155 Free Days Per Year

Eight years ago I started going to an amazing entrepreneurial coaching program called The Strategic Coach. It has become a big part of my life and I'll probably reference it quite often in my posts.

One of the reasons I joined was because I was working 18-20 hours a day, 6-7 days per week. The program is conducted in group format with roughly 40 men and women entrepreneurs in the same room. One of the first things I remember about the first session was how many men over 50 years old had stood up and said that they worked all the way through their marriages, their kids childhoods and their 30's and 40's and how taking vacations were few and far between. They were building businesses and tending to making as much money as possible but few were tending to their personal lives.

That was a segway into what the program calls Free Days. They are defined as complete days, midnight to midnight where you don't do anything business related. No business meetings. No business email. No business voice mail or phone calls. No reading article or magazines related to business. You get the idea. Sounds close to impossible and believe me, it's easy to come up with reasons why you could never do that or why it's easier said that done. I know. At the time, I hadn't taken a real Free Day in about five years. I worked every weekend and never took a vacation without checking voice mail or email several times - I even canceled several vacations because things were too busy at work. Well, that was about to charge.

Dan Sullivan is the entrepreneur who developed the program and he's an amazing person for several reasons but for the purposes of this post, I'll tell you about one of the things that inspires me the most. Dan takes 155 Free days off every year. Now, that sounds like a lot (and it is) but he sets up his calendar a year in advance so that it works. Everyone in his company and all of his clients know that he takes off 14 weeks per year plus every Saturday and holiday. Now, Dan doesn't have children but he does have a great wife who is also is his business partner and they travel the world visiting all the places they love during their 155 Free Days. Dan theory, which he proved himself, is that if you properly rejuvenate yourself during Free Days by not doing any business-related work, when you are working, you are at peak performance. He had thousands of clients who had never taken Free Days before, now taking time off from working all the time to be with their family. Most of them will tell you that they are enjoying a higher quality of life and getting to know their spouses and their children unlike ever before. The time they spend is quality not just face time. They stopped burning out or feeling burnt out and always approach things with a fresh, clear mind. In fact, most also will tell you that their businesses are better off and that they actually make a lot more money and have a lot more fun when they take more free time.

I set out to try these Free Days and since I always worked weekends or done business-related things on weekends, I started by taking Sundays off. I even stopped reading BusinessWeek and doing email on Sunday nights. I worked my way to taking Saturdays off too. I even stopped returning business calls that I didn't get a chance to return during the week. Stopped surfing the Internet reading articles related to business. Well, before I knew it, with every weekend off, I was up to 104 Free Days per year. Add in the 10 or so holidays and I was up to do 114 Free Days per year. That left me about 8 weeks more to spread out throughout the year. I planned 5 of those weeks to be around the same time every year. 2 weeks off at end of December; 1 week at end August; 1 week around my wedding anniversary at the beginning of November; 1 week around July 4th and three random weeks throughout the year that were flexible for us to plan.

Not only do the Free Days work for me but they give me quality time with my kids and the rest of my family and friends. When I'm with them, I'm not distracted by calls or emails that are work related. When I return from Free Days, whether it's every Monday morning or after a long vacation, I am rejuvinated and ready to go. Fresh ideas. Fresh mind. Guilt free. Whenever I'm feeling burnt out it's usually because I got sloppy with my Free Days, giving execuses to myself for why I can't take them right now or why I need to do something business related on a weekend.

In summary, since I started taking Free Days this is what I've learned:

1. Make the commitment to yourself - I had to decided I was ready for myself and since then it's been a non-negotiable for me not to take them. It's the lifestyle I want to maintain, forever.
   
2. Plan Free Days in advance - I set up my calendar and know which days I'm taking off 1 year in advance. Some are planned vacations away. Others are just hanging out around my home. Some are with the entire family and some are just with my wife.
3. Determine how many Free Days you want to take per year - 155 works for me. If you don't have control of your own time, you might be able to only take 50 or 75 or 100. Whatever works for you - the main thing is to take quality time outside of working, regardless of how much time it is.
   
4. Tell the people around you about Free Days so they can help keep you Free - if I start doing something business-related, my wife reminds me that it's a Free Day. I stop and get refocused and put it away until I'm back at work.

This is what works for me. What works for you?

Comments

[Unity Stoakes]

One of the great benefits I find from taking FREE DAYS is I am able to be more creative, insightful because I have time to think and look at the world from different perspectives...It's great to break away from the routine on a regular basis and I find it helps me be more productive and aware. Thanks for the post skrein.

[Howard Krein]

Any suggestions on how to incorporate free days into a job/lifestyle in which you are not always in control of the time you have off? Is the only way to gain these valuable days by changing jobs/careers?