Why taking a break is good for you and your business.

We know it’s true, but actually stepping away from your business can feel challenging—especially during this season of staff shortages and economic uncertainty.

Many business owners feel the need to ‘pick up the slack’ and keep grinding through the year, while also trying to plan ahead. This is a recipe for burnout.

I often ask business owners: “when is your next break from the business?”

Sometimes I get dates of planned trips, which is encouraging, but most often the response is “when I find the time!”

The truth is we all have the same amount of time each day (86,400 seconds to be exact). The difference between business owners who ‘find the time’ and those who don’t is simple: they schedule it in.

The solution is simple, it’s the mindset that holds us back.

Coach Michael Hyatt said it best: “rest is not the reward for hard work, it’s the condition of hard work.”

Sustainable high performance is only achievable through regular periods of rest and rejuvenation. There’s your mindset shift.

My encouragement for you today is to schedule in the calendar regular breaks from your business throughout the calendar year.

To help convince you, here are 3 reasons why taking a break is good for you and your business:

Refreshed thinking

Every business owner needs extended periods of time thinking about their business, not just working on/in their business.

But fresh thinking requires space. There is great power in pausing; it gives our brain the margin it needs to reset. Without that, we won’t regain the clarity needed for the next season ahead.

Taking time to rest and reflect isn’t inactivity—it’s a strategic activity.

You’re choosing to not focus on your day-to-day work for a set period of time so that you gain new and fresh perspectives of your business and life at large.

Whether it’s being in nature, enjoying a hobby, or spending time with family, space to rest and rejuvenate helps our brain decompress thoughts and experiences. This is essential if we want sustainable mental health and performance.

Related tool: Gratitude Reflection Template

Restored energy and sense of being

When we’re constantly in a cycle of work, we begin to lose our effectiveness as a leader. To achieve sustainable success, we need to break the routine of work from time to time. Otherwise, we lose our stamina and run the risk of burnout.

Rest is powerful: It reminds us that our lives are not just about ‘doing’ as much as they are ‘being’. Being ourselves, being with others. We’re only human after all.

Reconnection to our purpose

Everyone starts their business with a dream to make others’ lives better, including their own. But as the business grows and takes more and more of your time, that passion and purpose can get squashed by the new pressures and demands of success.

As leaders, there’s always a pull to set aside our own well-being for the sake of the business. But that’s not healthy nor sustainable.

At some point, we have to step back and look at the greater purpose of being in business and how that relates to our own purpose in life.

Intentional time away from the business, helps us reconnect with the purpose we envisioned for our business when we first started.

If you’re feeling like you currently exist only to serve your business, perhaps you need a break to recalibrate why you first got into business to begin with.

Written by Lachlan Nicolson.