Many who dare walk the entrepreneurial path are driven by a desire for a degree of independence and control of their own destiny.
Yet, a good number having embarked on that journey, quickly realise that the reality is often in stark contrast to what they signed up for.
They are busier than ever, have less control than they ever did and often have to sacrifice one of the most finite of resources: time. Soon enough you look back and realise that some of those sacrifices can never truly be redeemed, and the costs are too high to quantify.
5 tips to help you take that holiday:
1. Plan your holiday upfront
Tim Storey. a well-known motivational speaker and pastor says in his audio message Utmost Living that your holiday should be the very first thing that you put into your diary at the beginning of the year; especially if you have a particularly busy life. That’s really great advice for anyone in general and even more so when you are an entrepreneur.
2. Establish proper systems and processes
As an entrepreneur, you need to deliberately set out to enable yourself to live a life that keeps your business from over-relying on you, which could have the combined effect of burn-out, resentment and that feeling of being a ‘prisoner’ to your own business.
It is important to establish simple, effective and documented processes for each of your business’s key functions. In addition, you need to document a system or method of monitoring and managing these processes to ensure they are carried out properly, ideally even in your absence.
3. Groom another ‘You’
Be intentional about developing leadership capacity in your business. This starts first by realising that you can be your business’s liberator or limiter as determined by your attitude to empowerment.
Once that is settled, you need to intentionally go about identifying and empowering an effective second-in-charge (2IC) for you.
Engage openly with them; be clear about your intentions, the development process involved and expectations from both sides.
Once you have obtained their buy-in, raise their performance expectation bar in manageable but incremental measures.
4. Maintain a proper perspective
The business exists for you, and not the other way around. You need to develop a habit of honouring special occasions in your personal life. To honour means, ‘to esteem, to value, to ascribe weight to someone or something’.
So make a decision that you will honour certain personal events such as your wedding anniversary, a loved one’s birthday, your son’s soccer match and the like. The same goes for your holiday – honour the time you set aside to rest.
5. Be accountable to someone
The saying “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” is a pointed reminder that planning alone is not enough. Many successful entrepreneurs have at least one mentor, who is able to help them stay accountable for implementing their plans within specific timeframes.
This is because true accountability breeds discipline and it is discipline that oftentimes breeds success in a set focus area.
Every entrepreneur should find time to take a well-planned and well-deserved rest every now and then because a successful entrepreneur is one who is able to, as Stephen Covey puts it, “sharpen the saw”.
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