I was coming home from one of many amazing fishing trips of this summer with my wife and my friend Kyle. Kyle is a great friend of mine and a partner in Harvest Solar MT out of Bozeman, Montana. I respect Kyle for many reasons. By choice he lives off the grid, he is an incredibly hard worker, and one funny guy. So we are driving home on a Sunday evening from a four day float out of the wilderness just outside of Glacier Park in northwest Montana. It was getting late in the evening and all three of us had to work on Monday morning. We were all starving but I didn't really want to delay our drive home. I kept asking Kyle if he cared if we stopped or if he wanted to get home. Kyle responded, "Don't let your Monday ruin your Sunday bro." Kyle's statement has stuck with me for the past several weeks and I have found that taking this advice to heart really helps.
Working Weekends Sucks
Unless you really want to, working on the weekends is not that much fun. I sometimes work on weekends out of choice because I often like to ski or fish during the week and I need to make that time up somehow. When you are in the early stages of starting your business it can be tempting or necessary to work weekends. However, when working weekends becomes the norm you may be heading down a dangerous path.
Turn Off Your Phone And Email
My wife works incredibly hard with her Hubspot web design service. She got into a routine of un-syncing her email from her phone and ignoring business calls on the weekend. This has proven to be a healthy and positive move for her. While an occasional emergency may come up quite often there is not much that can't wait until Monday. Taking a break from your work email and phone calls is important and can be incredibly refreshing.
Don't Worry About Monday
Monday's can be a tough day right? By the time you get caught up on email it seems like the day is over. Sometimes at the end of a Monday you look back and ask yourself, "What did I even get done today?". It seems like Monday is an incredibly busy day for everyone. The best thing you can do is to stay focused and get stuff done. What you don't want to do is start worrying about Monday on Sunday, thus letting Monday ruin your Sunday.
It can be tempting to browse through your email to try and get ahead. The problem is when you do that before you know it you're typing away and you are a few hours into it. My routine is to check my Monday morning calendar late in the day on Sunday just to remind myself what I have going on. If I have an early meeting or important deadline on Monday I don't want to miss it. However, don't dwell on it or worry about it. Just give your calendar a two minute scan and then get back to enjoying your Sunday.
As important as it is to give excellent customer service it is also important to take a break from work and keep yourself sane. Every time you find yourself working on the weekend or thinking about work next week just remember what Kyle has to say, "Don't let your Monday ruin your Sunday bro."
What tips do you have for taking a break from your small business?
Photo: COO of Harvest Solar MT Kyle MacVean (rowing) and author Matt Roberge taking a much needed break from work
