Christmas is coming!!! I don’t know about you, but I LOVE the holiday season. I think I’ve gotten even more into this time of year because of my son, but whatever the reason: the busiest time of year is almost here. Since I went full-time in my business, I had one rule for myself. I would take 2 full weeks off over the holiday season to just be with my boys while my husband was also off for break. I truly try to take a real out of office week every quarter of the year, but it doesn’t always happen. My spring break and holiday dates are non-negotiable, though. I know for many business owners, the idea of taking two whole weeks away from your business is daunting. It was for me at first too. But, I’ve learned a few ways to prep my business for the time off in the holiday season and I want to share them with you today! I hope you can think about giving yourself a well-deserved break this year!
Send reminders A LOT before you go out of the office.
For my clients, I try to remind them as soon as October 1st about time off for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The dates stay in my monthly newsletter to them until January, and any time it comes up, I remind them again. There’s no such thing as reminding your clients too much. You’re establishing a very hard boundary – so make it easy! And remind your contractors, too! Not only do they also deserve a break and time off, but make sure all work is wrapped up for the time your company is taking off so everyone can rest and relax! Seriously, start preparing as soon as you can so that you’re not scrambling at the end to cram in work. Especially if it’s just because you didn’t forewarn someone!
Do what you can and let go of the rest.
I make a massive to-do list on December 1st that has every single thing I need to do before I go out of the office listed. Every blog post, invoice reminders, even a note to set up my out of office auto responder. This list is my guide for the last two weeks of work for the year. Sometimes, I get a little overzealous and think I can accomplish way more than I do, but I put it on there anyway. As the days wind down, I’ll make sure to focus on what’s most important (client work and getting paid!), and let go of the rest. If I had a big goal to put something out for my business, it may just have to wait until I come back in the new year. And that’s perfectly okay.
Turn off notifications.
I don’t know about you, but I have notifications everywhere: email, voxer, Asana, slack, Trello. And when I put that ‘out of office’ auto responder up, every single one of them is paused, too. I am TRULY out of the office and unavailable to clients (barring emergencies which literally never happen because it’s CHRISTMAS). Everything can wait until I come back, refreshed, in January. Is it weird? Yes, of course it is. But I need the time to recharge for myself and for my clients.
Honestly, I look forward to these two weeks every year. I love what I do and who I work with, but I need the time to recharge for the new year. And, I need the time to truly connect with my family. I spend time resting, baking, enjoying the holiday season to the fullest, and it’s always such a beautiful time. I hope that you can take some time this year to recharge!!
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