Should You Take Time off During the Holidays?

The holidays are a time for joy and relaxation, but as business owners, we often struggle to find the balance between work and play. In today's episode, I share a pivotal moment in my journey when I learned to prioritize and set boundaries, a decision that completely transformed my business and life. Through my story, we delve into how to disconnect from work during the holidays, without losing momentum or success.

Dive into practical tips on how to communicate effectively with clients when you're off, and how to make a triumphant return without feeling overwhelmed. Remember, the road to success isn't just about working hard - it's about working smart and taking time to recharge.

In this episode, I talk about the following:
1. The importance of prioritizing boundaries and taking intentional breaks.
2. The steps to follow to effectively take time off. 
3. The importance of clear communication with clients about time off plans.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 2:07

Are you a woman who runs the world but know you need a little support to Listen up? Through coaching clients and pursuing my own health and ambitions, I've found getting to a goal takes more than just willpower. It takes a mindset restart and learning how to adjust and not quit. In this podcast, you'll hear from women out there leading the way in momentum, and I'll be sharing impactful mindset strategies to help you get out of your own way. Whether you're on a health journey, starting your life after a big change or trying to keep up momentum towards your passion project, with all the ups and downs, this is for you. It's time to decrease the things that hold you back and increase the things that move you forward towards a life that you want. I'm Amber Bebelheimer and this is the Momentum Restart Podcast. Welcome to.

Speaker 2: 3:00

Momentum Restart Podcast. This is episode 92 and I'm your host, coach Amber Be. Let's talk about the holidays and taking some time off, some much deserved and needed time off during the holidays, and how to do it. I will never forget my oldest son's seventh birthday. I had decided that I will take a call on the evening of his family party here at the house, and it was a big deal to have this call. This was a time when I was doing a lot of speaking in different coaches, groups and sharing my new momentum restart with them, and so I was really focused on expanding my network, getting my message out there, which was so important to me, and I was so thankful for all of the opportunities I was having to share this message. One of these messages in particular, this coach wanted me to speak to her group on this particular night, which happened to be my son's seventh birthday. And tell me if you can relate to this.

Speaker 2: 4:11

I remember looking at my calendar and thinking, okay, it's an at-home birthday night, it's going to be Mike and I and the boys. We have cake, I make his favorite meal, we open presents and I think to myself it's just going to be 20 minutes. That word there just is a dangerous one. So if you find yourself saying that, I want to encourage you to pause and really think through what that just is saying At this moment, honestly, what happened is by me saying it's just going to take 20 minutes. I was tricking myself in my brain to think first that it was only going to take 20 minutes, when I knew I knew my heart it wouldn't, because there's a preparation time. I love to show up beyond prepared when I'm speaking in a group and there was preparation time. There was just the time on my brain and I would kept thinking and looking at the clock. I kept thinking about how long it was going to take and trying to time everything right at the birthday party so I could sneak away upstairs to speak. And when I did, it went longer than 20 minutes and then I followed up. I have steps that I always do after speaking and sharing my message in a group. I always make sure to follow up with the host. I make sure to save the video and send it to him. There's a lot of steps that came. It did not just take 20 minutes. It was really distracting me from what was mostly important to me that night, which was it was my son's seventh birthday. I will never get that night back. He will never turn seven again.

Speaker 2: 5:56

It was a really unique time that I really noticed that I need to be extremely intentional. This was a turning point, a huge turning point in my business. I really needed to be super intentional about how intentional about how I was going to grow my business. And this is where, to give you an idea, my son just turned nine. So two years ago, this is when my business really shifted, because this was when I decided I am never going to say just again and I really began my quest for learning the art of boundaries in business with my clients, for my clients, with myself, and really getting clear on how I wanted to build a sustainable business. And that's when I remember putting a stake in the ground and saying on social media that's when I started putting almost every weekend I'd say 45 out of the 52 weekends of the year I turn off my phone and delete Instagram from my phone so that I'm fully focused.

Speaker 2: 7:03

Because I went through this process and realized what do I want my life to look like? How can I fit my business into that life instead of the other way around and having your business run our lives does not feel good and I don't want to miss out on those moments. Both are important to me. My business is extremely important to me and I know you can relate to that. But we have to be intentional about how we're planning our business. We have to be intentional with our boundaries and how we're setting up our business and through Momentum Restart Coaching, one of my favorite things to do is helping clients determine how and when they're going to take time off.

