Do Entrepreneurs Really Take a Month Off? 

As entrepreneurs, we have enough stress throughout the year trying to win customers, bring on employees, raise money and sign deals with vendors. We may have enjoyed, or even taken advantage of these breaks in our “past lives,” but once you become an entrepreneur we can’t understand how this ever made sense. Most of us also don’t understand how the world could be so insensitive to our efforts by taking time off when we need to get shit done. Often, we console ourselves by feeling lucky we don’t live in France, where many can’t be found for the better part of the summer. We say to ourselves, “How can a whole country can take off weeks at a time?”

It used to bother me to no end that customers, vendors, employees and investors would say, “Well, it will be hard to get something done in August,” or “We’ll have to wait until the new year because December really slows down.” Don’t they understand what we are going through? Don’t they understand how important it is to keep the ball moving forward? 

Do Entrepreneurs Really Take Holidays Off? 

Come to think of it. This doesn’t only apply to August and holiday time. How often do friends and colleagues ask, “Are you off for Columbus Day?” Or Martin Luther King Jr. Day? Or Presidents’ Day? Or Good Friday? No disrespect to history or religion and the reasons we celebrate these holidays, but do people not get it? There are no days off. Even when the rest of the world has the day off, we do not say to ourselves, “No one is working anyway so it would be a good day to take a break.” Quite the contrary. We say to ourselves (because no one else is around), “This is the perfect time to get work done. The phone won’t be ringing and there will be no distractions.” 

What If There Was Entrepreneurs’ Day? 

If in the interest of celebrating the entrepreneur, the country declared an “Entrepreneur Day” and offices throughout the world were closed, none of us would take it off. Even if they made it a federal crime to work on Entrepreneurs’ Day, we would sneak around with disguises like a beach bum sitting on the beach with our laptops covered in palm fronds or hidden in the shadow of a low umbrella while we work on the new sales plan.

I used to say that my next venture would be to extend the twenty-four hour day. If we can’t do that, we could try to eliminate all holidays—or at least Christmas and August—and get back to work. After all, we have a business to build!

What Should We Do On the Holidays?  

Part of being a good entrepreneur is using your creativity to get things done. Of course we get frustrated when we cannot get the rest of the world to act on our (unrealistic) schedule. But try to make the best of it.  A good entrepreneur knows that his or her brain needs a rest.  Take some time to appreciate friends and family and experience the good cheer of the holiday season.  And on those days when no one else is working, use it as a time to plan. Work on your plan for next year. Work on your plan for your product.  When the rest of the world is taking a break, it gives you a chance to actually think – something that I’m sure you don’t feel like you do very much during the year.

It’s one thing to say the rest of the world doesn’t get it. It is quite another to recognize that this time of year is to celebrate, take a break and even to think a little.  I know we have things to get done. I know we are impatient.  That’s fine. Just try to appreciate the time and use it the best way you can.  

Don’t worry. I haven’t given up on my efforts to create the 30 hour day. I’ve raised some money and we have a prototype.  In our focus groups, people are working 30 hour days and cranking out more work than ever before. And I promise you once the 30 hour day comes to life, you will be the first to know.  We still have some bugs to work out – like when it is light and when it is dark.  And how we make it work across different time zones and cultures. And yes once we launch it we will be working on the 40 hour day right behind it. In the meantime, try to enjoy the holidays.