In 2023, I spent most of the first week of January doing absolutely nothing productive. What I realized is that nobody is making actionable decisions during the first week after the holidays. Most people are a little hungover (literally AND figuratively) from all the socialization, tasty snacks, family time and the occasional sip of champs over the two preceding weeks.
Many people’s inboxes are PILED high with unread emails and piddly tasks to accomplish, and no one has time to be focusing on the big picture (just yet).
So instead of doing anything that was actually helpful for me or my clients, I created busy work because I was “supposed” to be at work.
Sound like you last week?
I get it — even though we started our businesses with freedom in mind, it can be easy to fall back on old (corporate) habits, or just go with the flow of what everyone else in our lives is doing — aka going back to work once the holidays are over.
But me? I’m not doing that anymore.
Because absolutely nothing gets done the first week of the new year, I now schedule that off as a holiday for me. I can either read books all week, or work on the next biggest project for my own business, but what I don’t so is busy work OR client work during those first precious days of a new year.
This helps me ease into the new year, find my footing before any big decisions need to be made, prioritize my own projects over the next few months, do some planning, and RELAX above all else. There is NO BETTER feeling as a business owner than NOT having anyone waiting on you to produce anything. It literally feels JOYFUL to be able to ignore my inbox during that first week and only focus on the things that are most important to me.
And, rest assured, my clients were aware of that break well in advance. This wasn’t a surprise, it was something I started communicating at least 4 weeks before the holidays so no one was caught off guard, because I planned for this time off a whole year ago.
So if you’re always left wondering why you didn’t manage to take any of the trips or see any of the people you wanted to this year, even though you broke out of those old corporate ways because you wanted the freedom to be wherever you wanted, whenever you wanted, this Youtube video is for you.
I’m letting you in on my secret weapon for making sure vacation gets blocked off on my calendar waaaaay in advance — and the only secret is that I do it *right now* instead of waiting until it’s too late to take the time off.
Check out my latest Youtube video, and be sure to schedule your vacation time NOW (yes, literally right now)
