Don't wait for burnout to pack your valise
What did you all do during the holiday weekend?
Our last-minute plan was to go to my father-in-laws summerhouse and leave my laptop at home.
The drive is about 90 miles and my husband and I promised each other we wouldn’t go out to eat because money was a bit tight these days. The plan was to ride our bikes and catch up on some reading.
Even going on this mini vacation with the kids was sort of a luxury because of gas prices. But to heck with common sense, I needed a break from my hectic schedule.
Seems like many of you small business owners out there are feeling the way I am. But should we be waiting until the breaking point when we say goodbye to work?
 |
| Roy Morsch / Corbis file |
|
Most entrepreneurs, nearly 60 percent, are throwing caution to the wind and planning a summer vacation, according to the American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor semi-annual survey. That number stayed steady with last year’s findings.
High gas prices and the generally tough economy doesn’t appear to be dampening your plans to relax.
But too often the driving motivation to take a vacation, according to the survey, is stress.
Nearly 35 percent of those polled said they “take a break when they’re stressed or have had enough, up 10 percent from spring 2007.”
Bad idea, says Kathleen Hall,
the founder of
The Stress Institute.
“Taking time for vacation is not a luxury it’s a physical necessity,” she maintains.
Waiting until you’re stressed to pack your valise, she adds, is plain old dumb because stress can lead to physical diseases, depression, and obesity.
So, she advises entrepreneurs to plan a vacation just like they do quarterly reports and meet with their accountants. Do an assessment of your schedule and include time off, a long weekend will do, she suggests.
“The most successful people don’t live in a workaholic mode. Very successful people take time away from their work so they can reflect on it and be able to look at their work in a deeper, more creative way,” she says.
I know. Money is tight to be jetting off every three months. But paring down the vacation fun will help with financial stress.
Some of you are already doing that. The American Express survey found 20 percent of small business owners plan to take a less expensive vacation this year. And it seems women are even more cautious -- 27 percent of female entrepreneurs said they planned to reduce what they spend on vacation, compared to 18 percent among males.
OK, I’ll admit it, I’m the penny pincher at home, but man I miss eating out.
