I don’t know about all of you, but I definitely felt like I was always working. I rarely knew what day of the week it was because each day was the same; it was a workday. It took me many years to reach the point where I felt I could take a weekend as a freelancer. And it also took me even longer to understand how important it was to do so. Here’s what I learned.

Weekending as a freelancer is important

Whether you are a part-time or career freelancer, weekending is not only important, but it also has several perks. Once I started doing it regularly (more on how below), I really saw my creativity rebounding from week to week. I also was relieved to know that I had more interest in my job daily.

The most important thing I learned is that having spent so many years weekendless would have caused severe burnout had I not changed things. Honestly, it was just a fluke that I changed things when I did. But I’m here to share how I did it so you can work it into your freelancing plan!

How to weekend like a pro

Below are the tips I used to help me ease into and — more importantly — maintain my weekending as a freelancer no matter how busy things got.

• I plan for my weekends in advance. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I love organization and scheduling. I firmly believe organization is vital in freelancing. Ensuring a successful weekend is proof of that. I pick the days I want to take off for my weekend, and I schedule those in first. That way, I know I’m not accidentally planning to take off a day when I already have a deadline.

• I prioritize each weekend in deadline-setting: Following on the tail of that is prioritizing that weekend. If I get a deadline request for a weekend day, I offer the delivery date for the day after. If they need it before then and can’t wait, I offer them a priority deadline for the day before my weekend at an extra charge. It sounds risky, perhaps, to possibly turn away a deadline for a self-picked weekend, but that’s how important it is.

• I alternate between productive and restorative weekends: Those outside the freelancing world know that some weekends are busy and some are lazy. Freelancing weekends can be like that, too. I alternate between those as much as I can so that I’m getting my “offline” things done on my weekends, but still not going too long without having at least one relaxing weekend.

Weekending is possible

Despite what I believed for many years, freelancer life can include weekends more than “every once in a while.” And those weekends can be restorative, relaxing, and/or productive based on what you want done when the weekend rolls around.

But that’s just me. What about you? Where do you fall on the weekending scale of things?