Switching Off Without Crashing – A Smarter Approach to Holiday Rest

In this final episode of the year, Nicky unpacks the challenge so many high-performing business owners and leaders face – how the heck do we actually switch off for a holiday?

Whether you're gearing up for a well-earned break or finding yourself sprinting to the finish line, this episode is a must-listen before you hit "out of office." Nicky offers a real, no-fluff look at why true rest requires more than a few beach days or a change of scenery – it requires a conscious transition of energy.

You’ll learn:

• Why rest can feel so damn hard when you’re used to going full tilt
• How to avoid turning your holidays into “sick leave in disguise”
• The power of embracing boredom for deeper creativity and clarity
• A practical breakdown of the “Energy Edge” – a framework to shift gears intentionally
• The small, 1% shifts that help you reset without guilt or overwhelm

This episode isn’t just about the holidays. It’s about reclaiming your energy, setting boundaries that stick, and bringing more joy back into both business and life.

Because smart business growth starts with you – healthy, energised and in your zone.

Check out the 4-Part Healthy Hustle Framework poddy ep here

Learn more about Nicky at nickymiklos.com

Grab The Growth Code™ here!

Get your a copy of Healthy Hustle: The New Blueprint to Thrive in Business & Life at www.healthyhustle.com.au

Connect: LinkedIn | Instagram

Contact: 0403 191 404 | hello@nickymiklos.com

Music by Jules Miklos-Woodley

Transcript

Speaker: 0:06

Hello, my friend, and welcome to the last episode of Season 4 Smart Business Growth Podcast for this year. Season four will continue into the new year, but we will be taking a little break over the Christmas period. And so this really got me thinking about this time of year that a lot of us are going to be resetting, recalibrating, refocusing, perhaps taking a holiday. I appreciate for others it's not that time of year, it's the peak period. So this could be a good episode for you to come back to for when you are going to be taking a holiday. But it really got me thinking around to this reality that so many of us face. When we take holidays, how the heck do we switch off? How do we transition from that go, go, go big energy of doing all the things to actually switching off or relaxing or, you know, as I said, resetting and recalibrating. It actually is easier said than done a lot of the time, particularly for high-performing folks like us who are juggle juggling lots of different things. And, you know, work can be kind of addictive. Sometimes in a really good way, it's a fun, awesome thing. And sometimes it can be addictive in not such a great way. You know, the in the book we talk about the six signs of entrepreneurial addiction. We have a podcast episode on that talking about the six signs of unhealthy hustle that are really connected to and actually are the six signs of addiction. So I'll pop a link to that podcast episode in the show notes. So make sure you check that out. And even if you're not in the state of unhealthy hustle, entrepreneurial addiction, addicted to work, all of those things, it can be really hard to transition to a holiday and relax and rest. So that's what I want to talk about today is how can you do that? And I think transition is really the key word there. Hopefully, you're not getting to your holidays and feeling utterly depleted, exhausted. Hopefully, your holiday isn't actually going to feel like sick leave because you've pushed too hard. Ideally, we want to get to a holiday and not actually have to sleep for the first 48 hours plus to recover. Ideally, we want to get to a holiday and be looking forward to it and have the energy to be able to maximize that holiday, whatever it means for us. And so, in order for it to be like that, there are some things that you have to have in place before you even get to the holiday. So really think about, you know, if that's how you're feeling now, that you're running to the finish line, you feel so exhausted, and then you end up getting sick, or, you know, you just feel like you're recovering, not an optimal place to be, but you need to put things in place way earlier than when you're at the holiday in order for that to not happen. And that's a worst case scenario. So if that's you, really start thinking about what you're putting in place now for your next break. But even if we're not at that point, it's still the transition is that key word. We still need to transition from that big energy of go, go, go in the business, getting the sales, getting the revenue with the team, time with the team, all of those things to this different energy of rest, relax, and recuperation. And that also looks really different to different people. So I reckon the first question we need to ask ourselves is what do I want this holiday to be? It's almost like, what does a successful holiday look like? If we can get clear on that, then we know what energy we want to bring. And there's a transition. So what I mean by this is for some people, you might want to do adventure and activities and going hiking. You might want to bring in some different movement, you might want to bring in different hobbies. For other people, it might be actually more going to a beach, lying down with a book, and just chilling out for a week. There's nothing wrong with either, as long as we're not overpacking because we're distracting ourselves because we're don't want to be on our own or we don't want to be silent. You know, there's there's an unresourceful behavior where we keep things too busy, even on our break, because we don't like the silence. And I'm putting that in inverted commas, whatever that's the silence means for each of us. Um, you know, it reminds me of when I used to drive home when I worked at an office and I would ring Jules on the way home and talk to her the whole way home because I just didn't like the quiet. I didn't want the boredom. But we want, we need to embrace the boredom. Boredom is actually really, really healthy for us and really good. So again, it's the intention behind it. So, what does success look like for us for a holiday? How do I want to feel at the end of the holiday? Really try and have a balance