What Successful Coaches Do Before They Go on Vacation (That Most Coaches Forget)
Summer is 1 of my favorite times of year.
The weather is generally beautiful, and people are spending more time outside.
Vacations are planned. Family comes to visit. The kids are home from school.
Someone is inviting you to a barbecue, a pool day, a concert, a camping trip, or a weekend getaway every other minute.
And that's part of what makes summer so much fun.
But every year around this time, I notice a pattern:
The coaches I work with are excited about vacation. They're looking forward to slowing down a bit, spending time with family, and taking a break from the day-to-day grind.
At the same time, many of them are quietly worried about what happens when they get back.
If you've ever returned from vacation, opened your laptop, and immediately felt overwhelmed, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
You know there was a workshop you wanted to plan before fall.
You had a great idea for a freebie.
You were halfway through updating your sales page.
And wasn't there a referral partner you meant to follow up with?
There were definitely things you wanted to finish before summer got away from you.
You just can't remember where any of them are now.
So you spend the 1st hour searching through Google Docs, Canva folders, notebooks, sticky notes, and random notes on your phone trying to piece together what Past You was doing before you left.
By the time you finally figure it out, your work session is nearly over.
I've seen this happen over and over again with coaches.
What catches most coaches off guard isn't the vacation itself.
It's what happens when they get back.
Because coming home to a business you haven't looked at in a week is surprisingly similar to opening Netflix after you've forgotten what show you were watching.
You know there was something important you were in the middle of.
You just can't remember where you left off.
That's why some coaches come back from a week away feeling calm and focused while others spend the next 3 weeks trying to regain their footing and waiting to feel motivated again to work on their business.
Quick Answer
The coaches who feel calmest when they come back from vacation tend to do 4 things differently:
They get crystal clear on what actually matters before they leave.
They make it ridiculously easy to pick back up when they return.
They decide their next steps before they're needed.
They protect dedicated time to think, plan, and prepare.
None of these take long.
But together, they can save you hours of frustration and help you avoid that “Ugh…I don’t feel like it” feeling about your business when summer gets busy.
So let’s dive in!
# 1: They Decide What Actually Matters Before They Leave
A few days before vacation, many coaches suddenly become convinced they can finish every outstanding project in their business.
The website is getting updated. The freebie is getting finished. The email sequence is getting written. The sales page is getting revised. The Google Drive is finally getting organized.
All before Friday afternoon.
Sound familiar?
The problem is that most of those things don't actually need to happen before vacation.
The coaches who leave feeling calm don't try to tie up every loose end. They identify the handful of activities that truly matter and focus there.
Maybe it's checking in with current clients. Maybe it's following up with a few warm leads. Maybe it's finishing a presentation for a workshop happening the week they return.
The point isn't to get everything done.
The point is to make sure the right things get done (meaning things leading to getting clients and building your email list).
One of the biggest shifts I see in successful coaches is that they stop asking:
"What can I get done before I leave?"
and start asking:
“What actually deserves my attention before I leave?”
“What will set me up to ‘hit the ground running’ when I return?”
That simple shift changes everything.
1 thing I often remind my clients is that summer is not the season to do everything.
It's the season to identify what matters most.
The coaches who feel calmest by September aren't usually the ones who crossed 34 projects off a to-do list.
They're the ones who spent their limited time on the 2 goals that move their business forward:
Revenue Generation
List Building
If prioritization is something you struggle with, that's 1 of the reasons I created the FREE Guide, “Your Profitable Weekly Schedule”.
Most coaches don't need more tasks on their to-do list. They need more clarity around which activities are actually worth their time.
#2: They Leave Themselves Breadcrumbs
This is probably the most overlooked strategy on the list.
Before you head out on vacation, create a simple document called:
Start Here When I Get Back
Nothing fancy.
Inside that document, write down what you're currently working on, the projects that are in progress, important links you'll need later, ideas you don't want to forget, and the next few actions you'd take if you were working tomorrow.
Think of it as leaving yourself breadcrumbs.
Because Future You should not have to play detective.
One of the biggest reasons coaches feel behind after vacation is that they spend the first several days back trying to remember where they left off.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard a coach say:
“I know I had a great idea for this.”
“I know I already started working on that.”
“I know I put that…somewhere.”
The problem is that "somewhere" isn't a system.
It's a scavenger hunt.
And scavenger hunts are not an effective business strategy.
One of the easiest ways to make your business easier to jump back into is to keep your priorities, ideas, projects, messaging, offers, testimonials, and next steps all in 1 place.
That's actually 1 of the main reasons I created The Biz Foundations Playbook.
I got tired of:
Hunting down my brand colors every time I opened Canva.
Having client testimonials scattered across 7 different Google Docs.
Rewriting my bio every time I applied for a summit, bundle, or podcast.
Trying to remember exactly how my ideal clients described their struggles.
Getting generic AI output that sounded nothing like me because it didn't have the information it needed.
Can you relate?
Many coaches have pieces of their business scattered everywhere.
