Last week I did something I don’t think I’ve ever done before my entrepreneurial journey: I took a day off.

Lately, I’ve been feeling a little bit overwhelmed at work. It’s of course a positive problem at its core – a freelancer with too much work! – but there’s been more to it. At the same time that I’ve been incredibly busy, I’ve felt more and more resistance and difficulty at accepting new projects and tasks. I’ve been feeling tired.

First, I felt the need to push through. Just let me finish this project, just give me until next week, or the week after that. Only one more step – and of course still one after that.

My husband made me realise what I had to do was exactly the opposite. Take a day off, recharge, take it easy. “Since you have the possibility, being in charge of your own schedules and all”, he argued, and he was right of course.

So that’s what I did, though it was very hard for me. The overachiever that I am, spending a weekday for taking it easy felt like throwing money out of the window (or closing the window when money was about to fly in). Money from the projects I could spend that day selling!

It felt hard, but I set a day on my agenda. At the beginning of the week it looked like I was going to have to cancel: my week was just so full. But with a couple of efficient days, pushing some deadlines and shuffling the priorities, Thursday finally freed up and looked tempting in front of me.

It was also hard to come up with things to do! My first instinct was to fill the day with meetings: hairdressers, facial, dentist, coffee date with a friend, lunch date with another, and to top it, I could pick my daughter up from daycare earlier than usual!

How relaxing that sounds!

But again, I forced myself going to another direction. Planning to go to gym was okay, as well as a breakfast date with myself, and I gave myself permission to fix an appointment for a facial. (Sorry, dentist!) The rest of the day was left gloriously empty and finally got filled with an afternoon movie, some reading and a glass of champagne at lunch.

And the next day, I did feel more ready to figure out the challenges in front of me. And I did schedule a few extra days like that for the summer months, when my business usually calms down a little bit.

How do you improve your productivity and take care of yourself as an entrepreneur or freelancer? Give me more ideas for recharging, my next perfect day off is quickly approaching! You’ll find me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.