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I was self employed for about 6 years. I usually took a few weeks a year of official "vacation". I would plan to do no work, but would still respond to some calls and emails sometimes for emergency fixes, sometimes to just say I was on vacation and I would get to it the following week. Most of my time off would come in the variety of a few days here a few days there kind of thing. That plus the ability to take a few hours off in the middle of the day to go for a hike or whatever kept me sane.
It was only later that I realize what a horrible job I was doing at taking vacations. My first vacation after I started as a full time employee again was a real eye-opener. I literally didn't think about work in any serious way from when I left early on Friday until I was walking back in the building 10 days later. I felt so refreshed.
It really made me value vacation time much more highly, and I'm much more willing to trade salary and other benefits to gain more vacation time. I highly recommend you do your absolute best to fully shut down work for a few extended stretches (1 week minimum) a year.
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Budget appropriately. Know how much you are likely to make in a given week (or however much time you wnat to be able to take off), and then know how much the vacation will cost you, and then save that amount. Put it into its own savings or money market account, or even just a jar in your house.
Then when you have enough and aren't in the midst of a project that mustgetdonenow, you take your vacation. A portion of that amount will be giving you 'paid vacation' and the rest will pay for your vacation.
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I was there as well...
Then a wise mentor asked me what ONE activity do I do that actually generates income...
Surprisingly, it was NOT working, it was Invoicing!
I was SO BUSY, I was not invoicing all of my clients on time... I needed to hear that.
So, I accept 4 things now:
1) Not all hours will be billable
2) If I am not rested/efficient it costs me and my clients
3) This is an ultra-marathon, not a sprint
4) The best way to survive is to have other employees who are billing their time while you are on vacation.
So, over the last few years, I have worked hard to provide other resources to my clients on a regular basis.
This has allowed me to take a vacation for 2 weeks to Rome, and come home with checks in the mail. (now, I did
schedule the two weeks so I had plenty of time to get my invoicing done on time for the month).
Just this year, I realized I have not been to "training" or conferences I used to go to. So I have scheduled 2(luckily some can be done online). I will travel for 2 weeks of more training before the end of the year.
I feel I have hit my groove, but it did NOT happen over night. Luckily I have a buddy who likes to sell my services as well, so he does the sales portion I am not good at, and he gets a nice chunk, but it keeps me busy and focused on doing the things I like to do.
Finally, I usually schedule "big questions" for when I return from vacation, so I know I have a reason to turn it all off... Plans to expand, hire a new developer, ways to increase revenues, reviewing what is and is not working. It makes it easier to clear your head and get away when you KNOW you will NEED a clear head...
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I'm sorry, I'm American, what is this "vacation" you speak of?
Psychosis at 10
Film at 11
Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it.
Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.
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I hear you man....
Charlie Gilley
<italic>You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house.
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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That is the great thing about contracting: you are not restricted to 25 or 30 days: you can take as many or as few as you like. You charge extra so that you can pay yourself on the days when you aren't working.
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The best thing I ever did for managing vacations was getting involved (and eventually married) to an amazing woman who works a regular job with 6 weeks of vacation a year. Left to my own devices, I would rather work than travel. Being the only programmer in the company for the last 8 years has gotten easier as products and processes have matured which means that the chances are slim that something will come up that my business partner can't handle when the wife drags me away for vacation. (money spending trip) 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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I'm reading and have read all of these... interesting read. Just so you know, I understand the mechanics of paying forward for a vacation  . The problem is getting over the dang hump of looking at it as "down time". First rule of business is to avoid leaving money on the table. Well, not the first rule, but you catch my drift.
It's strictly a mental thing, assuming you have the mechanics figured out. Just wish the corp tax laws weren't so damn stupid in the US.
Thanks for all the feedback, quite insightful.
Charlie Gilley
<italic>You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house.
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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I just tried this static code analyser and pretty impressed. Straight away it shows me an obvious bug in my code (with the warning message in plain english):
"It is odd that the body of 'GetY2' function is fully equivalent to the body of 'GetX2' function. bitmapchar.h 37:"
int GetX2() const
{
return m_x + m_width;
}
int GetY2() const
{
return m_x + m_width;
}
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It sounds interesting, but...
"Please write us to get a price for PVS-Studio. Please specify interesting license type.
PVS-Studio (for 1-9 developers team, first year license)
License Renewal (also one year): 80% of current base price"
Which means even they think the price is too high!
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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I had similiar thoughts, they should just tell us the price
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In October 2013 the price was 5,250 euro for standard edition (1-9 users) and 9,000 euro for site licence. If you have a problem with the high prices they are more than willing to provide some sort of discount (as they did for us based on the Rand/Euro exchange rate being so high at the time).
We use PVS-Studio all the time and it has found many potential bugs in our code.
Cheers,
Brett
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ed welch wrote: I just tried this static code analyser and pretty impressed
..lots of spam starts like that these days
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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Police investigate Rocklin mountain lion sighting reports[^]
All we need is a few bears, an earthquake, and a tsunami (quite likely given the 4.1 in LA recently) and life will be complete!
Have to say it makes a change compared to England, where the most dangerous thing is a drunk Scotsman....
"The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s." climate-models-go-cold
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Munchies_Matt wrote: compared to England, where the most dangerous thing is a drunk Scotsman
Clearly, a man who has never visited Luton... 
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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OriginalGriff wrote: Clearly, a man who has never visited Luton...
How about Yorkshire? Does that count as a battle zone? 
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
I'm on-line therefore I am.
JimmyRopes
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Probably. I can't understand a word they say oop thar. 
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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OriginalGriff wrote: I can't understand a word they say oop thar
Most people can't, and they like it like that. 
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
I'm on-line therefore I am.
JimmyRopes
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Last time I was there I went to a pub, ordered a few drinks, no problem. Then asking how much I owed? Gah! I ended up doing the "Confused Foreign Tourist" bit and just holding out a handful of change and letting the barmaid take what she needed... 
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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OriginalGriff wrote: I ended up doing the "Confused Foreign Tourist" bit and just holding out a handful of change and letting the barmaid take what she needed...
What I have herd about going there.
Apparently they think they can just steal from people without any conscience.
I have seen this here when dealing with them.
Dreadful lot.
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
I'm on-line therefore I am.
JimmyRopes
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No I think you are getting confused, Luton is in Bedfordshire! 
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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So there are two places I should avoid.
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
I'm on-line therefore I am.
JimmyRopes
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That's not true at all. In fact its an insult.
Jimmy Ropes wrote in a message that isn't showing "Everyone I have met that was from Yorkshire has spent time in prison and come up with dodgy stories as to why they are expats and never return home to visit with their families.
I suspect that they can't go back home because of people they wronged would be looking to settle a score."
Ah, I see, so you prejudge a few million people based on the 5 or 6 you met in Thailand then. So in that case all Thais are paedophile cross dressers then because 'that's what I see on the TV so it must be true'
"The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s." climate-models-go-cold
modified 16-Apr-14 10:35am.
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Edit: Wrong post replied. I am talking about West Yorkshire and not Luton. However, I did saw a sign board showing directions to Luton while on way to London.
That is weird. I thought it was just me who felt, "What the hell are they talking?". I mean not just the slang but normal office language too. Mostly, after a discussion, I would say, "Could you please send out an email with these details so everyone is aware?".
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I did once, it was full of Rastas back then.
"The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s." climate-models-go-cold
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