Feeling Over worked? 5 Ways To Schedule Fun In Your Life

To listen to the blog post “Feeling Over worked? 5 Ways To Schedule Fun In Your Life” over reading it just click the play button below. 

As a single mom who has had to make the most of her time while having a million things to do, I want to teach you how to have a healthy work-life balance. when you feel over worked.  You could be a single mom, a busy woman, a workaholic, you may be working yourself to the bone, you may be working more than one job, you may be having trouble balancing work, your kids, or even your sanity.

You may have trouble finding time between going to work, going to school, or you may just be having trouble making time for your life.  I do get it because I have been there myself.  And to be honest with you, you may not be able to get MORE time off but with the tips, I am about to tell you how to make the most of the free time that you do have.

People often ask me how I can get so much work done and still have free time AND still not be stressed out.  That is because I have learned work life balance (especially when your feeling over worked) and learned how to make the most of my free time when I have free time, even though my free time is NOT always a lot of free time. I know how to maximize it so that it feels like more free time. If that confuses you I will tell you exactly what I mean

1. When Your Feeling Over Worked ~ Have Work Life Balance By Scheduling Fun

You schedule your doctor’s appointment and just about everything in your life. So when you feel over worked you have to schedule fun too. You have to make a cognitive effort to pick a day or a few days and focus on yourself. If when your day off comes and you are just sitting around wondering what to do, you wait a few hours, and then figure out that you want to go get a manicure then guess what?

You have wasted valuable time sitting around trying to figure out what you want to do. When really if you were to plan and schedule things in advance you can just start your day doing what is scheduled thus maximizing your time.

Another tidbit about scheduling fun time when you’re over worked ~ Use your paid time off

Like many career-oriented women who are over worked. I used to be one of those people who worked a lot. And just over worked myself for no reason.  All work and no play. Many people who are career-oriented do that. I see so many people who have paid time off stacked up because they do not use it. I used to be that person until I realized something.

There was no use in working myself to death for a job that was going to be there when I returned. No matter how hard I worked there was always more work to take its place.  Your job gives you paid time off so that you can take paid time off.  Do not feel guilty for using what belongs to you.

Feeling Over worked ~ What’s my point

When I say schedule your fun there are several ways that you can go about this. You can schedule your fun on the days that you already have off to maximize your time. OR you can use your actual paid time off that your job gives you and use those days to have some fun.

It really is that simple.  Now there are some things that you can do of course to make scheduling your fun easier. So that when you get back to work you are not knee-deep in backlogged work.  And they include the following:

For example when your’re feeling over work and you want to take a break:

• Catch up on all your work before taking a vacation. That way when you get back you do not have more work to do than before you left.

• Speak to your co-worker and have them cover your shifts or clients. When I worked in community mental health someone had to be available to the client in case they had a mental breakdown.  I spoke to my co-workers and gave my clients the number to my co-workers in case of an emergency.  That way I knew things would be handled while I was gone. AND that no one should be bothering me. 

• Along with scheduling your fun, you have to plan your fun. The internet is your friend.  The last thing you want to do is plan to have a fun day or you are going on vacation and you have nowhere you go once you get there.  And you are just sitting in your room looking crazy.  Before you go, look up places of interest, popular places, and the dress code so that when you get there you can get in. You want to maximize your time by knowing what you are going to do in advance instead of sitting around figuring out what you are going to do.

2. When You’re Feeling Over Worked ~ Find Work Life Balance By Taking a Weekend Trip

IF you are over worked I know it may be hard to find time off. Let’s say that you have a job in which you do not have paid time off or if you feel that your job cannot survive without you and you cannot take work off during the week. You can plan a weekend trip.  All you have to do is pack your bags and put in the trunk Friday morning before you go to work.  Once you get off, go to the airport, take a train, or drive to wherever you want to go.

This way you can maximize your time by not having to run back home to get your things and you can go directly from work and be back on Monday in time for work. I actually did this when I went to the BlogHer Conference. It was something that I really wanted to go to BUT I did not really have a lot of paid time at my job to take.

Literally, I just took an affordable bus to New York, stayed for a day or two. Got up at 4 am, took the bus back, slept on the bus, and literally went to work the same day that I got back. And was legit cool about it.  It can be done.

3. When You’re Feeling Over worked ~ Make The Most Of Your Time By Visiting Your Own Back Yard

When trying to obtain a healthy work life balance after feeling over worked, I understand that not everyone has the time, money, or energy to travel somewhere far. And guess what you do not have to.  Unless you live in complete and utter isolation, there is something that you can do that is not that far from you to have fun.

For example,  I live in Virginia within a 2-hour car drive there is Grey Wolf Lodge, Bush Gardens, Six Flags, White House, Tours, and Kings Dominion.  Not to mention the numerous state parks that you can visit.  And to give you a REAL life example of how I actually did this you can check out my Stay-cation where I took a weekend trip to Baltimore that was literally a few hours away in the car.

Or when I wanted to go out for New Years Eve, and went to DC right after work where I brought the New Year in at the Washington Plaza. My point is that you can find things in your own backyard that you can go to. This is a really good idea for people who are so busy that they literally have very limited time off.

4. When You”re Feeling Over Worked ~ Make the Most of Your Time By Just Getting Up And Going 

I used to do this a lot in my younger 20’s when I used to work 12 -16 hours shifts and I would have so much limited time to do things. So then I would adapt the get-up and go mentality. That even if I did not have something planned or a direction, that I would get up in the morning, get dressed  (and I mean get dressed very nicely, put on makeup, do my hair and leave the house in the morning and do not come back into the late in the evening).

When you do this, it makes you stay out and do something fun.  When you get dress, have it in your head that you are not coming back to late in the evening then you will find things to do so that you can just stay out to enjoy yourself.  So wear something that is versatile that goes for both day and night.  You can learn to put together outfits like these by downloading my free capsule wardrobe ebook.  You can click here to download it for free.

When I did this my days consisted of visiting friends, going to lunch at a restaurant, going to happy hour, going to the movies, and then sometimes going to a lounge or a club.  All in one day without ever returning home. This would give me the feeling that I really had a lot of time off when really I just did a lot in the one day that I did have off. Also, check out my video on how to put yourself out there.  And don’t forget to subscribe to my channel by clicking here.

#5 Have A Healthy Work Life Balance When You’re Overworked ~ By Maximizing Your Weekends & Holiday Vacation

You do not have to take an entire week. But really try to at least take four days.  And as a working person even when you feel overworked, you always want to save your paid time off.  I will tell you a little trick that I am famous for.  Take a weekend vacation on a holiday.  For example, if July 4th falls on Monday and you get it off already.  Then take off that Friday.

You are only using one paid time off day but you are really getting four days off.  The Friday you took off, the weekend, and then that Monday.  If you are someone who works, I suggest you learn how to put together your paid holidays with your vacation to maximize to your time away from the office. I do this on a regular basis.

I have done this for the 4th of July (see my blog here), Christmas on two occasions see my blog here and here, my trip to Essencefeast (see here), and New Years Eve in NY, see my blog here. 

And the whole point of this is that you will have more paid time off days to spread through the year since you are not taking them all off at once. Thus allowing you to take more time during the year which leads you being able to take more vacation and doing things that you want to do .

For all those women who are busy, over worked, career-oriented, or maybe even the single mom who just cannot find time.  These are the 5 tips that I have you that is guaranteed to help you make the most of your free time and have a healthy work life balance. And if you know another busy woman that is struggling to find her happy place, then go ahead and share this post with her.