How to Celebrate the 4th of July Without Thinking About Your Business for Five Minutes

Published under The Life Hat on HatStacked.com

You love your business. But you also love grilled things, explosions in the sky, and not having to answer emails for 24 hours. This post is your permission slip to put the phone down, ignore the chat, and enjoy the 4th of July like a normal human. Just for one day.

First: Let’s Acknowledge the Truth

If you run a business, holidays feel weird. You’re not technically working… but your brain is definitely still in the office.

You’re:

• Wondering if a supplier responded
• Checking if that big invoice got paid
• Fighting the urge to “just post one quick promo”

Here’s the deal: it’ll all be there on July 7.

Today is about freedom and that includes freedom from your own business brain.

Step 1: Actually Turn Off Your Notifications

Let’s start with the obvious.
If your phone buzzes every time:

• A form gets submitted
• Someone mentions your company on LinkedIn
• Shopify sends a “low stock” alert
• Google Analytics thinks something interesting is happening

…then your day off isn’t really a day off.

📱 Try this:

• Put your phone on Do Not Disturb for the afternoon
• Log out of Slack or Gmail (yes, really)
• Move all business-related apps into a folder titled “Not Today”

Step 2: Swap Business Burnout for Charcoal Burnout

Grilling is not just for food. It’s for vibes.
Whether you’re a backyard pitmaster or just there for the potato salad, cookout energy is incompatible with spreadsheet stress.

🧨 Pro Tip:

If you must think about work, apply that energy to:

• Strategizing a better hot dog to bun ratio
• Optimizing lawn chair placement for shade
• Managing the timeline for fireworks so no one loses an eyebrow

Let your Type-A skills shine in patriotic, non-profitable ways.

Step 3: Set an OOO That Doesn’t Sound Guilty

You don’t owe anyone an apology for taking a holiday. Your out-of-office should reflect that.

Here’s a template:

Subject: Out of Office – Back July 7

Happy 4th! I’m out of the office enjoying freedom, fireworks, and foods that require zero utensils. I’ll be back on July 7.

If it’s urgent, try me then. If it can wait, even better.

Enjoy the holiday,
[Your Name]

Step 4: If You Really Can’t Unplug, Pick One Work Slot

We get it. Some of us can’t fully unplug. The hamster wheel keeps turning.

Instead of checking email 27 times “just for a minute,” block one hour in the morning. Do the things. Then shut it all down.

And no, opening your laptop “just to check something” at 9 p.m. doesn’t count.

Step 5: Embrace the Chaos and the Quiet

If you’re a parent, the holiday might look like sticky popsicles, water balloons, and someone crying because they lost a sparkler.

If you’re not, it might look like a lawn chair, a beer, and the sound of other people’s kids losing sparklers.

Either way, let the mess be the moment.
Not every day needs a goal. Not everything has to be optimized.
You are not behind. You are not lazy. You’re just living.

Step 6: Take 5 Minutes to Appreciate the Independence You’ve Built

Running a business is hard. But you’ve chosen this path and that’s something to celebrate.

Today is about independence, and not just the red-white-and-blue kind.

You:

• Built something from scratch
• Took risks not everyone takes
• Get to call your own shots (even when it’s hard)

So raise a glass to that, too. Because business ownership is its own form of freedom.

Bonus: Fireworks Are Like Entrepreneurship

They start slow.
They go up.
You wonder if they’ll fizzle.
And then BOOM, everything happens at once.
People cheer, someone panics, and a few things catch fire.

And just like that, you’re already planning the next one.

Programming Note

🎇 There’s no Flop Hat this week because we didn’t want to write about disaster on a holiday. But don’t worry, next Friday’s Flop will be back with something appropriately messy and mildly humiliating. You won’t want to miss it.

Happy 4th, From HatStacked

Go unplug. Eat a grilled thing. Watch stuff explode.
Your business will still be there tomorrow.

Want More Posts Like This?