What it was really like to take FIVE weeks off
Not long ago, I took five weeks off from work.
(Yes, you read that right: Five weeks!)
It's the longest consecutive amount of time I've ever taken off in my 17 years of being an entrepreneur and leader.
I blocked it off on my calendar a year ago without knowing exactly how I’d spend the time. I knew I would be going on a family trip to Portugal for half of it, and I wanted to allow the rest to unfold organically. I wanted to challenge myself to take a summer sabbatical and spend time with myself and with my family.
For one year, I kept those five weeks blocked. It was hard to do.
There were so many times I was tempted to book a meeting or a speech over it. But I wanted to keep the promise I made to myself—and I did. I spent half of those five weeks exploring Portugal and half the time at home, enjoying a staycation with my family.
I’ve been back at work for about a month now, and I’ve been reflecting on what the experience of taking off so much time was like. I want to share these reflections with you: how it felt, where I struggled, and what I learned from it all.
I suppose we can start by addressing how I felt before I took my time off.
I was excited to have five weeks off, yes, but I was also afraid. I worried that the business would slow down because I was slowing down. I worried that if I wasn’t working, we would lose momentum, and that my decision to take time off would impact our long-term results. I was worried about taking a break from posting on social media—which I shared in my last post before I flew to Portugal—and that going silent online for weeks would make me irrelevant.
When I think about where these fears really come from, I believe a big part of it is my own programming. I grew up admiring CEOs who pulled all-nighters and slept on the office floor. I thought that being a leader was all about hustle culture and doing whatever it took to be successful. Even today, as hustle culture becomes less and less attractive, I still don’t see many leaders or CEOs publicly acknowledging that they take time off. And those who do often schedule their social media posts so that it looks like they never miss a beat. I guess that in many ways, I felt like I was breaking the leadership/CEO mold by taking time off, announcing it publicly, and choosing not to show up online while I was away.
That was a barrier I had to work through, and I was determined to do it.
I knew that in order to be able to really disconnect, I would need to do everything I could to set up our team, clients, and business for success. I also didn’t want to come back to a ton of work on my plate and a ton of stress. So not only did I look at what needed to happen during the five weeks I’d be gone, but I also looked at what was happening in the three weeks after I returned.
I prepped for every speaking event I had during those eight weeks. I made sure my team had everything they needed to keep conversations going with our clients. I prepared all of my blog posts in advance. (By the way, I struggled with whether I should pause the blog. Ultimately, I decided not to because the blog is a team effort, and the team could keep it going while I was away. But in every post, I made sure to include a note about being on break. Social media, on the other hand, is something that only I do, and so I wanted to take a true break from that. I think I would do it the same way in the future when I take an extended break, but who knows? Maybe one day I’ll decide to pause the blog, too.) I spent weeks tackling priorities and making plans with my team so that they could support our clients in my absence. My team and I also got aligned on our expectations for the way things would be handled while I was away. I delegated every part of my role to make sure that I didn’t feel the need to be “on” or constantly in my inbox.
I might’ve gone into the trip with fear and worry about becoming irrelevant to the wider world, but I felt so supported by my team and by our clients.
And then, finally, the first day of my five weeks off arrived: The day we would leave for Portugal. I remember how it felt to turn on my “out of office” message and announce on social media that I’d be taking time off. I was sitting in the airport, moments away from heading to my gate. Hitting the “post” button felt terrifying and electrifying all in the same moment. Watching the comments and replies start to roll in was the best way to leave for the trip: I was met with nothing but encouragement. Between that and all the support I had received from our team and clients, I knew deep down that it was all going to be okay.
Even though I went into the trip fairly relaxed, it still took several days for me to feel like I could truly disconnect. I think that often happens when I take a vacation. I naturally have things on my brain that I’m thinking about. With each day, I found myself able to disconnect more and more. I took notes on my phone when work-related thoughts came to mind that I wanted to revisit when I returned from my trip. Just getting them out of my brain and knowing that these thoughts weren’t lost helped me to remain present during my time off.
I also promised myself before I left that if I felt inspired to work on something, I would give myself permission to do that. I didn’t want to set strict rules or shame myself if I felt like working. What I needed most was a break from speaking events, meetings, and work travel, and I had that for sure.
Out of the entire five weeks, I would say I spent about 10% of my time on work. There were a few times when my husband needed to work on some things, so I joined him at a coffee shop and caught up on some of my own work. Anytime I did that, though, it came from a place of truly feeling inspired to work.
Toward the end of my time off, I began to have a lot of ideas about the future of our business, probably because I’d had the chance to truly unplug and connect with my creativity. I would go on walks and jot down ideas on my phone, but I never once felt pressured to do even that. Throughout the five weeks, I followed my energy.
There was one place I really struggled, though: team meetings.
Every week, our team has a meeting we call huddle. Before I left, I set the expectation that I wouldn’t be joining huddles while I was in Portugal, but I might pop in and say hi for some of the others. Five weeks is a long time to be away from my team. I didn’t want to feel disconnected from them, and I didn’t want them to feel disconnected from me. I didn’t want our culture to suffer. So I strategically scheduled our huddles at times when I knew I could opt in if I wanted to. We left it at this: The team wasn’t expecting me to join these meetings, so if I showed up to one, it would be a surprise.
I really thought that I would show up to a meeting or two, but I never did. Once I was off, I realized that I really needed a break from everything, including team meetings.
There was one day in particular where it was a tough choice for me. I knew the team was meeting, and I hadn’t seen them in weeks. I could have joined, and I even felt like I “should,” but I didn’t want to. I didn’t feel like it. So I didn’t, even though I was afraid I’d made the wrong decision.
I probably don’t need to tell you that not one fear of mine came true. Our business did not stop. We did not lose momentum on our goals. I don’t think anyone even noticed that I took a social media break, and our relationships and culture didn’t suffer one bit in my absence. I returned completely refreshed and with so much clarity about where I want to take our business in the future. I also came back to a fully ignited and empowered team.
This time off taught me so much.
It showed me that our culture is not going to fall apart just because I'm not there.
We have worked so hard and invested so much time in creating this incredible foundation for our relationships as a team that even if I or someone else on the team needs to step away for a while, it won’t just crumble. (And that’s not just my perception: We had our quarterly review soon after I returned, and one of the things that we talk about is our relationships. We each rate on a scale of 1 to 10 how we felt about the strength of our relationships during the quarter. Then, we take the average of the score and compare it to the last quarter’s score to see if it went up or down. This last quarter, our relationship score was a 9.5 out of 10—just as high as the previous quarter. The score did not drop, even though for five weeks out of a 12-week quarter, I did not see or interact with my team.)
It also showed me that I had a limiting belief about taking time away from my business. If anything, it’s the best thing I can do as a leader to show my team that I believe in them. This is what leadership is about: Step back so that others can step up and lead.
I’ve decided that from now on, I’ll be taking five weeks off every summer. It’s enough time to really disconnect, and that’s what I need the most. In fact, I’ve already blocked my time off for next year! The best part is that my team are the biggest encouragers and supporters of my decision to make it an annual sabbatical for myself.
We all need breaks. Five weeks might not be realistic for you, but what is? What does your version of this kind of break look like?
Maybe you have PTO that you haven't touched. What can you do with it? How can you take time for yourself?
Let’s hold each other accountable. Let's talk about taking time off, and let's model it so that we can change our programming around leadership. The best leaders, I think, take time for themselves.
How will you take time for YOU? Hit “reply” on this email and tell me when you’re taking your next break and what you’re going to do with it!
We’ve got this!
Big hugs,
