This week's experiment involved saying no to something that we would usually say yes to.

I've had a fortnight off work which usually means me filling my days with things to do and days out. Part of this is down to the need to provide an interesting response to the question that I get asked so often, 'So, what have you been up to during your time off?' Or when I return to work it's 'What did you do on your time off?'

With most other people going away on expensive holidays to exciting, faraway locations, I always feel the pressure to say yes to any opportunity that comes along just so that I can keep up with everyone else when it comes to those types of conversations.

It's also a time when I can put pressure on myself to do all those boring tasks that I wouldn't normally have the time to do. So in the past I have decluttered, done filing and even tidied up my personal email inbox during my holidays - things that make me feel like I've done something useful with my time off but which I don't particularly enjoy doing.

This time, what I really needed was to relax and do very little. I needed to rest and take care of myself whilst I had the rare opportunity to do this. It's been a while since I have had two weeks off and I wanted to make the most of it.

My dream vision of the perfect break would be to sit in the garden with a good book and enjoy the wonderful weather.

So in order to make this happen, during the second week of my break I was strict about saying no to a lot of other distractions. I said no to a night out, I said no to going on any day trips and I said no to doing general sorting out and personal admin work.

Saying no to all this enabled me to say yes to some good quality relaxation time and to getting the proper break that I really wanted and needed.