Speaker 2: 7:48

These are some of my most favorite one on one calls with clients, because I can see that excitement in their eyes and just their whole demeanor just get lighter on a call, realizing, oh, I can do this, I can take time off. And with the holidays coming up, I've heard clients ask can I, should I take time off? How do I take time off? And every time I've helped a client determine how and when and how to effectively take time off, they always come back refreshed, creative and connected more to the life that they want. It's really a win-win for their life, their business.

Speaker 2: 8:31

Now I understand right now you might be flooded with questions of thinking how. I'm going to show you how in a minute. How do you do it? How do you get paid? You don't have paid time off like a corporate job. Plus, you might be feeling like you work so hard to keep things moving and taking your foot off the gas feels scary, like what if you lose momentum? I'm going to walk you through the process that I take my clients through on these one-on-one calls to help determine when you should take time off and how to do it effectively to keep that momentum going and to make that time off so valuable in your personal life and your business.

Speaker 2: 9:14

So the first step is determining should you, should you, take time off? And I want to encourage you here you don't have to just because others are, and you don't have to take time off the way that others do. It is your prerogative when and how you want to take time off in your business. You know what your values are and whatever they are, that's right for you. When you determine to take time off, I really encourage you to try to take some time off quarterly, and this I found that we have to take at least at least three days off. I encourage you to take a full week off quarterly, but at least three days, and that's because we really honestly need that detox time from technology. As business owners, we need that detox time to not be so tied to our client's needs and to really take a day or two to shift from that constant grind to spending time on your own. And after those two days of detox, then you're going to be able to really fully enjoy your time off. So the first step, really, when you're deciding, should I consider when you want to take time off and how long. Again, I always recommend at least three or four days. If longer, a full week is perfect, because then you're actually going to get to enjoy that time.

Speaker 2: 10:52

And then the next step is to ask yourself how do you want to feel? How do you want to feel on your time away? This is really important because, again, you don't have to plan your time off the way that everyone else does. You're planning it off for you. So determine what is this time. What does this time mean? If it's over a holiday, maybe it's that you want to really connect with your family. If it's over a vacation, maybe it's that you want to really recharge. Whatever the reason is behind it, that's going to help determine how you set it up. So really ask yourself how do you want to feel during this vacation and after, and this can help you determine these next decisions.

Speaker 2: 11:34

A few decisions that you're going to jump into next are considering what tasks do you need to have done ahead of time? So, knowing you want to feel XYZ, let's say you want to feel really connected then what tasks do you need to have off your plate and done, wrapped up, so that you don't have to think about them and you can be 100% engaged and connected? You're also going to put a date on it. With the holidays coming up, I always encourage clients to have everything set up for December and wrapped up by December 15th. That gives you a little bit of cushion if there's a few days over, but then enjoying the holidays gives you some time when you have everything set by December 15th. Determine as well, based on how you want to feel, if you're going to check in. Now there's, I'd say, about half more than half of my clients, including myself, like to be able to have a day to check in, because it just helps us feel better knowing everything is going well. But I want you to think if you're going to check in with your clients and how things are going or sales or whatever you're going to check in on during your time off. Plan ahead what that's going to look like.

Speaker 2: 12:52

Checking in doesn't mean showing up and putting out fires and emergencies. It means you're going to have a specific day when you're going to check in with specific, predetermined people or tasks, and you're going to know what you're going to do ahead of time. Is it checking in to answer questions? Is it checking in to if there's a problem that needs to be solved? You're going to then know that what it's going to be handled when you come back. But you can approach it in the middle on that check-in day To let them know I'm here. I will handle it on this date. Predetermine so that it doesn't throw you off in the middle if you're going to check-in in the middle of your time off. So predetermine when you're going to check-in if you even want to. You don't have to Predetermine if you will check-in how, what day? What it's going to look like.

Speaker 2: 13:47

A big question I hear a lot is what about social media? A lot of you have businesses with a huge online presence and if you aren't hiring out your social media, it's a full-time job just running your social media. There are a lot of ways to take a break on social media that won't necessarily pause your momentum. One of those I recently did, which I talked about in a few episodes ago, of setting up a nine-grid and also a three-grid. These were different resources that I used, working with Ruthie from Consistency Corner and worked with her to help set up a nine-grid and a three-grid for both my page and the resource restart collective page, and also on Coach Amber B, so that I could feel like I could pause and step away and work on these big projects that I had this huge project of getting the journal up and running, launching the resource lounge, spending some much-needed time with my family and recovering for myself from this past year of wonderful craziness, so that nine-grid really gave me some room to breathe.

