Playing Hookie Is Good for Your Soul: 4 Ways to Do It Like a Pro

If you are going to play hookie once in a while, and I highly recommend that you do, you must do it like a pro. So, here's how:

Whether it's staying in bed all day because you need to catch up on sleep or laying on the sofa and eating salt 'n' vinegar chips while watching trashy TV or hiking to the top of a trail and having a picnic or going to a double feature or taking a yoga class... What makes you feel good? Research it. Literally. Ask questions. Do the math. And then, do the literal research if there's any to be done. Hey, if I can find The Online Slang Dictionary on Google, then you can find the best restaurant for oysters or where that obscure silent film is playing. If you are going to play hookie, do exactly what you want to do, down to every last detail.

I am not a planner by nature. I wish I was, but that is another article entirely. When taking a day off to play hookie, you must do what feels best. Do you need to plan it out point-by-point, so that you feel like you have made the most of your time? Or, do you need to throw caution to the wind and do whatever you fancy (including doing nothing at all for a change)? There are no rules. Just do it like a pro. Commit to yourself and to having a good time and taking a day off just for you. There is no right or wrong when playing hookie.

In order to be a true pro, a real badass when playing hookie, you must step away from the Facebook, Twitter and email. All of it. Pretend you are back at school and pulling a Ferris Bueller. He would never have updated his Facebook status saying, "I am at the Mets game." He was pretending to be sick, and he did it like a pro. If you don't get this reference, you must stop what you are doing and rent Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Watch it on your next hookie day.

Playing hookie is good for the soul. It's important to duck out every once in a while and take a "sick day." A day just for you to do anything you want or nothing at all. A day to unwind, to recharge, to relax, to be 100 percent joyful without any obligations. You don't literally have to pretend to be sick -- you may already have a day or two off -- but what I am suggesting is really take the day off.