How to Take Time Off in the Summer as an Entrepreneur (Without the Guilt)
Can I be honest with you for a second?
I spent 8 years as a physical education teacher. And the BEST part of that job – hands down – was summer.
Two months off. Pool days. No alarm. Uninterrupted time with my kids.
So when I left teaching to run my business full-time, I told myself I'd still get that. Flexible schedule, right? I'm my own boss. Summer is MINE.
And then June hit.
And I kept working my normal schedule. And then I felt guilty when I stopped. And then I felt resentful when I didn't. And then one day I was sitting at my kitchen table at 4PM responding to emails while my kids were outside, and I thought... this is NOT what I signed up for.
Here's the thing – nobody gives you permission to stop working when you're the one in charge. That permission has to come from YOU.
So this is your permission slip.
You are ALLOWED to take time off this summer. You are allowed to close the laptop before everything is done. You are allowed to go to the pool on a Tuesday and not feel like your business is going to burn down.
But here's the reality... it doesn't just HAPPEN. You have to set it up. And the biggest piece of that? Boundaries.
Not the fluffy "just set better work-life balance!" advice. Real, specific boundaries that you actually enforce.
Here's how I do it.
STEP ONE || Get clear on your priorities (the quick version)
Before you can set any real boundaries, you need to know what STAYS in your schedule and what goes.
That means figuring out your Income Producing Activities – the things that actually bring in sales. Sending emails to your list. Posting on social. Following up with leads. Promoting your offers.
Those don't go away in summer. Everything else? That's where you start cutting.
If you're not sure what your IPAs are, ask yourself: "What do I do that most directly leads to someone buying from me?" Start there. Those are your non-negotiables. Everything else is negotiable.
STEP TWO || Build your summer schedule (also quick)
Once you know your priorities, block out when you're working – and communicate that to your family.
For me that looks like protecting mornings for focused work and leaving afternoons open for the kids. Or taking a day off mid-week and making up a little time elsewhere. There's no perfect formula, just a schedule that actually matches the summer you're trying to have.
Write it down. Tell your people. Now you have something to hold yourself to.
STEP THREE || Set boundaries that actually stick
Ok THIS is the part that changes everything. Because knowing your priorities and having a schedule means nothing if you don't actually protect them.
Here's what real summer boundaries look like for me:
ONE || Stop creating new stuff after May.
I know this sounds wild, but every summer I make a decision to stop creating brand new content once June hits. No new blog posts. No new email ideas from scratch. Everything gets repurposed. (🤫 don't tell anyone.)
This alone saves me HOURS every week. And honestly? Repurposed content performs just as well – sometimes better – because it's already proven.
If the thought of this makes you anxious, ask yourself: does my audience KNOW it's repurposed? They don't. They just see value showing up consistently.
TWO || Say no to the "good" stuff too.
Guest expert spots. Podcast interviews. Collaboration opportunities. These feel hard to turn down because they're not bad – they're actually really good for your business.
But in the summer, I'm fully booked by May with that stuff specifically because I know June and July aren't available. When something comes in after that, I say no – or I push it to the fall.
Here's why it matters: if I say yes and I'm not fully present, it's a disservice to the person who invited me in. AND it eats into family time when I have to prep and show up for an hour or two.
Say yes to the right season. Not every season.
THREE || When your workday ends, it actually ends.
This one is the hardest. And also the most important.
If you told your family work stops at 3PM, your laptop better be closed at 3PM.
Not "just one more thing." Not a quick check of your phone while you're watching a movie. DONE.
It takes real self-discipline. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. But here's what I've learned: the work will always be there. Your kids asking if you can come to the pool THIS afternoon will not.
The boundaries you set on paper only matter if you actually hold them in real life.
You CAN take time off this summer. You can go on vacation without checking your email every hour. You can take a random Wednesday afternoon off and not feel like you're falling behind.
But it's not going to happen by accident. You have to decide what stays, build the schedule, and then actually protect it.
That's the whole system. Plan. Prioritize. Protect.
If you want a tool to help you do that every single week – summer and beyond – the SYS Planner is exactly what I use to make sure my priorities stay front and center, even when life gets loud.
And if you want a free starting point, grab the CEO Weekly Reset – a quick weekly planning exercise that helps you go into every week knowing exactly what you're doing and what you're protecting.
Here's to a summer you actually get to enjoy. 🙌
