This weekend I was talking with a friend of mine, a fellow entrepreneur mom. When I asked her what her family was doing for Thanksgiving she gave me an extremely enthusiastic response: “Our plans got cancelled at the last minute and so it’s just going to be the four of us, having a quiet dinner at home. Which means I’ll have all this extra time to get work done and since everyone else is off, the phone and email will be quiet, so I’ll be super productive.” There was a pause and then we both laughed–she knew I understood her.

We’re planning to go away for Thanksgiving and I feel guilty about not being excited about it. I know, I know, spending an extended period of time with family may not be what many of us are looking forward to doing, but there is another reason: I am stressed out about losing out on two days of work and really would appreciate having some quiet time to catch up on things while everyone else is enjoying some turkey and gravy.

Have I become a complete workaholic? The fact that I do work a lot and like to work–most of the time–is no secret. But I think my stress has a lot to do with the fact that any change to the finely-tuned weekly work-life juggle is stressful. Having a short week doesn’t mean that I have less to do–it just means that I have to do the same amount in a shorter period of time.

So instead of getting over-stressed, I’ve come up with a few tips to help the shortened work-week go a bit smoother. I’d love if you would add yours to the list by posting in the comments–I know that I am not the only one thinking about this!

• Control the to-do list. I keep a very organized but very long to-do list that I review and rewrite often (yes, I have a thing for lists, we’ve established that.) For this week, I am putting a limit on it: I can’t have more than 10 things to do each day related to work. I know my tendency would be to try to squeeze in extra tasks for the three days when I will be working and then just get frustrated when I can’t get them done. To avoid this, I am setting a number limit for my tasks.

• Identify 3 things that absolutely must get done. We all have a lot to do, at work and at home. But this week I am going to try and focus on the three things I absolutely positively have to get done. My goal is to do two on Monday and one on Tuesday, which leaves Wednesday as a safety day to make sure I really did do my three things.

• Schedule time to work over the weekend. If you can avoid this, I envy you. For me, there is no getting around the fact that there is work to get done so I am going to schedule in a few hours of work over the coming weekend and either ask my husband or my parents to take our daughter for an outing.

• Learn to chill. Yes, I am actually putting this on the list. Work is work. However important, it’s OK if it doesn’t all get done this week or get done as well as it should be. Nothing is more important than family and having a few extra days to spend together is really a gift. (I’ll stop sounding like a Hallmark card now.)

Are you stressed out because of the short work-week? What are your tips for dealing with it? Please share in the comments!