The holiday break approaches, and many regional business owners face a familiar tension: wanting to disconnect while worrying about what they’ll miss.

Technology has made business owners constantly available—but constant availability isn’t sustainable. Here’s how to take a genuine break.

The Case for Disconnecting

Business owners who never disconnect face:

Burnout: Sustained overwork degrades decision-making, creativity, and health.

Relationship strain: Family and friends notice when you’re physically present but mentally elsewhere.

Diminishing returns: Working while exhausted produces poor results. Rest improves subsequent productivity.

Role modelling: If you never disconnect, your team won’t either.

A genuine break isn’t a luxury—it’s maintenance.

Preparing Before You Leave

Document and Delegate

Create coverage plan: Who handles what in your absence? Write it down clearly.

Brief your backup: Don’t just assign coverage—ensure they understand what to do and have authority to act.

Document common issues: Create quick guides for situations that might arise.

Test delegation: Ideally, have your backup handle things while you’re still available to catch problems.

Communicate Expectations

Inform clients/customers: Set expectations for response times during your break.

Set up auto-responses: Email out-of-office with alternative contacts for urgent matters.

Update voicemail: Similar messaging for phone.

Social media pause: Consider scheduling posts or simply going quiet.

Prepare Systems

Schedule essential posts/emails: If anything must happen while you’re away, schedule it before you leave.

Set up monitoring alerts: Critical-only alerts that reach you if genuinely needed.

Ensure backups are current: If worst happens, your data should be recoverable.

Verify coverage access: Confirm your backup can access what they need.

During Your Break

Create Boundaries

Set specific check times: Perhaps once daily at a set time, rather than constant monitoring.

Use a different device: Check email from tablet, not your phone. Makes checking deliberate rather than habitual.

Physical separation: Leave devices in one location rather than carrying constantly.

Disable notifications: Turn off email, Slack, social media notifications. Check deliberately, not reactively.

Define True Emergencies

Most things that feel urgent aren’t. Define what actually requires breaking your break:

• Genuine safety issues
• Revenue-critical system failures
• Time-sensitive legal/compliance matters
• Situations only you can address

Everything else can wait or be handled by others.

Trust Your Preparation

If you’ve prepared properly, things will be handled. Checking constantly undermines your break and signals distrust to your team.

Accept that some things might be handled differently than you’d handle them. That’s okay.

Managing Anxiety

Business owner anxiety about disconnecting is normal but manageable:

Recognise the pattern: Notice when you’re reaching for your phone out of habit rather than necessity.

Redirect attention: Have alternatives ready—books, activities, conversations.

Accept imperfection: Nothing catastrophic will happen because you didn’t respond for a few days. Your business survived before smartphones.

Practice: Disconnecting is a skill. It gets easier with practice.

After Your Break

Controlled Re-entry

Don’t check email the night before returning: Give yourself the full break.

Block catch-up time: Schedule the first morning back for catching up, not meetings.

Triage ruthlessly: Not everything that accumulated requires action. Delete, delegate, or deprioritise liberally.

Celebrate what worked: Note what went well without you. Perhaps you don’t need to be as involved as you thought.

Learn for Next Time

What worked well? What preparation or boundary made the break better?

What would you change? Did true emergencies arise? Were they handled appropriately?

What can you delegate permanently? If someone handled something well in your absence, perhaps they should handle it always.

For the Business

Beyond personal wellbeing, disconnecting periodically benefits your business:

Tests systems: Forces documentation and delegation that make your business more resilient.

Develops team: Gives others opportunity to step up and demonstrate capability.

Prevents dependency: A business too dependent on one person is fragile.

Models sustainability: Shows team that breaks are normal and expected.

The Regional Advantage

Regional business owners often have advantages for disconnecting:

Geographic distance: Being hours from Melbourne makes “quick trips to check on things” less tempting.

Community understanding: Regional communities often respect the holiday break more than metropolitan cultures.

Natural environment: Beaches, bush, farms—regional Victoria offers natural spaces that invite genuine disconnection.

Practical Minimums

If a complete disconnect isn’t possible, aim for:

• Check-in: Once daily, brief, at a set time
• Emergency only: Clear definition of what constitutes actual emergency
• Physical separation: Devices away from you except during check-in time
• Present when present: When you’re with family/friends, be fully there

Even partial disconnection is better than constant availability.

The holiday break is an opportunity to return refreshed, with perspective. Technology should serve your business, not enslave you to it.

Take the break. Your business will survive. You’ll return better for it.