Don’t tell me you don’t have time to take time off

After years of working too much and seeing people work too much, I’ve decided to take action. I created a startup getaway, The Blue House, on the shores of Morocco, where summer lasts all year.

Everybody agree it’s a great idea. People, especially in our over-worked industry, need to get away from their desk, take a step back, and hit the rest button once in a while.

And yet, my days are made of “Oh I wished I could come, but I can’t leave the office,” “Oh darn, it sounds cool, I have too much on my plate but I’ll keep it mind for later.”

But here’s the thing: if you don’t have time to come, then it’s exactly time to get away.

Our brain works like a computer. When we ask too much from our brain, it heats up and then shuts down.

We’ve all been there: we’re asked questions but can’t process them, we need to find a solution to a problem but can’t find a decent one. It gets on our nerves, so we try harder; still nothing comes, and we get increasingly frustrated and angry at ourself.

You can’t force your brain. It will only send you spiraling down.

A new study from Stanford found that productivity drops off so much after 55 hours that there’s no point in working any more. Basically, people who work as much as 70 hours per week — yes, you people who can’t take a weekend off — actually get the same amount done as people who work 55 hours.

As an passionate full-time entrepreneur with a part-time journalist job, I get that taking time off is hard. It takes a lot of self-will and strength to take the counter-intuitive decision to stop working.

Luckily for me, my job is to get people to take time off.

When we’re welcoming a group of overworked startup folks, I do my best to get the organization part sorted out beforehand so that I can spend as much time as possible with our retreats’ participants.

I take the time to have long lunches with them, to hop on a surfboard, to ride a camel at sunset, to start the day with meditation, and to chat until the wee hours of the night.

And it works exactly the same every time. Once the weekend over, I feel happy and relaxed, I finish my workload faster — and with a smile on my face :) — and ideas are flowing again. I reconnect with my mission and the why of what I do, I see stuff I never saw before and remember good practices I somehow lost track of.

And it’s contagious; my new energy spills over everybody else I work with.

Taking time off by yourself is hard; hold yourself accountable.

Tell your coworker to force you to get out of the office, set goals with some friends, join a retreat. Peer pressure can be useful.

Also, let’s be honest for one second here. You know damn well that there will never be a time where you have more time.

You’ll always find new projects that could put your company on the map, new expansion plans that could bring your startup to another level, new endeavors that you feel passionate about.

Nothing is making you “busy” other than yourself. Your company is not going to crash if you take a day off, nobody’s going to die, it will all be fine.

If you don’t take the time, you’ll end up with a burn out, or a few.

Oh, and don’t tell me you’re waiting for your fundraising to be finalized, or you can’t afford it.

Your health and ability to think clearly are your biggest asset.

A morning of sleeping in, a day of not checking your emails, a weekend to the sea, will avoid you a costly burn out, will boost your productivity, and will bring you new ideas. In a word, you’ll go further in a shorter period of time. And time is money, right?

If you don’t do it for yourself, if you don’t care about feeling good and happiness, then do it for your company.

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