The importance of time off

Photo by Khachik Simonian on Unsplash

I've been writing this week about my friend Bill and his dad Bob.

I've not seen Bill in many years. I've not seen Bob in even longer. But as you can probably tell, they've both left a big impression on me.

One of the things that struck me about Bob was he only ever took two weeks off work. Every year, he would spend that two weeks in Whitby (an absolutely beautiful part of the world). Then after his refreshing break, he would get back to it.

As I said yesterday, I think this is a problem.

People like us, who work for ourselves, we work incredibly hard. We take on more risks than employees. We suffer anxiety and depression and mood swings because we've chosen to take control of our lives, yet so much of what we do remains just out of our grasp.

And because of that, we deserve our breaks. We need our holidays. Not one a year. But several. A weekend away, a week with friends.

It feels like we can't afford to, because the business won't work without us. But we have to, because if we don't there won't be an us for the business to work for.

Take action: Make sure you take a break. And take it before you need it.

Cheers

Baz

PS: I used to worry about taking time off because I wouldn't be earning. Some people worry about it as they don't trust their staff. Everyone's got a reason. None of those reasons is truly valid. If you'd like to talk about it, I'm sure I can point you in the right direction. Let's have a chat.