that break, go for a walk or meditate and coke back fresh and ready to tackle that big project and the bosses won’t even care that you aren’t working through because you will be on fire.
Relax your commute
If you commute to work, if it is possible to do so, instead of driving, walk or cycle instead. Physical exercise, especially when taken outdoors, has been shown to relieve stress and boost happiness, which means it’s a really great way to get some extra relaxation into your day if you can swing it.
Want to do it
Of course, it doesn’t matter how much time you take to relax, if you aren’t into it and you’re constantly thinking about what you should be doing instead, your brain will never relax and you won’t get any of the benefits, so really want to do it.
As you can see, no matter how busy you may be, there are always things you can do to build some relaxation into your day, and your whole life will benefit if you do.
