Elite athletes don’t give 100% every single day. They know better.

When they’re training, they know to push themselves to get better, while not pushing so hard that they’ll get hurt.

They know they need to take breaks if they’re going to perform at the best possible level when they need to.

It’s something that we all need to do if we’re running a business too.

Over the last month or so I’ve been trying to nail down a positioning statement that communicates the value and benefit of my services. One I’ve been trying out since late last year was, “take a laptop-free vacation.” This got a lot of reaction — people have strong feelings about it.

But the one I was most surprised by was when I tried variations on, “take a full month off,” or “take multiple weeks off per year.”

One guy told me straight up, “No I won’t do that.”

Another told me, “solopreneurs don’t take weeks off.”

That is categorically incorrect; throughout 2025 I took 1-2 weeks off at a time each quarter. And it’s not because I’m a lucky guy.

It’s because I put systems in place that allow me to do that.

The skepticism is a symptom of hustle culture. We’ve been told for years that in order to be successful you need to work nonstop. The person who puts in the most hours is the one who makes the most money.

This is also categorically incorrect.

The truth is, if you actually want to be good at your job…if you actually want to run your business well, you need to take time off.

Managing your time and energy is the difference between an amateur practitioner and an elite athlete. The latter is going to perform best when they need to instead of always being on the verge of collapse.

There are so many studies that have borne out this fact. They show the benefits are plentiful.

Better sleep. Less stress. Clearer thinking. More energy. All of these things that you actually need to perform well.

You might think that never taking time off proves you’re dedicated to your work. But you’re really just making yourself worse at it.

Imagine if a cross-country skier trained for their event as hard as possible the day before the race and then came out of the starting gate with the same intensity.

They wouldn’t finish the race. They know the day before is a “taper” day, where they significantly reduce their distance. This allows them to have enough gas in the tank for the actual race.

We need to build in recovery time for ourselves if we’re going to run successful businesses. Solopreneurs and small business owners especially feel like they need to be on call all the time.

It’s not true.

As long as you have a good system in place, you can take work-free time off. And you should.

Elite athletes know that recovery is an important part of what they do. It’s the ones who are ready and rested who end up on the podium.

When you take actual time off — the kind where you don't even open your laptop — you come back sharper.

Then you’re in a position to do your best work, grow your business, and bring home your own gold.

My latest from around the web:

PAPER & SMOKE My Everyday Carry for 2026 I love the Everyday Carry (EDC) Culture. It’s such an obvious, inextricable connection to the physical world — even as more tech permeates what we carry on an everyday basis. In other words, it’s the perfect collision of my interests, and the mission of this website. So I thought it would be fun to go through my EDC — what I carry and why it’s important to me. There’s an accompanying video with this article too. Read the Article on Substack

STREAMLINED SOLOPRENEUR How to take more time off STREAMLINED SOLOPRENEUR: HELPING SOLOPRENEURS TAKE TIME OFF WORRY-FREE • S2:E517 How to take more time off 22:41 MORE INFO If today's newsletter resonated with you, but you're still left wondering how exactly you can take more time off for yourself, this week's episode if for you. Listen at Streamlined Solopreneur

When was the last time you took a vacation without your laptop?

Reply and let me know!

Joe