This week’s tip is super simple, and yet I know some of you will struggle with it.
I want you to open up your calendar and book your time off for the year. Be it 3 weeks or 3 months, go ahead and book that time right now. Even if you don’t know what you’ll be doing yet book the time off in your calendar.
Did you do it? If not, what came up for you? Was it…
- “I can’t take a vacation because there is no one else to do my work” <– Then you need to look at how your business is being run, if it depends on you so much that you can’t take a vacation that is a shaky foundation to your business.
- “I’ll do it later, I don’t have time to think about vacation right now” <– This is a slippery slope for many folks (myself included) – if you don’t do it now you might find yourself at the end of 2012 having taken no time off.
- “I never take vacations or time off, it’s just not that important to me” <– Why not? I take a rather firm stance on this, but my belief is that we ALL deserve time for rest and rejuvenation. Being plugged 24/7 into our own businesses is actually unhealthy in the long run.
Or perhaps it was something else for you? Feel free to comment/share.
I am actually going to sit down and plan out my days off for this year. I agree with you – I think that it’s very productive for your business – I even wrote a brief article about why freelancers need vacations. It is true that most freelancers work in a field they are passionate about, but even so, you have to have time away from your work. The thing about it is – you have have to be efficient in the time leading up to your vacation to make sure that your client(s) doesn’t feel the pains of you being away – or you can pay someone to “stand in” for you while you are away.
The idea of 24/7 businesses works great for customers, but is bad for any company (or freelancer) that offers it…