I woke up today to discover that it’s apparently World Mental Health Day. It’s mildly ironic to me that it falls on a Monday, and immediately following our country’s latest freakshow presidential election debate.
Less ironic was the sheer number of items on my to-do list. I was gone all last week, traveling for business. And while I get a lot of big things done on these trips, the little things tend to get ignored and pile up. So I pretty much had a week’s worth of minor stuff piled into todays’ to-do list.
I really need a mental health break, and I have one scheduled for Wednesday. (Yes, I took a day off in the middle of the week. You should try it sometime, it’s pretty awesome.) And with all of the things that I’ll still have to do by then, it’s really a bad time to take a day off. So you know what I’m going to do?
I’m taking the day off anyway.
Why? Because I’m less productive when I’m stressed. I’m also more likely to make bad decisions, and be generally unpleasant to my colleagues and my team. According to Rebecca Maxon of Fairleigh Dickinson University, stress costs employers $200B annually in associated costs. So in addition to being unpleasant and unproductive when I’m stressed out, I might even be costing my employer money.
So I’m going to take that day off as part of being a good steward of my company’s funds. I’m going to take that day off to be a better manager, and a better person. I’m going to take that day off just for me.