Two Years Without a Proper Week Off Is a System Problem, Not a Dedication Problem

Two years without a proper week off is not a work ethic problem. You have not had one because every time you step away, something needs you. A call that only you can take. A decision that only you can make. A judgement call that sits unresolved until you return.

Pain: Haven't taken a full week off in 2 years.

The business has built up around you rather than around a system. The decisions you make every day, often without thinking, live only in your head. When you are not there, the decision waits. Someone guesses. Or they call you anyway. This is founder dependency: one of the most common and most avoidable operational risks in owner-managed manufacturing and engineering businesses.

The root is not that you are indispensable. It is that the rules behind your decisions have never been written down. You know how to handle the difficult customer request, when to authorise a discount, which supplier to call when the usual one fails. None of that exists in a form your team can use. So it all routes through you.

Fix: Turn one decision into a written rule.

You do not need to document everything. Start with one decision you make repeatedly, one where your reasoning is consistent but your team still defers to you. Write the rule behind it in a single sentence. Where does it live if a customer asks for a price exception? When does a job go to a second supplier without waiting for approval? Who has authority to reschedule a delivery?

Write it down. Put it in your systemology framework or a shared document your team can find. Tell them it is there. One written rule removes one recurring dependency. Do that twelve times and you start to be able to take a holiday.

Is there a decision your team brings to you this week that a written rule would make unnecessary?

Read the full Friday Fix series at Simpleris Insights.