Exploring The Relationship Between Hard Work and Relaxation, With Justin Allen

In this publication, we focus a lot on entrepreneurship, method, attitude, philosophy, business values, etc. what we rarely mention, however, is relaxation. Taking a break. In the business world, that is a bit of a taboo subject, as you are always supposed to be giving it 100%, not going on vacation.

Yet, there is great value in taking the occasional break, and even more importantly, in recognizing when you need to take that break.

Justin Allen, founder of Executive Security Services (ESS), a highly successful, multi-million dollar security company, had the good grace to answer a few questions for us and it was something he said as a response to one of them that really stuck with us.

We asked Justin what the worst part is about being a self-made man and entrepreneur, in his opinion, and this is what he had to say:

“Understanding when you need to take a break from work. Making the unpopular decisions, letting go of an employee when you know he/she needs the job but its best for the company.”

We agree 100% with the latter part of his answer, of course. Making unpopular decisions and knowing when to let someone go is a grueling, often hated job, and many excellent entrepreneurs and businessmen failed ultimately because they could not do this successfully.

But it was the beginning of his answer that resonated even more with us. The part about knowing when to take a break, which, as we said, is often overlooked in the business world.

And coming as it did from an extraordinarily successful man, we figured it must have quite a bit of significance. Far too often, we push ourselves to exhaustion, managing to work for months on a nearly empty battery, and draining ourselves of all drive, humanity, and creative power.

And while this may seem beneficial in the beginning because we are getting things done, it is usually a folly to any aspiring entrepreneur. See, the issue with running on empty and not giving yourself a break is that it affects your judgment, pushes you to make bad decisions in your work, decisions that can prove to be your downfall later on down the line. It also stops you from thinking clearly and greatly impacts the quality of your ideas and problem-solving skills. When you are in that exhausted, survival mode, you often make sloppy decisions. And sloppy decisions harm both you as a human being and your business.

This has been a creed of ours for an exceedingly long time, and Justin Allen, through his interview, confirmed it. Allen, who doesn’t just run the security service we mentioned, but also is the founder of DA Method Apparel (a fitness clothing and lifestyle brand) and who has many more aces up his sleeve (such as an innovative barbershop/creative lounge and bar combo, coming later this year), clearly knows how to do business well.

And if he tells you that taking a break is important, then you bet it is so.