If you are one of the thousands of entrepreneurs who work 72 hours a week, if you do not have time for family and friends and don’t go on vacation for years, or maybe you went, but spent 90% of your time working instead of being with your family, then this is an issue you should think over and make changes in your attitude and your priorities’ list.
Continue reading this helpful article because it could improve your personal and professional life.
I am Gordon Grigg, and my mission is to share ideas, experiences, and relationships that can make your life and business more successful.
As a starting point, the Truelist, in its article, reveals depressing results about people taking a vacation in America.
- The average paid time off in the US is 10 days a year for private workers. (Zippia)
- 28 million Americans don’t have any paid vacation or paid holidays. (Zippia)
- 52% of people have worked during their time off. (Zippia)
What about executives? According to the Korn Ferry Survey, unbelievably, 84 percent of American executives have been postponing vacations in order to work.
On the long run serious burnouts can result among teams, leaders, and even CEOs when this happens.
UC Berkeley study shows that 72 percent of business owners and entrepreneurs have mental health problems directly or indirectly, compared to only 48 percent of non-owners.
And according to Catherine Hartley, an assistant Associate Professor of Psychology at New York University and one of the co-authors in the Nature Neuroscience’s journal study, “people feel happier when they have more variety in their daily routines—when they go to novel places and have a wider array of experiences.”
All of these leads to the following conclusion:
Vacations are Necessary for Entrepreneurs’ Success
In her study, Sabine Sonnentag, an organizational psychology professor in Germany at the University of Mannheim, stated that the inability to step away from work is accompanied by burnout symptoms, which obviously influence productivity and well-being.
She discovers that putting work aside while you’re not working helps us be more robust to stress and more effective and active at work. Even a quick weekend trip can significantly reduce work stress, and extended vacations offer even more relief.
According to her, 64 percent of people report feeling refreshed and excited to return to their job after a vacation. Moreover, it benefits employers and workers equally, especially considering the $224 billion annual cost of an unused vacation to U.S. firms.
A Harvard Business Review article revealed that working fewer hours encourages professionals to use their time more effectively.
Employees in countries with higher vacations’ usage rates are motivated to accomplish a lot more, and tend to work more efficiently. Therefore, more vacations reduce stress and lead to higher productivity in general.
Participants in a Stanford study took a 90-minute walk across either a nature or an urban setting. Rumination (repetitive thinking oriented on the symptoms causing distress), a typical sign of depression and anxiety, was less frequent in those participants who had access to the natural environment compared to those who walked across the urban environment.
So going on vacation should not be considered as a luxury, or a matter of prestige, it is a must-do if you want to be a successful entrepreneur.
Steps you need to take to have a relaxing vacation
To be relaxed on your vacation before you go, check if organizational procedures and protocols are reliable and could continue to function without you. Check your emergency protocols, continuity plan, and communication.
According to Luren Milligan, career advancement coach:
“It’s easy for self-employed people to convince themselves that they can’t get away – that they’ll lose business or clients if they take time off. In all honesty, that’s rarely the case. Three things are needed: Fair notice to current clients, a continuity plan, and an emergency plan. With these in place, solopreneurs can take guilt-free vacations just like salaried employees”.
Predict potential problems
So, try to predict potential problems that can arise so your firm is prepared for your vacation and organize your teams accordingly.
Such preparations can show you where your corporate communication lines need to be strengthened, what emergency processes are outdated, and what inefficiencies are holding you back. Find out what you can digitize, remove, or outsource with the help of your team.
Taking a trip will help you remember that, even if your enterprises are vital, it’s good to walk aside from them occasionally. Watch your team excel as you give them more responsibilities. To accomplish this, be sure to personally communicate your faith in your staff members before you depart from the office.
Ensure your employees have the resources and access needed to do their tasks while you’re away
Don’t just provide them with a list of tasks through email. Ensure they have the resources and access needed to do their tasks while you’re away.
For instance, if you assign someone to manage your social media accounts, ensure they have the access and credentials required to post what is required.
Give the folks who will be covering for you a comprehensive cheat sheet. Google Doc with data they would require, such as:
- Where to find crucial documents
- Notes on policies and procedures
- Where to get important project information
- Advice that they could find helpful in coping with particular individuals or circumstances
Your employer-employee relationship can take on exciting new dimensions thanks to this trust, including improved communication, more confidence, and more effective delegation and priorities.
And remember to plan your return day right away.
After you return to the office, wait at least a day or two before scheduling any meetings or phone calls. Then, make sure everyone knows those are your catch-up days by marking those dates on your calendar immediately.
A decent rule of thumb is that you need an hour of catch-up time every day you are absent from the office. Thus, after returning after a week of vacation, it takes a full day to assess what happened while you were away and deal with any problems that cropped up.
How long should you have a vacation in a year?
As an entrepreneur, you should take at least four or three weeks off each year. Take at least a week every three-four months to recover and reorganize.
As a result, you can:
1. Declutter Your Mind
No one can work 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Those who say they do so generally aren’t even aware that their efforts can end up being ineffective.
Rest is occasionally necessary for the mind. It allows you to switch off from the stresses of everyday life and refresh your senses. Once you’re back at work, you’ll be able to achieve far more in a shorter amount of time than usual.
2. Take a Body Rest.
You will physically suffer if you work seven days a week. Your early mornings and late evenings will eventually catch up with you and cause various health issues in the future.
However, it will be possible for you to reset your biological clock (and get some extra sleep!) if you go on vacation once every three months.
So, you can reset your biological clock (and get some extra sleep!) if you go on vacation once every three months.
3. Make plans while also appreciating the moment.
A break from work is a terrific opportunity to reflect on your life and be grateful for everything you have.
In addition, the possibility to travel with family, including the spouse and children, reminds us of motivation for hard work and on our future goals.
4. Provide space for your employees and company to succeed
Every step along the way, you, as an entrepreneur, must make decisions. Additionally, you look for advice from the entire team. As a result, the team must become more accountable and perform better when you are absent. So, they will have a shorter learning curve and be able to demonstrate their true worth.
Plan three or four weeks of vacation each year, and you’ll see your business expand if you’re looking for the optimal balance between work and self-care.
Conclusion
Going on vacation is critical for employee performance and productivity. Moreover, it is necessary for an entrepreneur’s survival.
So you know now why you need a vacation and how to prepare to have an excellent time on a break.
But to be a successful entrepreneur, you need a Management Consultant, Life Coach, and Sales Coach. You need professional help. You need me. Visit my site and feel free to call me, text me, or email me. Find me on Facebook or Instagram. Either way, I am excited to hear from you. It all starts with a simple conversation.