Their ideal client notes are in 1 document. Their offer messaging is somewhere else. Their content ideas are buried in Notes. Their testimonials are hiding in old client folders. Their AI prompts are saved in 8 different chats.
And then life gets busy.
When that happens, all that scattered information starts creating friction.
You waste time looking for things.
You forget ideas.
You put off tasks because they feel harder to restart than they should.
The easier it is to find what you need, the easier it is to keep moving forward.
That's exactly what The Biz Foundations Playbook is designed to help with. It gives you 1 organized place for your most important business information while helping you create clear, emotionally resonant messaging you can use across your content, emails, website, offers, workshops, and more.
👉Check out The Biz Foundations Playbook here.
# 3: They Create a Re-Entry Plan Before They Leave
Most people spend time planning the trip.
Very few spend time planning the return.
Before vacation, ask yourself a simple question:
What happens on my 1st day back?
Not your ideal 1st day back.
Your actual 1st day back.
The one where you're unpacking, catching up on life, sorting laundry, and trying to remember what day it is.
What deserves your attention first?
What can wait until later in the week?
What's the 1st activity that could potentially generate revenue?
What's the 1st visibility activity you'll focus on?
What are you intentionally choosing not to touch?
Without a re-entry plan, many coaches come back and immediately slip into reaction mode. They check email, scroll on IG, and respond to whatever feels loudest.
A little planning before vacation eliminates a surprising amount of stress afterward.
When you already know what happens next, it's much easier to start moving again.
#4: They Schedule A Protected CEO Session
Before leaving for vacation, successful coaches carve out a dedicated block of time to think strategically about their business.
This isn't answering emails, scrolling social media, or catching up on admin tasks.
It's time to step back and ask:
What actually needs my attention before I leave?
What can wait until I get back?
What's the very first thing I'm going to work on when I return?
What are the tasks to prioritize that could lead to revenue or list building?
I hear this all the time from other Coaches:
"I know what I need to do. I just can't seem to find the uninterrupted time to actually do it."OR, “I know what I need to do but I feel overwhelmed and unmotivated to get started.”
And I totally get it.
Summer has a way of filling every available hour if we let it.
That's why dedicated planning and implementation time becomes even more important this time of year.
So if finding that kind of focused doing time feels challenging, that's exactly what Laura's Get It Done Club helps with.
2X/month, you'll get coaching, accountability, clarity, and dedicated time to work on the projects and priorities that matter most in your business.
👉 Check Out Laura's Get It Done Club here.
The Hidden Cost of Restarting
Most coaches think summer slows their business down because they have less time.
In my experience, that's only part of the story.
The bigger issue is that every interruption creates a restart.
You finally get an hour to work.
10 minutes are spent trying to remember what you were working on.
15 minutes are spent finding the right Google Doc and links.
Another 20 minutes are spent deciding what deserves your attention.
Suddenly the hour is gone.
That's why so many coaches feel like they're working all summer but not making much progress.
They're not just losing time to summer.
They're losing time to restarting.
And the more scattered your business is, the more expensive those restarts become.
The Real Goal Isn't Working More
This blog isn't about squeezing more productivity out of your summer.
It's not about checking email from the beach or bringing your laptop to the lake.
The goal is much simpler.
The goal is to enjoy your vacation without worrying about what kind of mess you'll come back to.
The coaches who feel calmest by September aren't necessarily the coaches who worked all summer.
They're the coaches who built enough structure into their businesses that a vacation, a busy week, or an unexpected interruption didn't completely throw them off track.
They know what's important.
They know where things are.
They know what they're working on next.
As a result, they don't spend weeks trying to find their footing again every time life gets busy.
So before your next vacation, weekend getaway, family visit, camping trip, or summer adventure, ask yourself this:
If I stepped away from my business for the next 7 days, would I know exactly where to pick back up when I returned?
If the answer is no, that's okay.
You don't need a perfect system.
You just need a few breadcrumbs.
Start there.
Future You will be incredibly grateful.
Key Takeaways
Successful coaches don't prepare for vacation by trying to finish everything before they leave.
They prepare by:
Identifying their priorities.
Documenting where they left off.
Creating a simple re-entry plan.
Setting aside time to think strategically about their business.
Those 4 habits make it easier to enjoy summer, maintain momentum, and avoid feeling like you're starting from scratch every time life gets busy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my coaching business feel so hard to restart after vacation?
Most coaches don't lose momentum because they took time off. They lose momentum because they spend valuable time trying to remember what they were working on, where everything is located, and what should happen next.
What should coaches focus on before vacation?
Focus on the activities that directly impact your clients, visibility, lead generation, or revenue. Everything else can usually wait until you return.
What if I struggle to stay focused and consistent during the summer?
Summer has a way of filling every available hour with vacations, family activities, visitors, and last-minute plans.
That's exactly why I created Laura's Get It Done Club. Twice a month, you'll receive coaching, accountability, and dedicated implementation time so you can make meaningful progress on your business without having to figure it all out on your own or miss out on that camping trip.
