Hey business owner: it's time for a vacation
Hey, business owner, you deserve a vacation.
And you know what? Let's even get rid of the word deserve, because a vacation is not something that you as a business owner have to earn. That's what I want to dive into today.
Time away from your business is not something that you have to earn. It is something that you deserve as a business owner and that you should be regularly working into your schedule.
I know that this sounds difficult, especially if you are a newer business owner. This was something that took me quite a while to start working into my business, because I felt like I did not have the time to take time off.
And if you feel like your business would fall apart if you stepped away for a week or two, and you want some systems and things that you can put in place to make it easier to step out of the office, then check out this blog post.
Your vacation time is up to you
The bottom line is, it's your business.
You get to decide when you work and how you work, and you get to decide when you get to take a vacation.
Yes, you can be strategic about it and maybe not pick your busiest time of the year to take a week or two off.
Maybe you can't go on a vacation this month because there is a particular trip you want to take and you need to save up a specific amount of money first.
Maybe the trip is a reward for when you reach a specific goal or a specific milestone.
You get to decide what taking a vacation looks like for you and how it works. However, both of those things are different than feeling like you have to earn a vacation.
You don't have to earn a vacation
There should not be a moral value associated with the amount of work you do.
You shouldn't miss out on a vacation because you feel like you haven't worked enough hours or you're not working hard enough to get to go.
There's a huge difference between, "I can't afford this specific vacation right now, but I know that once I've saved X dollars I will be able to go," and, "I didn't hit my client target for this month, so I don't deserve to take time off."
If you as a business owner struggle to take time off, I invite you to really dig into the reasons why.
Is it because you feel too busy to take time off right now? Is it because logistically taking time off isn't going to work right now, but you have plans to do it in the future? Either at a time when it's less busy for your business or when you have the money to be able to go.
Or do you feel like you can't justify taking time off right now? If that's the case, then I'd like to remind you that if you were working a traditional job, you would get a set amount of vacation time every year.
So shouldn't you be able to at least take the minimum mandated amount of vacation time away from your business every year? And if you can't because your business is keeping you too busy, that's a separate problem that you need to work on (see the blog post I linked above).
You can't work 24/7
If you are not letting yourself take that time off, that's a problem, and it means that your business is not going to be sustainable in the long run.
You cannot work every day, 365 days a year, or even five days a week all 52 weeks, and never take time off.
You need a break from your business.
You deserve a break from your business without having to earn it.
That break is going to help reduce your stress, and it could also help improve your creativity and your productivity.
It could help you come back to your business with more energy and excitement.
I invite you to work time off and time away into your calendar every year. (Ideally a few times per year).
What if I can't afford a trip?
Now, if financially you can't afford a big trip, that doesn't mean that you can't take a vacation or take some time off. I invite you to consider more local options, things that you could do in your area, and you could even just have a staycation at your house without going somewhere.
If you are going to do that, then I would recommend you do it with a plan.
If I'm going to take a few days off but stay at home, then I have rules around what I am and I'm not "allowed" to do business wise. Will I be checking my email? Will I be spending time on any work projects? Because typically those are the things that I am trying to take a break from. It's not that I can't do them, it's just that that defeats the purpose of the time off.
If I have a work project that I am excited about that I want to spend that time working on - maybe it's something that I can't normally get to in my day-to-day schedule - then I might allow myself to work on that. (Although I once spent the week between Christmas and New Years revamping my entire website. And while that was fun - I'm a weirdo - I can't say it was particularly relaxing).
If the goal is to completely unplug from my business and completely step away, then I will set an out of office message, turn off notifications, and I will focus on other things.
I try to have specific things that I want to do outside of my business so I'm not tempted to work. Maybe there are people that I want to see, or local things that I want to do, or something that I want to work on on my house. Maybe some sort of renovation project, or organization project, or something like that.
It's up to you to decide what is important to you with this time off. Is it important that it is restful? Is it important that it is purposeful? Is it important that it is fun? You have to decide what it means to you.
It's also up to you to decide what is going to rejuvenate you for when you come back to work and back to your business.
If filling up a week with home improvement projects is just going to make you more tired, maybe that is not the best use of time off. But if that's something that you get excited about and it energizes you, maybe it is. No one can decide that for you.
Find a vacation buddy
One thing that has worked for me in terms of designating specific time off for my business and actually following through with it is to make plans with people. This means either making plans to get together with people or plans to go away with people.
I find that if it's something that we have to book, like accommodations or plane tickets or activities that we want to do, then I have no excuse. I have to do it.
This is something that helps make it more fun for me, because I enjoy doing things with the people that I care about. But it also means that I am more likely to follow through.
Knowing that there are going to be people there during my vacation that I want to spend time with, I am less likely to spend my whole vacation working, because they're going to say something if I'm on my phone or my laptop the whole time.
And I'm not going to want to be rude and be on my phone and my laptop in front of them the whole time. Because I know that I'm going to have no time or limited time for working during that vacation, I am more likely to stay on top of my projects and get things done before and after my trip so that I can accommodate that time away from the office.
This is something that works for me. It may not pertain to you or your situation, and that's OK.
I invite you to think about your time off with more purpose and more intention.
Because you do deserve quality time away from your business and away from work, just like everybody else.
If you want to talk about what that looks like for you and maybe come up with a plan to take some time away, leave a comment or reach out to me. I'm happy to chat about it.
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