It’s pretty easy to fall down the slippery slope and start to suffer from burnout when you work at home as a freelancer or any kind of online entrepreneur. Without a boss breathing down your neck and checking up on your status, the only person that keeps you on track is you. Yes, staying productive is very important if you want to achieve any kind of success, but you don’t want to overdo it either. Take a break, you deserve it.
Something that I’ve noticed since starting my career as a freelance writer is that my lunch breaks are not as long as they used to be. This is terribly counterintuitive, but it illustrates the misconception of freedom for freelancers. I feel compelled to work more, because when I do, I tend to accomplish more and make more money. That’s pretty motivating.
When I was still “working for the man,” I took full advantage of the full hour for lunch. Completing my meal well before this time ran out, I’d fill out the rest of the lunch hour by socializing with co-workers or reading the newspaper. When I took my lunch break yesterday, however, I found that I was back at my desk the moment the sandwich was completely consumed. My lunch hour was more like 15 minutes. Instead of taking one long break in the middle of the day, I seem to be more content taking several short breaks.
Am I alone in this phenomenon? I reached out to the Twitter-sphere for answers and at least five people responded to my query within moments. Their responses are listed below.
- When I work from home I try to take a shorter break. (hummingbird604)
- I find I take no breaks when I work from home. I’m always scared people will think I was slacking. (GusF)
- When I was at home I went out for lunch with people. The joys of not being strapped to a desk I suppose. (TylerIngram)
- No. They are MUCH longer than I’d like them to be because there is no one to tell me to get back to work! (stephen_fung)
- When I work ‘full time’ in the summer, on weekends, etc. They’re usually shorter, because I usually want to get stuff done early. (michaelyurechko)
A very slight majority seems to take shorter breaks, but Stephen enjoys slacking off and Tyler leaves his home altogether. I hear that John Chow typically enjoys three-hour lunches on a daily basis. How about the rest of the Beyond the Rhetoric community? Do you find that you take shorter breaks when you work from home?
I had already responded via Twitter, but one of the things that I have realized while reading your whole post is that it is, indeed, counter-intuitive. Unfortunately, I think my short breaks also come from the fact that I live in Mount Pleasant. If I lived downtown, I’d seriously go out for lunch with friends. Or if I had more friends who lived near by me.
I’d say that regardless of where you live, it is important to take breaks – otherwise your brain stops working altogether. Maybe next time, I’ll have lunch not at my desk but while sitting and watching some TV or will go for a walk, but I’ll fill the full lunch hour.
Every profession has its misconceptions in the public eye. I agree freelancing must be quite taxing and thankless, yet people think it’s a cushy, stay-at-home, job.
Teachers get a similar “bum rap.” People think we work just 185 days a year and get off at 2pm. This is wrong in so many ways that I won’t get into.
I think any job you are truly into, you take shorter lunches for. Most days I am at the copy machine with my pnj in hand. Working lunch ya know 😉
I am enthralled that you make your living at writing, that is awesome. Over the past 6 months I have averaged about $250/month with my online writing. I hope to see it improve, but I don’t think I could afford to risk going full time.
Some days my breaks are short and other days they’re long – it all depends on how I feel that day. In the beginning of my “online career” I used to really push myself, but I don’t do that anymore.
I wouldn’t say that my breaks were shorter when I freelanced, but they were definitely more flexible. Some days I’d quit entirely at lunch, and other days I’d spend 10 minutes eating a sandwich without getting away from the keyboard.
I take both: short and long breaks. Today were very long breaks. 🙂
I barely take breaks when I am behind my desk, I just keep on going for 6 hours or something and than quit for a few hours, doing something else, than at night i am back on 😀
I think freelancers have more breaks than regular worker. Its just a matter of self control:)