In America and in other westernized societies, we are programmed to equate 8-10 hour days and 40-50 (or more!) hour weeks as “full-time work.” Throw in the average daily commute of 2-hours round-trip, and you are now up to 12 hours. We are guilted into taking two weeks or less for vacation, and most of us use some of our vacation time to “make a few client calls and answer some emails,” or to work on projects around the house that have been living for eternity on our To Do lists. The closet just can’t seem to clean itself.

And women, especially mothers whose jobs are 365-24-7, have the feeling that they are always “on call.”

Most business owners have spent time working in traditional careers where this type of schedule was expected of them. We are told over and over again that as “entrepreneurs,” we must be willing to put in the nights and weekends, and skip Johnny’s little league game or Sally’s recital, to make the business succeed. If you are in the retail business, your store or restaurant is probably open more than 40 hours a week to meet the needs of the public. Vacation time is a joke. Service professionals say, “Vacation? If I don’t work, I don’t get paid!” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people justify their frenetic pace because their “clients can’t live without them.”

If that’s what you believe, then that’s what you’ll create for yourself. That’s why burned-out executives who flee the corporate world often find themselves imprisoned in new business ventures. They leave the company, but they take the mentality with them. Subconsciously they build themselves the same suffocating little box they were trying to escape from, only with new carpet and wallpaper.

It doesn’t have to be that way. And I’ll go as far as saying that, especially for women, it can’t be that way for ultimate success and happiness. It’s unsustainable. It’s impossible to live healthy, balanced lives, with time for what’s important, with the traditional “full-time” model.

The beauty of being our own bosses and having our own businesses is that we get to design it exactly the way we need it. Your “full-time” may only be 10 or 20 hours per week. Or “full-time” may be 40 hours per week with three months off in the summer. How do you do it? It’s simple, really. (Though, admittedly, not always easy.)

1. Decide how much money you want.
2. Decide how much time you want for non-work activities. Then you’ll know how much you can work.
3. Design the business to make the money you want in the hours you have to give.

In order to do this effectively, you will need a shift in perspective. Mainly, you must realize that YOU ARE NOT THE BUSINESS. In fact, the more you set the business to operate without you, the more you collaborate with others, and the more you leverage your time with technology and skilled people, the more stable your business will be.

Chris Barrows, founder of the Coaching Business School, works 4-day weeks and takes 12 weeks of vacation per year. He spends ample time with his family in his second home in Italy, while servicing clients in the U.K. and around the world. Every year he spends a weekend holed up in a remote location with a calendar and a pen, and he maps out his vacation time. Afterwards, he plugs in the remaining days with his business activities. He’s structured his business and his clients to accommodate this schedule. He can hang out the “Gone Fishing” sign, and clients will wait for his return. Just like we are told to “pay ourselves first from every paycheck,” Chris banks his vacation time first at the beginning of the year.

It’s early January, and before your year gets consumed with commitments, I invite you to make a date with your calendar to plug in your vacation time. If you’ve been struggling with how and when to take time off, it is time to redesign your business. Start thinking about how you really want your life and business to be and know that whatever you want IS possible. If you are open and willing to accept new ideas about your business, it’s possible to create a workable business model that suits your lifestyle.

Business design and re-design are some of my favorite projects to work on with clients. Give me a call should you need a hand.