• Working
• Hosting/calling in to a conference call
• Playing games
• Watching a movie
• Going through our business balance sheets
• Coordinating with our remote operations team

Or some other activity of your own choosing, I have found that I spend about 1.5 to twice as much time in front of my computer as I spend sleeping on my bed every day.

So do the holidays represent a boon or bane to the internet marketing continually building their business (especially during the holiday shopping season).

Specifically, Do the holidays disrupt your business momentum and do either you and/or your business suffer as a result?

With the 24×7 nature of the internet, it’s inevitable that there’ll be a number of casualties (direct or indirect) are suffered along the rush to be the first and #1, especially in a high stakes game where “Speed can be of the essence. If a blogger is beaten by a millisecond, someone elseâ€s post on the subject will bring in the audience, the links and the bigger share of the ad revenue.”

In the words of TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington: “I havenâ€t died yet,” although he’s gained 30 pounds in the last year, developed a severe sleep disorder and has mentioned that “At some point, Iâ€ll have a nervous breakdown and be admitted to the hospital, or something else will happen. This is not sustainable”

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Affiliate marketers and those of us who own our own products or services may not have the same breakneck “be first to publish” blogger mentality, but still the onset of Christmas shopping and New Year’s resolutions campaigns will force some to go to extreme measures as they’re fighting against the clock.

There’s a saying that there’s “No rest for the wicked”. If that is true, there will be quite a number of marketers going sleepless in Seattle or wherever else they might be.

So is it ultimately having to make a choice between work and taking a break?

Here’s what some marketers had to say:

“On the YES it breaks my business momentum” bandwagon

Michael S Copeland: “Yes it does… Launched a service right before the holidays.. may not do that one again”

David Temple: “Yep, but just have more to do when I get back. Enjoying it for the moment though!”

Miles Baker: “Holidays give me a time to refresh, reflect, and refocus. My momentum slows, but when I come back to work my momentum higher.”

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On the “No, Holidays do not disrupt my business momentum” bandwagon

Geno Prussakov: Not for me. It’s definitely hard to balance between the two: biz (especially the urgent needs) and family at this time though.

Deb Carney AKA Loxly: “Holidays revitalize me holidays are days when I can work on what I choose to (see tweets about my sites, lol)”

JGoode: “no, holidays force me to take a much needed break I’d otherwise rationalize as not necessary – family days do the same”

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From my own observation, I tend to take on a couple more projects than I should, so if anything the holidays are a wake up call to shed some of them and focus, focus and focus (as Kelly McCausey mentioned in the previous Friday Podcast).

One resolution I’ll be implementing in the new year is to automate my business more and delegate/outsource more tasks.

In my view, you’re still stuck at the “sole proprietorship” mode of operations, until you build a team. Only then the machine continue running when you’re not there and you’ve built the foundation for a solid business.

Sometimes even the wicked need to rest.

What do you think?