.Summer is just about upon us which means it’s time for small business owners to make an important decision: do you take a summer holiday with the family or not? Compared to marketing plans and cash flow this may seem a bit little lower down on the priority hierarchy; but let me tell you that there’s nothing more important than keeping your work/life balance in mind.

I know many of you will be thinking: there’s know way I can take any time off, there’s too much work to be done! But the reality is that you just may need this holiday.

It’s always important to understand what makes up a healthy work/life balance. Of course the right balance is dependent on lots of different factors such as life stage, priorities and responsibilities. Naturally the priorities of a young entrepreneur will be different from those of someone with a family, and should be taken into account when developing your own personal balance.

But the key that’s common to everyone is moderation. There is nothing wrong with doing overtime to secure a promotion, a deal or finish some important work. For a small to medium-sized business, it is important to be willing to put in some extra work to succeed. However there is often a blurry line between working hard and working too much.  

When going that extra mile comes at the cost of health and relationships, or missing an important family event, it’s time to reconsider the importance of work in your life – and reassess your priorities.

Australians are one of the worst developed nations at taking annual leave. On average we use about 16 days per year – and young people are taking even less these days.

Despite how busy you think your business might be, you’ve got to take a step back and put things in perspective. Research shows that work-related stress is a huge barrier to productivity, and you may not even recognise it.

Your to-do list at work will always be there. You have to come to the realisation that you will never get to the end of it. Maybe it’s more important for your mental and physical health, and the health of your family relationships, if you left the office alone even for a week and concentrated on unwinding.

Once you’re actually on holidays, the biggest mistake you can make is to take the office with you. Modern technology means that you could pretty much a normal day’s work from anywhere in the world. But that’s no way to enjoy your ‘time off’. Some tips for letting go while you’re away:

• Build a cone of silence around you on holiday – this means allocating a small window of
each day where you can check emails and your phone, say half an hour. Outside of this
time period, turn your phone and computer off.

• Plan ahead so that you don’t have to worry unnecessarily – get to-do’s finished, assign
employees certain jobs and responsibilities for while you’re away, and let people know y
ou won’t be contactable.

• Holiday well by doing relaxing activities, leaving the watch at home, not organizing too
much and forgetting about commitments.

Don’t read this and think of reasons why it doesn’t apply to you. Realise that taking time off to recharge is just as important as building your business. No business person on their death bed ever said, “I wish I’d spent more time at work!”

http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com.au/Article/ToHolidayOrNotToHoliday