It's easy to get caught up in the cycle of work, home obligations, and work again without coming up for air. But taking time for yourself, whether it's a vacation, sabbatical, or extended weekend, can have surprising benefits for your career over the long run.
Do you want to know why taking a break from work can do wonders for your career? Here are seven solid reasons to convince you to unplug from work, at least for some time. Keep reading to discover how taking a break can help you achieve your career goals.
Why to Unplug for Career Growth?
1. Improves Mental Health at Work
Did you know that constantly working without taking breaks can have a detrimental impact on our mental health? It is important to take some time off and recharge our batteries to perform at our best level!
Symptoms like anxiety, depression, burnout, and just general unhappiness tend to rise the longer we go without quality time off.
Taking time away allows you to get mental relief from job stress and come back with renewed energy and focus.
Think of it like giving a tired machine a rest so it can work better when it's switched back on.
Prioritising mental health at work through career breaks leads to improved performance and workplace satisfaction.
2. Encourages Self-Care for Career Success
Taking extended time off work, whether it's a few weeks or a few months, helps reinforce the importance of self-care.
When you unplug from work for a substantial period, you realize that while work is important, it cannot and should not subsume your whole identity and life. Career breaks let you focus on your personal needs and wants without distraction.
This self-care ultimately gives you more energy and passion for your job too, preventing future burnout.
3. Provides Fresh Perspective for Career Goals
Ever feel stuck in a work routine, unable to see new possibilities? That creative rut often results directly from being "heads down" on the job for too long.
Stepping back for a few weeks or more offers a bird's eye view of the direction your career is taking. With daily tasks off your plate, your mind opens up, allowing you to think about future career goals you might want to achieve next.
That fresh perspective could even reveal areas where a job or department change makes sense.
4. Prevents Career Burnout in the Long Run
Working hard without taking real breaks leads to career burnout over time. Burnout not only harms your mental health but also decreases your productivity and job performance.
That's why taking periodic long breaks (unplugging for success) helps avoid exhaustion down the road. Whether it's two weeks on a beach or a month exploring new places, completely detaching from work allows your mind, body, and spirit to rest.
You'll return to work with more energy, inspiration, and readiness to take on new challenges.
5. Encourages Work-Life Balance
Balancing work obligations and personal /family time can prove extremely difficult without taking extended time off periodically. Vacations are great, but quick long weekends tend to just continue the hectic pace with errands and chores.
An extended break every few years whether a sabbatical or career break, coupled with shorter regular vacations, provides time to focus on what matters.
You can set goals around those vital work-life balance goals and return to work with a renewed sense of purpose, ready to give 100% effort.
6. Provides Chance to Recharge and Return
Ever feel like you can't catch your breath and just need some time to recharge? That's your body and mind screaming for relief from the daily grind.
Taking a month or more off gives you the chance to recharge. This extended break allows you to rest and renew before coming back to work with fresh energy and enthusiasm.
Use some of the time off to try that yoga retreat, take a tour, or just sleep late every day. Whatever you choose, that window to recharge and return helps hit the reset button mentally and physically.
7. Lowers Risk of Career Burnout
Ignoring your body and mind's need for extended breaks from work significantly raises your risk of career burnout down the road. And extreme burnout often leads professionals to make dramatic changes like leaving their job altogether.
Prevent this job-hopping instability and career disruption by scheduling regular career pauses. Dedicate part of that time to consciously preventing burnout through rest, relaxation, and rediscovering your passions.
When you make burnout prevention a part of achieving career goals, you increase satisfaction, productivity, and advancement.
The Last Word: Recharge and Refocus
While it may seem unusual or not the norm to take significant time off if you want to get ahead in your career, research shows the opposite is true. Prioritising career breaks allows surprising benefits that support career advancement over time.
You return with better mental clarity, renewed passion for your job role, valuable insight on progressing to the next level, and overall readiness to achieve growth. So support your long-term success by planning dream trips or passion projects outside work.
Just align timelines appropriately with workplace policies and obligations. Breaks do foster improved performance.
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Smita D Jain is a Certified Life Coach, Executive Coach and NLP Practitioner. Smita’s ‘Empower Yourself’ Personal Clarity Coaching Programs enable busy professionals unhappy in their jobs to tap into their passions and transform them into professions so that they work because they want to, not because they have to.
Prior to her journey as a coach, Smita had extensive experience of 14 years as a corporate and business strategy professional with Fortune 500 companies. She is also a speaker at various public forums, a published writer, and an Amazon bestselling author.
You can learn more about Personal Empowerment Life Coach and Executive Coach Smita D Jain’s ‘Empower Yourself’ Coaching Programs by visiting www.lifecoachsmitadjain.com and
book a strategy session at https://www.lifecoachsmitadjain.com/booking.
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