There are many different jobs in the world, some more stressful than others. Being an entrepreneur comes with incredible pressures. Sometimes the stress comes from the fear of not being able to make payroll: Will employees still have a job next week, next month, next quarter or next year?
Other times, the entrepreneur is grappling with the pressure of not being able to return borrowed capital: Well-respected people have trusted him or her with millions of investment capital. Will it all be lost? And then there’s market pressure, one competitor nipping at the company’s heels or another one to chase.
Most people take yearly vacations for a break from these stressors. Often, however, entrepreneurs can’t take a complete break, either because they are incapable of removing themselves from their work or their jobs so intense and the need to make decisions so incessant that even when they take a breather, work follows them.
So why exactly does a work hiatus help? Here are some reasons:
- A break can remove someone from stressors.
Each person operates at optimum productivity with a different level of stress. If you find yourself burned out from stress, unimaginative or just plain unhappy, then taking a break can be a fantastic thing.
Everyone has something that they would like to do. Some people have goals that are quite modest. Others have quite extravagant ideas. Taking a break is as much about a person’s realizing what he is passionate about as it is about removing him from the source of stress.
- It reminds a person of what’s important.
When you can gain some physical and psychological distance from the constant pressure of achieving set goals and actualizing your dreams, it will help you to look at the big picture. You can see if you have been over-involved in one aspect to the detriment of others; you can even decide to do a big chop and do away with whatever is causing the imbalance or the source of the stress. Would you rather spend more time with family than make an extra naira? A break gives you the time to reflect on all of life’s big questions.
- It can open up new professional opportunities.
When someone takes a hiatus, many people are interested in hearing about it when she returns. Life experiences like this make for great stories and show that a person is brave and confident and a leader. Hiring companies may be intrigued by such tales. For better or worse, people are judged by what they’ve done most recently. So those planning to take some time off should do something meaningful.
If it’s impossible for financial or personal reasons to recharge this way, take a short vacation and think about what’s wrong and what can be done to fix things. Such introspection can even lead to the conclusion that a change should not be made.
Sometimes a person isn’t making a change out of loyalty to a company. While that’s understandable, do consider other options when happiness is absent.
All the pressures of life can never be removed and frankly who would want them to be? That’s what keeps life interesting. But when these pressures become too much, doing something else for a while can be just the thing to restore confidence and sanity.
How else can a work hiatus re-ignite your creative abilities? Or do you think it is unnecessary? Do share with us in the comments section below.
Adapted from The Entrepreneur.Com
