How to take a day off from your startup without feeling guilty about it

Often entrepreneurs share that they don’t have the luxury to take weekends off; even just one day off per week seems unachievable. This sounds exhausting and can be very harmful to one’s productivity and motivation. There are ways to treat yourself with the enjoyment of having the weekend off, knowing that you are still helping your startup. Here you can find five things entrepreneurs can do to avoid feeling guilty that they are not working hard on their startup’s growth for a day. 

Accept that you need day off

Even if you think that you don’t need a day off, you should know that your body and mind can’t function at their best levels under constant stress, tiredness and time pressure. Entrepreneurs must understand that they are not machines and that they need to take some time off in order to keep their focus and prevent burnout. You can’t feel guilty for something that you really need. After all, your business venture is based on following a dream and vision for innovation, which can’t become reality without long and hard hours of work, and long and hard hours of work must be followed by deserved break and time for recharging. So, accept that you need this time off to continue being able to meet the demanding weekly schedule. You are not letting down your vision by taking a day off; you are letting yourself down if you don’t take one.

Plan your day off

Put your day off in your schedule. It may seem strange, but this approach really works. Once it is in your schedule, it feels like it is part of the work flow. Make sure that everyone at the office knows that this will be your day off and if something is not extremely important, they should not bother you.

Concentration

Days off really pay off only if they are used right. It is like the work process – you need to be fully concentrated on your work to complete all tasks on time and make them perfectly executed; so, you need to give your full attention to the relaxation in order to feel 100% relaxed in the end of your day off.

Do something different

Creativity is very important for all successful entrepreneurs. By doing something different on your day off, even if it is not work related, you are able to enrich yourself and open up to new ideas. Days off are great time to practice hobby, to read, even to learn new things. The switch of your focus will help you get in touch with different aspects of your mind, which can be very useful for the rest of the work days.

Network

Use the time off to attend networking events. It is exhausting to attend big networking events and it can’t count as a good option for a day off, buy why not to organize small meetings with other entrepreneurs over coffee and just discuss ideas while chatting. Expand your business horizons by attending interesting gatherings and still enjoy the time off.