By Princess Jones
Five years ago, I was a workaholic. Not only was I alway connected to my clients, but I was really proud of it. I didn’t take vacations from my work. I gladly worked on holidays and weekends. We would be moving cross country and I’d be in the back of the car on my laptop. I thought I’d work that way forever.
And then I had kids. Kids don’t have to be your entire life but they will certainly slow down your workaholic ways. I found myself having to find a way to take some time off if I wanted to spend special moments with my family, especially around the holidays. As the holiday season approaches again, consider taking a break from your business.
Ditch the Guilt
The first hurdle of taking a vacation when you’re used to living the workaholic life is overcoming the overwhelming amount of guilt you feel for taking time away. If you don’t take time away, you can’t recharge enough to go back into your work full steam ahead. Burnout is a real concern for entrepreneurs. And as much as you want your business to success, you can’t make that happen if you run out of steam because you never take a break.
If you still find yourself feeling guilty, plan to do something during your vacation that excites you. For example, go some place that you’ve always wanted to go so the excitement overpowers the guilt. Or try to plan activities that will make you want to step away from work.
Delegate
The only way that a business owner can be in all the places she wants to be is to have good people working under her. Whether that’s an assistant, a business partner, or a vice president of your company, you need someone who can hold down the fort while you’re gone. If you’re hiring good people, it shouldn’t be hard to find someone you trust to do the day to day during your vacation.
Have a meeting with the person handling your share of the work while you’re gone. Discuss any concerns you have and relay any information they might need. Make a detailed list of what you do each day and how you do it. This way some task that only you do every day doesn’t get overlooked while you’re gone.
Disconnect
Once you’ve got staffing in place, it’s time to disconnect from the work. This is sometimes the hardest part of the whole thing, especially if you’re used to working around the clock. If you can manage it, try going phone-free during your holiday vacation. It’s the best and truest way to disconnect from everything.
But putting down your phone for your entire vacation can be really difficult. If you can’t do that, try turning off the notifications off of your phone. You can check every morning for emergencies, but you want to avoid being glued to your phone or computer all day during your vacation.
If you don’t think you can trust yourself to not check during your time off, consider having your assistant or partner change the passwords to your business email or social media. You can get the passwords when you come back but while you’re gone you’ll have no way to access them.