Speaker 2: 15:01

Actually, now that I've had about a month without writing content and just showing up on stories, I am really excited to get back into writing content, as creativity has been starting to bubble up again. I've been just putting them on a shelf, putting all those ideas in my notes on my phone, and I know when it's time to write my content, next week I'm going to open it up to a huge page full of content, ideas and plans, and I'm going to be so refreshed because of it. That's. One really powerful way to step back is to have either just a three-grid pinned to the top of your page or a full on nine-grid. There's other ways, too, that you can step back, and that could be planning a piece of content to be scheduled ahead of time as well. Even stories can be scheduled ahead of time.

Speaker 2: 15:54

A lot of people love to share your trip or your holidays and all those things. You can post that a recap at the end of your trip, because there is nothing like being fully engaged with the people in front of you without having a phone. There's nothing like it and it is so worth it. At the end of our trips to Colorado, I try to wait as many days as I can. Usually it's about three or four days and then I feel like, oh, I have to share this. It's just so good. Try to wait as many days as you can before sharing all the amazing things that I know you want to share with your people and your followers and your clients on social media. Try to wait to the end and do a recap of everything that you've done. There's a lot of ways to work through keeping social media going without having to be in it every day.

Speaker 2: 16:47

Now, really important. The last two steps that are super important to make sure that you're going to be effective in this. Taking time off is one making sure you're letting your clients know exactly what to expect when you're going to be checking in, how you're checking in, what days you're going to be back and don't feel guilty about it Not even for a second. Every business that is brick and mortar has hours and has days off and has holidays where they're closed. Just because you're a person running a business with an online presence doesn't mean you have to be open 24-7. You can determine that ahead of time when you're going to be available. Just communicate it really clearly and effectively early and often and my favorite tip, always when you're planning vacations or holidays or time away is having a comeback plan.

Speaker 2: 17:45

Making sure that you are going to plan your top three for that day when you come back, before you even leave for holiday. Put it on a post-it, put it on top of your laptop. Make sure those top three things that you're going to work on that day are really easy, because, yes, you're going to be in a little bit of a brain fog that first day when you're switching gears from resting by the fireside watching Christmas movies or sledding with your family to going back to work. And that's okay, that's normal, that makes sense. So have, give yourself some grace. Make it easy for you to get back into the swing of things with a simple list of to-dos that first day that are already predetermined for you. Because even though you think right now you won't forget what has to be done, you will, and that is a blessing. You will forget what has to be done because you're going to be so engaged in the people in front of you and restoring and recovering and resting and celebrating and having fun. You're going to be so engaged in that. I hope that you forget what has to be done. So you're going to need that post it sitting on top of your laptop with your top three things that you're going to do on that comeback day. Side note there should always one of those three should always be something personal. You'll see that in the 90 days of momentum planner and journal, one of those top three, always personal. Maybe it's unpacking, and that is okay.

Speaker 2: 19:17

Next week I'll be sharing a little bit more about how you can incorporate some paid time off into your business, because, while you may have created a great plan today on how to take time off, you could be asking yourself but how do I get paid for it? As a business owner, you are 100% responsible for your revenue and your income. I understand that taking time away can feel a little scary. Now you have a plan, knowing that you're going to be really intentional. You know how to communicate it and you know when you're going to check in and you know how to keep that momentum going.

Speaker 2: 19:57

And next week I'll be sharing more about how to incorporate paid time off into your business plan so that you can feel confident that you're also getting paid while you're sitting next to the fire, phone off, sipping hot chocolate, playing game of Scrabble or whatever game it is that you love to play with the whole family. Because you decided how you want to feel and you made the steps happen. Thank you for listening to this episode of Momentum Restart Podcast. I would love to hear what you think about it. What were your takeaways? What action steps do you?

Speaker 1: 20:39

now want to take DM me on Instagram at CoachAmberB, and let's keep this conversation going.

Speaker 2: 20:45

I promise I respond to every message I get. Talk with you soon.