Taking Time Off For Your Business


As a business owner, wouldn't it be great if you could take time off whenever you needed to? Unfortunately, most small business owners worry that the business will fall apart if they're not there to mind the store. Too often, they simply lack the appropriate resources for their business to keep going in their absence.

"Taking time off is as important as food," says Charles Tuttle, leader of a group of entrepreneurs in North Carolina. Don't worry if this statement raises a red flag for you. Although taking time off can be especially challenging and downright impossible sometimes, it's important to know that you can do something to make it happen. It takes deliberate work on your part and here are a few simple ideas to get you started.

Find a way to make work fun. If your work is stressful, build in laughter to ease the stress and tension. Take frequent breaks to stretch or breathe if you're sitting all day. Fun makes the passing of the day more enjoyable. Try it and watch your fabulous day unfold!

Take leisure time in smaller chunks. Look at opportunities to journal, meditate or read between appointments and activities. It may seem pointless but it goes a long way in developing your time management skills while caring for your need to unplug. Tap into a little bit of spare time in your productivity process. It's a great way to balance the scales in your favor!

Plan personal time on your calendar. Your calendar reflects your commitment to priorities or what's important in your life. Typically, if you set aside the time on your calendar, you will observe it. Plan, then act to ensure you're creating plenty of break time and doing something important in your life. You'll have a greater sense of integrity and accomplishment at the same time.

Consider taking time off on a weekday. Who said you can only have fun on the weekends? Take time off in the middle of the week or even at the beginning! You'll be surprised at how imaginative you'll become while creating your fun time.

Identify unconventional ways to take time off. Time off may mean snuggling on the couch in your favorite bathrobe. It may also mean turning the ringer on the phone off, turning the TV and radio off or going to a park to feed the ducks. Your assignment (should you choose to accept it) is to get away from your business - whatever that means for you. Most entrepreneurs are in business because it offers freedom and flexibility so learn to capitalize on it!

Acknowledge yourself weekly for your accomplishments. What you do is hard work so pat yourself on the back for it! Select rewards that nurture and care for you like a facial, manicure, massage or other spa treatment. Treat yourself to a movie or read a good book. The more you acknowledge your progress, the more you'll enjoy the journey!

Reward yourself for completed projects. You deserve a reward for completing the big projects in your business. Accordingly, let the reward match the milestone you reach when you complete a project. Plan a day trip, weekend getaway, or seven-day cruise. Whatever you enjoy, these are moments to treasure. Establish your reward at the beginning of the project so you'll have an incentive to motivate to move you forward.

These are a few simple ideas to help you practice taking time off from your business. Remember, whether you're just starting, squeezing a few moments out here and there or in full throttle, taking time off is good not only for you. It's great for your business, too!

Wendy Y. Bailey is a Personal and Business Coach with Brilliance In Action, a professional coaching organization that helps women entrepreneurs, business owners and business professionals blend their personal and business lives. For more information, visit www.ebrilliance.net

MORE RESOURCES:
RELATED ARTICLES
Find The Time -- Before Its Too Late!
People always seem to be in such a hurry, everywhere I go.  Always rushing to get to the next thing, as if someone is holding a stopwatch over their head, timing them to the second.
Priorities: Dont Dry Your Dishes
Do your dishes really need to be dried, or could you just let the water evaporate? If you spend just 5 minutes per meal drying dishes, that equals a quarter of an hour per day, or 91 hours each year.Imagine spending almost four days in a row standing at the sink drying dishes.
Procrastination - Understanding & Overcoming it
Whenever I've worked on 'de-cluttering' my living or working space, I've always found that it's the unfinished project - whatever I'm procrastinating about - that takes up the most room.Physically, it's a constant reminder of something I tell myself I SHOULD be doing.
Prioritize with Two Questions
"Because there will always be something more to do, we need to consciously choose what we are doing."-- Helen KsypkaWhy is it such a challenge to prioritize?We have enough to-dos to last for a lifetime.
Realistic Time Budgeting Tips
I'm sure we've all had the experience of having a certain block of time available, and our to-do list tasks or goals that we want to accomplish in that time frame, only to turn around at the end of that period of time to have the frustrating experience of not getting nearly enough done that we thought we could. What happened? Where did all the time go? This can be in our personal / family lives, our jobs or our businesses.
Just Remind Yourself
This is one more article on "Organizing and Enjoying Your Life". Much has already been written about this in magazines, books and on Internet.
Living Life In A Time Starved World
Recently I saw an advertisement for a time management booklet: "Shorter deadlines, competing priorities, endless meetings, interruptions and even higher quality expectations are just some of today's time challenges. And yet the number of hours in the day remains the same.
What is "Life Balance" and How Can You Attain It?
We all face decisions that involve doing things that affect competing priorities. We all have three different lives or worlds that compete for our attention, energy and activity.
Vilfredo Paretos Principle: The 80-20 Rule: 80% of Results are Produced from 20% of Efforts
Vilfredo Pareto's Principle, or The "Pareto Principle," is more commonly known as the 80-20 rule. It suggests that a ratio of approximately 20% to 80% can be found as an effective measure for most things in life.
Delegate or Drown
Why waste your precious time working on tasks, which are definitely not your forte when you can delegate or invest your money on a product or service which will free up your time? You can then focus on the more important areas in your work and your life.Debbie's StoryDebbie was the Director of her own computer company, employing four staff.
Time Management: Setting up your Schedule for Success
Would you describe yourself as extremely busy? Do you often feel tired and stressed out? Sometimes our ambition is our worst enemy. Many of us with big goals try to do way too much.
Schedule Time for Interruption
One of the most challenging situations people face when planning their day is how to stick to their schedule when they are constantly being interrupted.   Just when your activities are organized, someone else's emergency seems to get in the way.
What Would Save You Time?
We all get overwhelmed from time to time, and sometimes it seems as if 24 hours a day is just not enough to get everything accomplished that we would like. Let's consider this a brainstorming session.
Where Do Your Priorities Fit?
An expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students when he decided to do an experiment. He pulled out a large mason jar, a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one by one, into the jar.
Time Management: 11 Tips
Work more efficiently and be more productive using these time-management tips:Use a timer.Pick one item on your to-do list, set your timer for 15 minutes and get to work.
Four Simple Ways To Take Control Of Your Time And Your Life
It's been said, "That no one has enough time yet, everyone has all that there is." Simple concept - except when you're living your life in the multi-tasking lane.
Keeping Time
What keeping time really means is..
Time Management Basics
"At my back I always hear time's winged chariot hurrying near."Time management begins with the realization that without some thought and planning, we are likely to waste a great deal of time in the future and have already wasted a huge amount of our life span in the past.
Tips to Manage Your Time
Time and money are both very important in business. Yet, like me, many business people tend to give a lot more specific thought as to how to spend their money.
Reading -- 10 Ways to Find The Time
Why Read?It's been said that there are three kinds of knowledge:? What you know ? What you know that you don't know, and ? What you don't know that you don't know.What you know is an asset.