Gimme a Break!

“You got me workin’… day and night.”- Michael Jackson

That’s the way I’ve felt lately. I work during the day, then come home and jump into doing my consulting work. This isn’t me complaining about work. Believe me, I love consulting and working with passionate people. It keeps the juices really flowing. But, at some point, you feel your body start to crack.

Last week, I felt that cracking. A constant negativity was overcoming me and I didn’t like it. You may know this feeling. You slouch, you look in the mirror and don’t like what you see, or even worse, nothing makes you happy. What helped? It was really simple. I stepped away. No blogging, Tweeting, or scouring over white papers for insight.

Why is this important? Because, at some point, you will break if you don’t take a break. I don’t care if you have all the energy in the world, you need to relax your mind and body. You can’t be running on Red Bull and Starbucks all the time.

So, whether you are a parent or a new pro fresh out of college, find the time to recharge and refresh. Here’s some ways you can “reboot.”

-Music: Load up your iPod and just lose yourself in some great tunes. You’d be surprised just how invigorating music can be.

-Curl up to a good book- Whether you are old school (hard copy) or new school (e-reader), take an hour (or more) and read that book you’ve been putting off since last Christmas.

-Travel to a winery- How can this be relaxing? A wine tasting is the perfect place to let your senses do the work. Plus, a good tasting wine can spur on a good time. Don’t like wine? Hit up a local brewery.

-Shut down the social- Don’t check in on Foursquare, post on Twitter or Facebook, or even touch your blog. You’d be amazed just how much you’ll appreciate the social shut down.

What do you do to recharge the batteries? Share your ideas in the comments section!