This is a test of the Entrepreneurial Vacation System. Please stand by…
When was the last time you scheduled and successfully took some time off? Has it been a while? Let’s change that. Open your calendar, pick a week, and schedule it off from your business. Time for an entrepreneurial recharge!
Be honest, are you clutching your calendar right now? Is your heart racing? Is panic setting in? I get that feeling. I’ve had that feeling. But take a step back and think through that reaction. When you immediately jumped to “there is NO WAY I can take a week off,” what were you worried about not getting done? Write it down -- whether it’s one thing or a whole bunch of things. That’s your to-do list.
Schedule time each week to get a reasonable and achievable number of those items completed. Really focus on it. Make sure all of the loose ends are tied up and everything is ready to go.
Once you get down to three or four items on the list, the time has come to book that vacation. Grab your calendar again and schedule a vacation a month in the future. There’s nothing like a deadline to help you get something done!
Taking time away from your business has a lot of benefits. As you work within your normal daily grind you build up habits, but not all of those habits are good for you. You need to take breaks. You need experiences to keep engaged and creative. You need time to invest in yourself so that your organization can not only survive, but thrive.
So take a few minutes and ask yourself: what’s the first thing you need to put in place to make a vacation possible for you?