The holidays provide a perfect time to remind businesswomen about the importance of taking time off from work. From entrepreneurs to corporate executives and everyone in between, taking a vacation can easily become one of those things that gets relegated to the bottom of the list of priorities. Women are particularly prone to feeling guilty about taking time off from work, but believe it or not, your absence for a few days or even a week is not likely to make or break your business. I read a great article at AllBusiness.com today that provides Ten Tips for Planning a Vacation from Your Home-Based Business, but I think many of these tips apply to all vacations and time away from work of any kind. Following are several tips I think are most appropriate for businesswomen:
- Stop waiting for the right time: The right time will never come. Waiting for the right time to take time off from work is like righting for the right time to get married or have a baby. It’s never the right time. Just do it.
- Keep business communications to a minimum: You can’t get relief if you can’t let your voice mail take messages for you.
- Provide an emergency contact: There will always be a coworker or client who thinks the world will end when they can’t get in touch with you instantaneously. Make sure you have someone identified as a backup for you to weed out those “the sky is falling” coworkers or clients, so you only have to get involved in true emergencies during your time off.
- No regrets: That’s it. No coming back to the office and saying, “I never should have taken time off.” Enjoy your time off and don’t look back with anything but great memories. Your work will still be waiting for you when you get back, and you will catch up.
I am a firm believer in the need for people to take time away from work.  A break can help people re-energize and return to work more focused and ready for anything rather than just trying to get through the daily grind. Don’t try to be all things to everyone. Take some time to rest, relax and regroup. You deserve it!Â
You can read all ten tips by following the link to All Business.Â
Do you have any other tips to help businesswomen take some time away from work?Â
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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