Photo By Ethan Moltz
I have just come back from my 2 week vacation at my beach house…no email, no voice mail, no twitter, Facebook, or cell phones- only lots of beach, family time, novels, food, fireworks (is there an iPhone app for that?) and campfires (I know there is an app for that!). While I was away from business I learned 5 things this summer:
1. It is possible to go on vacation and let go of your business obligations temporarily. Sure, I came back to 3400 emails, but no one died, no one went out of business and nothing happened that I could not work on this week. Give yourself a break. No matter how fast we think that business moves (which is does), things can and will wait for you. Let go!
2. The best communication is still face to face for people. I love technology like social media, email, phone calls, Skype, Twitter and Facebook but guess what? Humans still communicated best face to face. On vacation, while family and friends visited our beach house, I was able to have extended conversations or play games with people without having to get to the next meeting or obligation. This allowed me to deepen our relationship together and it felt much more rewarding that 1 hour meetings with agendas.
3. Reading novels about zombies, aliens and ghosts are good for the brain. I read alot of business magazines and books at the office and home. Reading these types of novels allowed my mind to relax and expand so new business ideas came up that I never would have thought of …btw, I read Patient Zero (Thanks, Chris Brogan), Treason (what if you morphed into a woman?), Good People (What would you do if you found $370,000) and Ghost Road Blues (Halloween will never be the same)
4. Work by task, not time. Typically, I accomplish a business task in a certain amount of time. This is necessary to meet deadlines and meet all my business obligations. On vacation at the beach house, there were no time pressures so I was able to work on a task until it was done (Or I got bored of it). This felt much more rewarding. I accomplished the tasks more completely and enjoyably.
5. Even on vacation, things change daily. The weather at Lake Michigan was not the best. Temperatures varied from 37 degrees (ouch!,see photo above) to 80 degrees. As a result, everyday the lake (rough, calm and flat), the beach (hot, windy or wet) and sunset (yellow, orange, fireball and foggy) were different. The best skill that we can develop anywhere is to adapt for change. What is your plan if it is sunny, cloudy or raining? Does it change or can it stay the same?
If you took a vacation this summer, what did you learn that you can use now in “real life”?
I have to ask would people have waited? Good point! They probably would have! Thanks for the reminder….