Until a few years ago, my workdays went from early morning and until my head, exhausted, hit the keyboard sometime during the night.
Seven days out of seven.
When my husband and I decided to take a day off every week to keep Shabbat, we discovered something we hadn’t expected at all: Our productivity increased.
Still, I worked too much and too long. I tried to stop as early as I could in the evening, but most days it wasn’t until 8pm before I would go World of Warcraft, still with Skype and my email client open.
Then something happened.
At the beginning of October I got sick. Weird illness. Seemingly at random, parts of me would swell, like my right palm, my left index, my tongue (that scared me), etc. It lasted for a week, then I was fine again. Of course, I had to work like crazy to catch up.
Two days after my birthday, in the middle of November, wham, it hit me again. Swollen tongue, headache, fever, swollen cheeks, lips, argh! I slept almost a week.
A friend told me I had angioedema, and from what I can tell, she’s right. This condition can be triggered by something I’m allergic to and stress. The condition can be life-threatening, but even if that’s probably rare, it is so unpleasant to go through that I don’t want to risk it again.
That’s when I decided to radically change my lifestyle.
Since I came back, sure, I’ve been working to catch up, but I’m also limiting the time I spend at the computer. I work until 4pm, Monday to Friday, then I shut down my email client and Skype. I go for a walk with my dog, read, relax, do some household chores, and then I go World of Warcraft, have dinner, and relax some more.
Again, this has resulted in higher productivity. And in me feeling much better and more energetic than ever.
I quit my day-job in 1995. As self-employed your productivity is your main asset. Since I quit my job, I’ve discovered many strategies and tools that have helped me get more important things done.
I share them here http://malka.biz/im-work-from-home-rescue-kit/