RobertTheBruce.net

When was the last time you spent a Wednesday night, just sitting at home, watching TV for three hours? That’s what I asked my former boss who I was on the phone with last week, discussing some business. When business is good (and it is for both of us) and you have a ton of other things going on in life (like running an improv theater), you don’t have a whole lot of time to just veg out.

It’s a blessing and a curse–I’m really lucky to get to spend so much of my time on projects that really fire me up. On the other hand, I wake up Saturday mornings grasping for my to-do list, thinking of how I can squeeze in some extra work before it’s time to go out.

When my work was a 9 to 5 kind of deal, this didn’t happen to me. I would spend a decent amount of time putzing around on my computer while at work and when I got home, I would completely turn work off. So my nights would be free to do whatever I wanted.

But when you’re self-employed, or an entrepreneur, or you spend your free time trying to “make it” as a comedian/actor/musician/artist/whatever, all of your time is “in play.” Every moment I’m thinking “is this the best way to be spending my time? Could I be working on something productive right now?”

And even when it’s time to step away from work, I always ask “is this the best way to relax/chill out/enjoy me leisure time?” Because if you’re killing hours off the clock, Scrabulous is fine. But when leisure is precious, I want to really enjoy my time.

Does all this planning and evaluation increase or decrease stress? In the short-run, it increases stress, because the very act of questioning whether your current activity is stress-inducing. On the other hand, if you spend your whole week doing something other than what you really wanted to do–you’re going to feel terrible. At least I do. A little zen helps.