Living Without Breaks and Vacation Can Hurt Your Business

Living Without Breaks and Vacation Can Hurt Your Business

Dr. Linda Hancock

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Hancock has written a regular weekly column entitled “All Psyched Up” for newspapers in two Canadian provinces for more than a dozen years. Over the years, her readers and clients have said that they have benefited from her common-sense solutions, wisdom, and sense of humour. Dr. Linda Hancock, the author of “Life is An Adventure…every step of the way” and “Open for Business Success” is a Registered Psychologist who has a private practice in Medicine Hat. She can be reached at 403-529-6877 or through email office@drlindahancock.com

Published

March 29 2011

Sometimes business owners become so involved in all the things that need to be done that they ignore the fact that they need daily breaks and regular vacation times. There are several reasons that they need to make changes to this pattern.

1. You will be able to stay well - Probably the most common-sense reason for taking breaks is to protect your health and ensure that you have time to rest. Once your start neglecting your diet and relationships, they start to deteriorate and you will one day wake up to find that you don't feel well and have little support. When you schedule breaks in your day you will be able to enjoy a snack, call a loved one or just allow your mind to rest for a few minutes.

2. A different environment will help you to plan well - If you are so busy doing things, you don't necessarily have the time or the freedom to come up with creative ways that might improve your business. I remember struggling with how I was going to get everything done. I had booked a trip to Hawaii but was questioning that decision because it didn't seem that getting away would help get the work done. As I walked along the beach, however, I asked myself "How does Oprah do it?" and immediately got the answer that I had been needing. I replied right out loud "She has staff". When I returned home I began looking for staff to help me. As strange as it sounds, I couldn't seem to come up with this idea when I was in the middle of the mess. I needed to get away from the demands in order to think about the problem in a different way.

3. Living with balance will help you and your business to present well to others - Other people are watching you and their judgements are based on how what they see. If all they see is a frazzled individual who never takes time off they might begin to think that you are disorganized or that the business really isn't doing well. In fact, these thoughts might cause them to even pull away from you and your services.

Everyone needs to have regular breaks in the day as well as planned vacation time when they can get away from the stress and demands, work on their relationships and allow their minds to be open to new ideas and possibilities. Don't think of time off as a negative but rather as a very positive opportunity to balance your life and actually improve everything that you already have at this time.