One of the great things about working in a large company is that there are predictable seasons. You can get into a rhythm of work hard, play hard.

But since I started my own business, I had to get much more intentional about it. I could decide whether to work on evenings, weekends, holidays, and any other days special to me.

I got to define what “holiday” meant to me, personally, and work my calendar around that. Even avoiding workshops on Sundays.

But if you manage people, or work with partners, it’s great to define holidays and time off in a consistent way. Not because it’s an “employee benefit”, but because it establishes the cadence and flow of your business.

I really appreciate that my barber takes Sunday and Monday off, even though I often think about getting a haircut on Monday after my weekend. But she’s entitled to it, and I’m glad to work around it.

I understand that you may need to create “shifts” in order to provide better coverage for your customers. That’s quite necessary in some industries, although perhaps not as much as you might think.

But you can still structure around shifts and give your employees much-needed time off work.

Not because it’s required by the government. Because it’s the human thing to do.