NEW YEAR REFLECTION (8): Take A Break

I have been so busy since I decided to write my book, Enthusiasm, two years ago, and last June 2010 finally an Indonesian publisher was interested to published it for 2011 publication. I pleased them with a condition I would love to translate it in Indonesian by myself. They were OK for that. After we made a contract, I started to work in the middle of July and finished in January 31, 2011. At the same time in the end of 2010, I also had to prepare for the third year for online writing course that will start soon in the end of this month.

Those activities took lots of works, attention and commitment besides my own routin activities to work and take care of my family and house. I worked hard to make those happen, my book and online writing course. Those are TWO of my FOUR GOALS in my list this year I have to fulfill. Thanks God, I have done 100% of my first project and now I still need to finish around 10% left of my progress before two classes (General class and Fiction class) start.

What will I do after that? I have been planning to take several weeks of break before I start the third project. I will read several e-books and books and other resources that will make my mind relax and enhance my knowledge in writing and english. But actually I had taken many times of a small break during the time of doing my projects. I used to play, watch, dance and read together with my little daughter, going to Girl Scouts meeting, accompanying my little daughter to sell GS cookies, going to church, cook some foods and make a cake to celebrate birthday of any family members, etc. And today is my birthday, and yesterday I celebrated of five years of my blogging activity, and next two weeks I would celebrate of one year of "Enthusiasm". Three celebrations in a month. What a great month! So today I try to relax my mind and had enjoyed my special morning.

In this my special day, I would like to thank my family and friends who have wished me "Happy Birthday". I've received birthday cards, an e-card, birthday wishes messages from FB and SMS. Thank you so much and please, accept a vitual white rose as my appreciation to say "Thank you."

Talking about taking a break, there are many ways of it including working less hours each day, not working at weekends, having a morning off work, attending some training or a seminar, taking a holiday, making time for your interests and pastimes, exercising, having a weekend away, reading a good book, going for a walk, doing some voluntary work and spending time with your friends and family.

What benefits will we get by taking a break? According to this writer, Liz Makin, she explaines some benefits:
1. Recharge your batteries. Taking a break will help you to rest, relax, recharge your batteries and feel refreshed. This will enable you to come back to your business raring to go and re-energised;
2. Time to think. Spending time away from your business doing something completely different will give your mind the space to be creative. Often the best ideas for your business occur when you are away from your business and have the time to think;
3. Rejuvenate your passion. When you are working too much, you can lose your passion for the business because you forget what is important to you. Taking a break will enable you to refocus on why you are running your business and to rejuvenate your passion;
4. Increase productivity and effectiveness. Taking regular breaks from work will increase your productivity and effectiveness when you are working; You will find that you manage your time better and make better use of your time in your business;
5. Reduce stress levels. Spending all your time at work is very stressful so reducing your hours at work and doing something different will help with your stress management and enable you to better cope with stressful situations;
6. Better health and well being. Getting balance in your life by working less and taking regular breaks will help improve your general health and well being;
7. Improve communication. When you are working too much, your communication with others can suffer and you may upset your team, staff, customers and contacts. Working less will enable you to focus on good communication in your business;
8. Increase resilience and ability to cope. It is very easy to get things out of perspective when you are working too much. Building in regular breaks from your business will improve your resilience and ability to cope when you are at work;
9. Improve decision making. When you are working long hours and are tired your decision making can suffer. Taking breaks to make sure you are refreshed and not tired will improve your decision making ability;
10. Consider your business strategy. Having some time away from your business enables you to step back and have a fresh look at your business strategy and what you want to achieve for your business. (*)

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I'm taking a break by enjoying my special day.
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