Summer is just around the corner, and if you haven’t started planning for a scheduled time to step back from your business and recharge, now is the time to start. Not only will taking time away from the office help you recharge and come back sharper and ready to perform at your absolute best, it will also allow you to test your systems. After all, a business that requires its founder to operate normally isn’t a business, it’s a job.

Being able to let go and check out of your business’s daily operations will send a clear message to your team that you trust them. However, there are a few key pre-vacation tasks you should make sure to attend to before stepping out of the office. First, if you haven’t already, figure out who the key members of your leadership team are. Start thinking through the questions they might have as they work to take up the slack your absence will create, and start coaching them on how to handle each individual situation in advance.

In most cases, you are your own biggest barrier to going on vacation. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that you have a great team who knows what they’re doing. Then close your laptop, update your voicemail and email autoresponder with your point person’s contact information, and resist the urge to call and check in on how things are going in your absence.

Article by
Wayne Goshkarian,
Senior Advisor

Wayne Goshkarian in front of his jet