How are you spending your Easter Weekend?

We’re just about to go into the Easter weekend, with a lovely four day weekend stretching out in front of us. It’s the only four-day stretch on the calendar when it’s generally accepted that most people will be off. So how are you going to spend yours?

There are several options that you might want to consider:

1. Take the whole four days off

This is a great way to have a sustained period of time away from your business. It’s a chance to recharge, to catch up with friends or family, to go away or just to indulge in box sets from the sofa. Four days is a lovely long time to get some distance on the business and return feeling refreshed.

2. Work one day and take three off

Two short weeks, coming back to back can be hard for small businesses. Momentum on projects slows, and the end of another month arrives before you’ve hit your goals. By working one day out of the four available, you could be adding one ‘super-productive’ day to one of the shorter weeks.

You may not be able to get decisions out of your customers if they’re away, but you can use the time to drive your business in other ways. No business owner can honestly say they don’t have any projects on their to-do list that have been a little stuck. Use this one day to be really focussed at getting a selection of those ticked off. How fabulous would that feel?

3. Take a ‘normal’ weekend and work two days

If you surveyed business owners, very few of them take a ‘normal’ full weekend. They might spend Saturday morning catching up on admin, emails or social media. For some there’s industry magazines to work through on a Sunday, or proposals to write while the office is quiet.

For others, it’s just a habit.

The great opportunity that Easter presents is to have a ‘full’ weekend, and still have two days when you can get all of those chores done. You come back feeling that you’re in a good place at work, but you’ve also been able to have some down time too.

4. Work all four days

This really isn’t the ideal option for lots of reasons! It is however a great option if you’re struggling, whether to clear a backlog, make some ground, or to plan your business strategy. Taking the opportunity of gaining four, full, focussed days could get you into a much stronger place, especially if you go into it with a plan.

• Make sure you have a clear focus on what you want to achieve.
• Make sure you have the support of those closest to you; the aim is to come out of Easter feeling bitter. Arguments at home won’t help that!
• Make sure you have all of the information you may need to draw on before everyone else leaves for the weekend.
• Plan to minimise any disruption or disturbances, even around things like needing to go out and get lunch; if you’re sacrificing the long weekend you need to make the absolute most of it.

Whatever you decide, make sure you make it a conscious decision. Don’t just drift into a mix of all of the above, working for a while across two or three days in an unstructured way, and not really achieving very much. The forecast and the opportunity are too good to waste.

Enjoy your Easter, however you choose to spend it!