Ep 190 - Preparing to take a break from your business

Running an expert business can be exhausting.

You have big demands from your clients, audience, and your team plus the responsibilities that you also hold at home!!!

All of this can sometimes feel too much.

I know I've felt like that many times.

Don't get me wrong I love my clients, my audience, and my life...

...but society puts a lot of pressure on us to run at a pace that is sometimes unsustainable.

Wouldn't you agree?

As an Expert, the ENERGY that you bring to your business is the most defining currency.

In fact, I believe that your energy is more valuable than your time.

That's why protecting and recharging it is crucial if you ever want to build a long term, sustainable, and profitable Expert business.

So I wanted to give you an in-depth and helpful episode all about how to plan and take a sabbatical (without losing your momentum), starting with six reasons why it is so important to take a break from your business to have a change of scenery.

1/ Taking care of you is the only way that you're going to be able to take care of the business.
 

I know that if I didn't have boundaries around my work time and my down time, my schedule would be so full all the time that I would never get any downtime, and never get any time off.

As a consequence, the business would suffer because I'd have no creativity, no imagination, and my resilience would run dry. Energy is our most valuable resource that we have, so taking care of your energy is the best thing for taking care of the business so you don’t get burnt out. 

There's always going to be hard seasons in your business, and there will be times where it's like, there's no light at the end of the tunnel. And this is where you need to realise that taking care of you is the only way that you're going to be able to take care of the business, your clients, and the level of delivery you're providing..

2/ A different environment creates a different perspective.

One of the best parts about business is that it's never the same. In this zone of asking, “What's next?” “How can we bend?” “How can we adapt?” We have to always be looking at things with a fresh perspective .

It's often called the "helicopter view" in business - to be able to rise up out of the weeds and kind a top-down look on our business. And sometimes we'll get stuck in the weeds, and just can't see the answer. That’s where travel can help immensely

When I travel - and it's why I'm so addicted to travelling, I think - is because this different perspective is almost instant, and it’s truly magical. 

3/ A break allows the grey matter in your brain to rest.

Think of your brain like a muscle. If you were to go for a big long run, and hurt your legs, you wouldn't be able to walk for a few days.

Your brain is the same. When we work our brain, day in day out, without really giving it a rest, it’s overworked. And then we get fatigued because our brain is trying to conserve its function, and it's crying out for us to "please stop."

Often we will just push through that , and personally I need the travel to let my brain get happy again, because it gets tired from doing so much of the work that I love. 

4/ A break from your business will give you quality time with friends and family. 

I spend a lot of time with my family. We have breakfast together every morning, we have dinner together every night. We talk a lot, we chill out at nighttime, we'll do our homework together. And while we spend a lot of time together, it's not like “Adventure Time”.

When I travel with family or friends, it becomes “Adventure Time” and I will switch everything off, and I'll just devote to them. Whatever it is they want to do, we will do it - and that’s real quality time that my kids remember.

Those Adventure Time stories are the stories that they really enjoy, because it's a different perspective, and it's outside of our normal life. 

5/ It’s the very best way to grow your imagination.

Every time I travel, I’m amazed by how seeing so many different things can just blow my mind, grow my imagination and expand what's possible!

6/ Sometimes you need to build your resilience back up again. 

I'm sure every business owner can relate to this, but when you work too long without a break, your resilience runs out. Problems that would normally be handled right away start to stress you out so much more than they typically.

I have never met a business owner who has not been in that situation, and when you get there it's either too late and you need to go on a break immediately, that is exactly the time when you plan the trip. 

And there's nothing wrong with that.

You need to give yourself a break because you need to have energy, imagination, resilience, great perspective and creativity. And I want that for you, which is why I am gifting you with my very best travel tips and resources right here.

Happy Holidaying!