of if you are a person that wants to do things in your holiday, awesome. But also try and bring in some of those elements of boredom. Boredom is when creativity happens. Another way of looking at that is time doing nothing, time in stillness. So, first thing is get clear on what does success look like for your holiday. A quick interruption to this podcast episode. I'm really curious, do you want to close more sales in less time? If the answer is yes, which I hope that it is, then you need to get your hands on the growth code. It is going to give you three proven frameworks and tools that will help future-proof your business and scale with clarity. All you have to do is head down to the show notes and click the link below. Think about the energy shift. And again, transition is that key word because there will be a transition, just like when we've had a good holiday and we have to come back to work, that's there's a transition in energy. It's the same thing when we're settling into that week or two or a few weeks or whatever that time is on our break. A cool way to look at this is through the filter of the energy edge, because it really is all about energy. And if we look at the energy edge, the energy edge is a pyramid, and we can bring this into every single day of our lives. So imagine there's a pyramid, and at the base of the pyramid, it's things like sleep, water, and movement. Whether we're on holidays or not, what is the sleep, water, and movement that we want to have as our cornerstone? The second layer, just above that on the pyramid, is actually looking at our body and mind consumption. In other words, what are we consuming in our body, drinking, eating, and what are we consuming in our mind? Equally as important. You know, the diet of the mind is equally as important as the diet of the body. So we can actually think here, okay, how do I want my body and mind consumption to be while I'm on this break? So what does the body and mind consumption look like? Let's not get caught in the doom scrolling whilst we're not being distracted by work, because that's just another distraction. And then the next layer is actually about boundaries. What boundaries do I need to put in place in order to remove the energy drainers? So boundaries, when we're moving in that transition from go, go, go work to a holiday, it's really easy to have poor boundaries around work. It's really easy to jump on our phone and quickly check our emails. It's really easy to check in with the team because again, we're looking for that distraction, but it's almost like we don't know what to do with our hands. And so we need to replace it with something else. And that comes to the pointy bit of the triangle of the pyramid, which is actually what moments of joy or things that bring us joy do we want to bring in? And that really responds to energy gainers. When we've got boundaries in place, so we're not sending those emails for work, we're not checking in with the team, it gives us the time and the space to bring in more gainers. Now, I'm talking about this right now in context of when you're taking a break, how the heck do we switch off? But this is really relevant for day-to-day as well. It's just the context is different. But as we go into this end of year, new year period, when you're taking your break, really think about what does a successful holiday look like? Is it relaxing? Is it some adventure? Is it a mix of both? What are my patterns of distraction that I know are not resourceful, but they're avoiding boredom or it's that itchy finger syndrome. And then get really clear about what does the sleepwater movement need to look like in this holiday? What is my body and mind consumption? And most importantly, what boundaries do I need to put in place? And all of that is to create the space and the energy so you can focus on the top of the pyramid, bring more gainers in for your holiday and more moments of joy. Now, that could be things like sleep, extra sleep. That could be reading. Again, it's all the things I talked about before. It could be uh going on an adventure, going on a hike, picking up a new whole hobby, traveling, but not putting too much in there. It's like, how does this bring you joy? I trust that there's been some good tips for you to think about in terms of how are you going into this holiday period or how are you going to any break that you have going forward so that you don't feel so exhausted and depleted, but also you can really make the most of that trip transition into enjoying and refueling and resetting. If ever you're in doubt, always find the middle ground. Be kind with yourself. And it could be the 1% shift. If you know that your habit is to still work on your holiday, maybe it's about success looks like doing that less. Maybe it's too much of a stress stretch to completely switch off. But what are some no-go zones or boundaries you can put in place? Only you know what success looks like in this context, and only you know what that 1% shift needs to be. But really, hand on heart, be honest with yourself so that you're actually setting yourself up for success and you can come back revitalized, refreshed, and you know, it's the next phase and the next evolution. I cannot wait to be joining you again next year. I'm gonna be doing all the things that I've just shared with you for myself to make sure that I make the most of this really beautiful time. I wish you all the best, sending you so much love. Thank you so much for joining me uh up until this point for the I think 11 episodes that we've already done this year. Season four will continue next year. I'm so excited about all the cool guests that I've got coming on uh lined up for you and continuing to really delve into this space of smart business growth so that we can truly embrace this place of time freedom, which guys, really what time freedom means is freedom of choice, choice of where you get to spend your time in this one wild and precious life that we all have. So let's be intentional with our choices, let's be conscious about this stuff as we move into this next phase and evolution, whatever that looks like for you. Always feel free to reach out if there's a specific topic that you'd like me to focus on. And if not, I'll see you on the flip side.