Are you ready for some much deserved time off for the holidays? I don’t know about you, but I used to have the hardest time actually taking the time off! Knowing how to take time off for the holidays and plan ahead takes discipline and gumption as a small business owner. 

When the holidays are upon us, it’s so easy to steal an hour or two here and there to get work done. Imagine this, though — Planning ahead to be out of office for the holidays and be fully present with your loved ones. No work to do, nothing else vying for your attention. Just restful, joyful time off!

Whether you want to take a full week, long weekend or just the actual holiday off, there are 4 key things to do in preparation so that can happen.

Communicate your out of office dates a month ahead of time:

Add this to your email signature, bring it up in client conversations, set your out of office. 

Schedule client projects around these dates realistically:

This may sound like a no-brainer, but try to allow yourself as much  buffer on either side of your holiday dates for client work as you can. Don’t put extra pressure on yourself to meet a deadline in those 2 days before or after. Things will inevitably need to adjust, so plan for that.

Plan content ahead of time:

I recommend having your content scheduled for the week you’re back in the office as well, so you have a lighter (as light as possible) workload coming back into the office after time away. 

Own and enforce your boundaries:

This one is so hard – especially for us solopreneurs. If you say you’re out, be out. Don’t answer email, don’t fudge something because someone asks you to. You deserve time off for your family and mental health/self care. If you were working at a corporate job, you’d likely be off. Treat your business the same way. You’ll come back to work rested, rejuvenated and ready to do even better work!

If you’re interested in even more tips for how to plan for extended leaves, be sure to check out these posts as well:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

xoxo,