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Feel like you’re trudging through the same day again and again?
The 90’s Bill Murray comedy classic Groundhog Day tells the story of weatherman Phil Connors who gets trapped in a time warp and is doomed to relive the same day over and over again until he makes amends for his bad attitude.
If the demands of your business make you feel as if you are trapped in a perpetual Groundhog Day, taking a break might be just what you need to get out of the loop and refocus on what matters most.
According to cloud accounting company Xero, almost 6 in 10 small business owners across Australia have not taken a holiday in more than a year.
Running your own business is a big commitment – not only to your future financial viability but also to those people who depend on you as their employer. So, it’s no surprise that stepping away from the helm can feel like a captain being the first to abandon ship.
However, that never-ending cycle of day-to-day business can leave you down deep in the trenches – with little perspective and often a sense of no end in sight.
Unlike the captain on the sinking ship, all is not lost if you give yourself a break. A real break. Time away from the office – a short or extended holiday – may be exactly what both you and your business needs.
The benefits of taking a break
Believe it or not – taking a holiday can save both yourself and your business. Working day in and day out can lead to exhaustion and burnout, which can have detrimental side effects on not just your business’ bottom line, but also your health and wellbeing.
Here are five reasons your business needs you to take a break
- You will return feeling refreshed, relaxed and energised – meaning you have more to offer your business and staff.
- Relaxation leads to creativity – the solution to that niggling problem you’ve had in the business may well reveal itself while snoozing poolside in an exotic location.
- Taking yourself out of the day-to-day operations may offer a bird’s eye view of your venture and its potential future. Stepping back means you can be more strategic.
- Discover the hidden talent in your business. Your absence offers key staff the opportunity to step up and show their broader value to your business. Future succession planning will be best positioned for success if you’ve already identified the potential leaders in your venture.
- Your health and relationships will be brought back into focus – meaning you are not distracted when focusing on business matters.
Most importantly, when you look back on your life are you going to regret that one week you took off work – or the one week holiday you missed with your family?
If your business requires your daily input there are ways to deliver this without actually being on site all day every day. Thanks to emerging technologies its now easier than ever before to manage your business anywhere and anytime. Cloud-based platforms like Xero, Zoom, Slack, Asana, Trello, Hootsuite, HubSpot and too many others to list here may mean you never have to set foot in the office ever again!
Preparation is key
Before you take that well-deserved break set in place arrangements to ensure your business keeps ticking over:
- identify key responsibilities you can delegate
- train appropriate staff to manage your key priorities while you are away
- schedule in advance activities which can be automated
- identify what needs to be managed remotely and schedule a strict and short window of time each day to resolve these tasks or issues
- keep your customers, business associates and suppliers informed about your absence and who to contact while you’re away
Taking time off should be as much a priority as any other element of the business, says Happiness Concierge Rachel Service: “It’s more useful to see holiday time as an investment that will pay off in the long run — for the wellbeing of you and your business.”
Bigstone Finance can offer fast, flexible loans from $10,000 to $5,000,000 for assets and equipment for your business.
