For many entrepreneurs, one of the biggest challenges of working for yourself is putting your laptop away and enjoying time off from work. If you are heading on vacation in the next few months, you’ll want to follow our top tips here today to ensure you take some real time off from your work. While it can be hard to step away from your work for a few days, you’ll find the mental health benefits of taking a break are well worth it in the long run.

Plan in Advance for Your Vacation

If you know you are going to be taking a week off in the near future, make sure you inform everyone in your business that this might impact. When there are people who depend on your work or who regularly return to use your services, you’ll want to give them the advance notice that’s needed for your time off. While you can certainly take on extra work in the weeks leading up to your trip, we advise you to go steady when using this approach. When it comes to leaving for vacation, make sure you write an out of office message to notify anyone who emails you of your return date. Offer them an alternative contact where possible, which will help to reduce any anxiety you might feel about an emergency taking place when you are away.

Switch Phone Notifications Off

Apps such as Slack are essential for many business owners, but the constant notifications can start to put a strain on our concentration and focus after a while. When it comes to your vacation time, switch off these notifications so that you only check the apps when you feel like it. If you want to take things one step further, uninstall your work apps from your personal phone during your vacation time. This will help you to set clear boundaries about taking time off from work and allow yourself to fully immerse yourself in your time with your family and friends. As much as possible, try to have time away from your phone so that you can give your body and mind the break it needs from work.

Use Screen Time Features

On your phone and other devices, you have the option to limit screen time. Even if you need to do a little work each day or check your emails when you are on vacation, you’ll be able to limit the time you spend in front of screens. Setting these clear limits will help you to remain accountable for your working time on vacation and allow you to spend time with your family and enjoying the destination you are visiting. Sometimes it can be hard to unplug after we are so used to spending all day staring at screens, but these tools can make this transition a little easier.

Trust Your Employees

For anyone who is lucky enough to have a team of employees that they work with, it’s time to let them shine and trust them with their work when you are away. We recommend designating one person to be the point of contact during your trip, who others can contact instead of you. They should be the only person who is allowed to call you during the trip, and this should only be done if a true emergency is taking place. Make sure you explain the type of situations you want to be notified of in advance of your trip to avoid unnecessary communication with your office when you are trying to relax.

Organize Fun Activities

When we are busy enjoying our vacation and exploring everything a new location has to offer, it’s easier to forget about work. For people who struggle to keep their mind off work when they are away, we recommend planning ahead to fill your schedule with fun activities. This will help you to forget about everything else you could be doing and immerse yourself in your vacation. Even if this activity is just sitting by the pool each day or enjoying new restaurants in the evening, you’ll find that with enjoyable activities to look forward to, work is soon forgotten after a day or two of being away.

Set Rules for Yourself

As an entrepreneur, we understand that it may not be possible never to check your emails on your upcoming trip. However, to stop this from taking over your vacation, it’s time to set some clear rules for your work. Make sure you set hard limits for yourself about the amount of time you spend each morning or evening working, and when that time is up, try to walk away from your laptop. If you can, we recommend only traveling with personal devices, as this can reduce the temptation of spending all day catching up on work projects. When you can only access your emails, there’s a limit to how much you can do when traveling, so you’ll soon be closing down your laptop and heading to the pool for the day.

Remind Yourself of the Benefits of Taking a Break

Many of us really struggle to stop working and feel guilty for taking a break. One of the best ways to enjoy your vacation is to remind yourself of the mental and physical health benefits it will offer. When we are exhausted and overworked, it’s not possible to work to the best of our potential, which can stop us from making the progress we’d like with our businesses. When you remind yourself of how much better you’ll feel after a week away from work, it can be easier to switch off and truly immerse yourself in the experience of a family vacation.

By following these top tips listed above, we hope you will find it easier to put your laptop away and enjoy your vacation. We all deserve some time away from work each year, so make sure you are setting clear boundaries for your upcoming trip so that you can make the most of every day in the destination you are visiting.