Everybody need some time off!

Summer vacation coming up and people start planning their vacation. People having an employment have a specified amount of days for vacation. In Sweden it is very generous, the law says 25 days, some have even more. This goes for the bosses too. But I know many of them don´t take any time off at all. They don´t trust people to handle the company if they would leave for a week or two.  They don´t know how to delegate. It is a good way to get burnt out if you don´t take some time off. Are you ready to pay the prize?

Constant tension will lead to constant high levels of stress hormones such as adrenalin, cortisol and others. This will lead to vicious circles where the negative effects of the hormones will be more significant and it will affect your sleep, your memory, your ability to concentrate and it will have negative effects on your blood vessels and heart giving hypertension. And much more. Maybe you already know the feeling. After a while you may be a lousy boss because of all the strain.

Avoid all this by planning for vacation for EVERYBODY in the company. There must be someone you trust enough to let him/her help you. I have written about this before – It is a skill to delegate – but once you learn it is gold.

One way to make it easier to delegate is to be very strict with the Systematic Work in the company. Having a good Systematic Work can be compared with your kitchen cupboard – if you organized it well to begin with it is easy to know where things belong. Having your papers and rules in order will make it easier for someone to navigate the company for a week or two.

As you may have noticed by now – everything is connected. Stress – delegation – Systematic Work – vacation – employees –  and it all ends up in one thing – your health.

Promise me that you will have at least 1 (one) week totally off! If you can have two it is even better. You will get back as a new person with lots of energy and probably also new good ideas for the business. How many days will YOU go on vacation – without connecting to the job? Please tell. Do you have more tips to give your fellow leaders? Leave a comment below.

If you need professional help to less struggling around these issues please send a note. Dr Annika can help you find the best strategies for your situation that will leave you with more done with less effort and more energy to do the hard stuff.

Keep smiling!