The run-up to Christmas often brings a familiar tension for business owners. On one hand, the festive break is marketed as a chance to completely unwind and recharge. On the other, you may find your thoughts drifting to year-end numbers, people issues or plans for the year ahead.
At TAB, we work with hundreds of business owners who share the same experience, and the same question: should I be doing more to switch off?
The answer? Not necessarily.
Let’s be clear. Time away from the day-to-day is important. Stepping back from operational pressure helps restore perspective. But the idea that success at Christmas means fully switching off, mentally and emotionally, doesn’t reflect the reality of business leadership.
For one thing, some business owners only have two days off at Christmas while others might have a whole two weeks. For some leaders, Christmas is the busiest and most stressful time of year, but for someone else, it’s the quietest.
As a result, the narrative of ‘switch off or you’ve missed it’ sets a bar that often creates more stress than it relieves.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to engineer the ideal Christmas: quality time with family, a digital detox, a break from emails, a feeling of total rest. But this expectation can be unrealistic and even counterproductive.
The truth is, most business owners don’t operate in on/off mode. Your business is a part of your identity, and that doesn’t disappear with a calendar date. Trying to suppress work thoughts or beat yourself up for checking in on things can add unnecessary pressure.
It’s okay to think about your business over Christmas. It’s okay to note down an idea that surfaces over dinner or reflect on the year while out on a walk. The key is to reduce intensity, not shut down entirely.
Rather than striving for a total mental break, consider simply changing gear. The Christmas period is a natural opportunity to slow down. Fewer meetings. Fewer urgent calls. Less noise.
Christmas is a good time for some safe-care as a business owner.
This shift in pace can actually create space for the kind of thinking that’s hard to do during busier months. No looming deadlines. No decisions that need to be made by 5pm. Just space to breathe and assess the bigger picture.
If you’re looking for a structured way to approach this, consider how you can manage your time differently over the holidays to make room for rest, reflection and light-touch planning.
One TAB member, Kristina Snarskiene (Buff & Bare), recently shared:
“My advice would be take time to stop and do something that you enjoy, something for yourself.”
You don’t need to be productive over Christmas. But if you find yourself reflecting in those moments you might take out, that’s not failure. That’s part of how you lead.
There’s a lot of talk about being “present” over the holidays. And while this can be meaningful, it doesn’t need to be perfect.
Spending quality time with family and friends is important, but it doesn’t need to be wrapped in guilt or perfectionism. You don’t need to plan every moment or meet some unrealistic standard of togetherness. A quiet conversation, a walk with a friend, or simply watching a film with your phone on silent can be enough.
And let’s not forget, your relationships with those closest to you aren’t defined by a single week in December. If this year feels especially pressured or chaotic, there will be other chances. January can still bring moments of connection. You don’t need to get it all right, right now.
As a business owner, how you approach your own time off sends a signal. If you tell your team to rest but respond to emails throughout the break, you’re setting a precedent, even if that’s not your intention.
A more effective message might be:
“Take the time you need. If something is truly urgent, you know how to reach me. Otherwise, let’s all use this time to reset.”
By modelling a more balanced approach to rest, you give others permission to do the same.
Every year, we see TAB members wrestling with how to “do” Christmas right. The pressure to fully unplug can feel like yet another item on the to-do list. But business owners don’t need another performance metric.
What you might need is time. Space. A shift in mindset. And the acceptance that it’s okay to be a little in-between – not fully off, not fully on.
So this year, try approaching Christmas differently. Not with the expectation of perfection, but with the intent to pause, to reflect when it feels natural and connect when it matters most.
If you're using the time to reflect on what growth really means for your business, that’s not work but leadership at a deeper level.