Okay, we have to brag for a second.
Our founder John Briggs wrote a book called Take Breaks, Work Better. You’ve probably heard us talk about it once or twice (or a hundred times, we’re not subtle). Well, Forbes just published an article rounding up books for high performers who are running themselves into the ground, and guess who made the list?
We did. First. As in, the very top of the list, ahead of three other books.
Once we stopped high-fiving each other in the office, we thought it was worth talking about why this book landed on a list like that. And why it matters for you, the small business owner who is currently reading this at 9pm because “there’s just always something.”
Wait, Why Is a Tax Firm Writing a Book About Burnout?
Fair question. We’re a little unconventional. We’ve never really vibed with the buttoned-up, humorless accountant stereotype. Numbers are our job. But numbers don’t matter much if the person running the business is running on fumes.
John spent years working his way up in the accounting industry, and now working with entrepreneurs and small business owners as clients, and he kept seeing the same pattern… people treating exhaustion like a badge of honor. Busy became the goal. Rest became something you only earned after burning yourself out completely.
Take Breaks, Work Better is John’s answer to that.
Small Business Owners, We See You
The thing about running a small business is nobody’s coming to tell you to slow down. There’s no HR department scheduling your PTO. There’s no boss checking in on your workload. It’s just you, a never-ending to-do list, and the quiet assumption that if you’re not exhausted, you’re not trying hard enough.
That mindset isn’t sustainable. It’s not even effective. Burnout doesn’t make you more productive. It just makes you tired and worse at your job, right when you need to be sharpest.
The Forbes piece put it well.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with entrepreneurs, C-suite executives and company managers. No matter the size of the company or the level of the position, leaders have to learn how to manage their performance. If they don’t, eventually they’ll crash. It’s inevitable. …Work-life harmony is possible. How to get it is misunderstood. This book helps it make more sense—and gives you a strategy to make it work for you.”
So What Do You Actually Do About It?
This is usually where books hand you a rigid system that works great for exactly nobody, because everybody’s business (and brain) is different. Take Breaks, Work Better takes a different approach. It gives you principles and frameworks you can actually shape around your own life, instead of a one-size-fits-all routine you’ll abandon in two weeks.
If you want a taste of that before diving into the full book, we put together something just for business owners like you. A simple way to start building smarter breaks into your workday without blowing up your whole schedule.
You need to work smarter, protect your energy, and yes… take breaks. It might just be the most productive thing you do all week.
