If you’re running a remote business, you may feel like you’re always chasing deadlines. You keep putting off that coveted ‘time by the beach’ and ‘hike up the mountains’ because there are still targets to meet, milestones to achieve, and meetings to keep up with clients and team members dispersed worldwide. In all the mix, taking time to plan a vacation may seem like a distant dream. But the truth is vacations are crucial when you’re running a remote business.
Over the last 12 years, remote work has increased by 159%, and while it has many benefits, its greatest drawback is that you’re often never truly able to unplug. Not taking a vacation can be harmful to your health and business, especially if you work from home. That’s why going on a vacation isn’t a choice for remote entrepreneurs; it’s a necessity. Here’s why.
Your Mind Gets a BREAK
If you’re an entrepreneur, your mind is under constant pressure to get stuff done. Even when you’re not working, your mind is busy scheduling things, finding ways to better communicate with your diverse team, and whatnot! It feels like your mind is never free, whether you’re working, cooking, or spending time with family.
All this stress and overwork can result in brain fog, which hampers your ability to make sound decisions. Your ability to concentrate and comprehend things declines because your mind needs to slow down every once in a while to get back on track.
This is why vacations are crucial. Since you’re working from home, you need to physically remove yourself from the familiar settings, pack your bags, and go on a vacation. Remember to leave your laptop behind!
Improved Clarity On Your Why
Do you know what your “why” is? It’s the reason you’re working hard every day towards your dreams. It’s what motivates you to keep going, even when times get tough.
One of my biggest “why”’s is travel! It’s why I started down this path and why I continue to push toward my goals. When I take a vacation, I remember this “why” and am filled with a renewed sense of purpose and tons of clarity.
If travel isn’t your “why”, vacations can still put you back in touch with it. Maybe it’s spending more time with your spouse or kids. Or it’s living a life of luxury. Maybe it’s having the time to practice tons of self care. Vacations are crucial in order to do all of this!
Improved Productivity Upon Your Return
The mind needs space every now and then to function correctly. It requires a change of routine and scenery to spark its creativity. Remote workers’ continuous engagement with work can eventually make their mind dull. Especially if you never give yourself a break.
Staying at home, visiting familiar places, and meeting familiar faces traps your brain into a monotony. Though it may seem challenging to unplug yourself, it’s a proven fact that vacations can improve productivity immensely. That’s why many larger companies give their employees paid off-time.
Since you’re self-employed, you owe it to yourself and your business to take a break and spend some quality time in self-care and self-evaluation away from home. When you come back, you’ll make better decisions as an entrepreneur and manage your workload more efficiently, improving your productivity.
Travel Opens Your Mind
Ever heard of ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?’
A study by Adam Galinsky reveals that your mind changes as you travel and experience new cultures, tastes, languages, and sensations. It’s challenging for your mind to reprocess and accept these changes because it has adapted to an existing environment.
When you choose a different country, state, or even city for a vacation, you get to meet new people and see new places. Thus, traveling can open up your mind and expand your mental ability to see things from a different perspective. You’ll be able to evaluate your business and life in general with an open mind.
Since you’re a remote business owner, traveling will also increase your awareness and understanding of your diverse team members.
Reduced Stress
Running a business is stressful, especially if your business is remote because most of the business operations are beyond your physical reach. Stress is directly related to cortisol and epinephrine release, which are our hormones for fight or flight response.
These hormones are our body’s physiological response to cope with stressful situations. However, the constant increase in their levels can cause many health issues like digestive problems, heart diseases, weight gain, and memory impairment.
It’s no surprise that vacations can be crucial when it comes to busting stress. As you physically move away from the source of stress, your mind and body relearn to relax, and your cortisol levels come down to normal. You’ll return with a fresh mind and clear thoughts to take your startup to the next level.
Improved Health
Vacations can recharge and refresh your mind and improve your physical health. Researchers found a decrease in metabolic syndrome during a study conducted on 63 workers eligible for paid vacation.
Continuous work and prolonged stress of running a business can weaken your immune system and invite illnesses like high blood pressure, heart problems, arthritis, and depression. Sitting for long hours is nothing less than a disease that takes a toll on your body if you don’t take frequent breaks.
Traveling not only forces you to be more active, but the fresh air also does wonders to rejuvenate your mentally and physically and improves your immunity.
Boosted Sleep Quality
You shoot yourself in the foot when you ignore your sleep to accommodate your hectic work schedule. Running your business, you get too much going that it can keep your mind engaged even if you get in bed to sleep at your fixed bedtime.
Other times, the team members are in different time zones, and you have to stay up after hours to communicate with them. All this interrupts your regular sleep cycle. Once you make it a habit to pull all-nighters, it disrupts your normal sleep cycle resulting in brain fog, frequent headaches, impaired memory, and reduced immunity.
Vacations can help you catch up on your sleep and reboot your sleep cycle. Various studies prove that improved sleep during the holidays can last up to several months after it.
Better Interpersonal Relationships
Remote workers face a lot of physical and mental stress due to an undefined work schedule, impending deadlines, client and team management, and everything else required to run a steady business. With all of this on the mind, remote entrepreneurs can struggle to maintain their composure on little family annoyances.
Deep down, you may be feeling tired and exhausted. But your detached behavior and angry outbursts can negatively affect your relationships with everyone around you, including their friends, family, and even the team members.
Vacations are an excellent way to blow off some steam. Studies prove that traveling is a perfect way for families and friends to bond meaningfully. You can relax and enjoy your time with the people you care about and create cherishable memories with them.
Vacations are crucial in order to keep all the negative emotions and stress away from you and your family as you’re working day and night to establish a successful business. Research has proven time and again that vacations can do wonders for your mind, body, and relationships.
You don’t need to hold off your business for them. Let your team handle the operations on their own for a while, nominate someone in charge, and automate everything you can, including your social media posts. Now, book that trip right away that you’ve been putting off for so long.
