You miss out if you return from summer vacation with only lifetime of memories, and cool photos on your Instagram.
Yesterday was my first day back in the office after two weeks in the Pacific Northwest and Colorado – two weeks of being with family and friends, enjoying nature, eating great food, and living with an overall lack of structure.
What else did I bring back? There are three deep outcomes.
- Creativity in a clear head. Five days into the trip, my brain had cleared out space where constant decision making and instant responses used to be. I started thinking more creatively about my clients, my business, and my life – in a way that can’t be reproduced at home with anything except meditation. Welcome to the vacation equivalent to getting my best ideas during my regular running routine at home, but supersized. I’m fired up to take action on those ideas.
- Rich time with my daughter. When we travel together, my time with my 10-year-old daughter rises to a higher level. The distractions of the routine? Removed. With no school, very little work (a few phone calls, texts, and emails), no homework, and no childcare, we discussed everything from the cycle of birth, life, and death to trying to remember the names of all the members of the Jackson 5. It turns out there were six of them – which really threw me off.
- Re-setting with a news embargo. 17 days have now passed without my reading or watching any news. I’ve seen a headline here or there. I confess I continued to follow Major League Baseball (Let’s Go Mets!). This created more space to focus on the present. It surprised me that, once removed from the snail’s pace of current events, I did not miss knowing everything. Now back home, I plug back in – in greater moderation as a result of a break. I create even more space and calm for things I enjoy and completely control.
If you follow my work, you know I believe that getting away leads to the best outcomes for you and your business.
I have spent way more of my career persuading talented people to leave and reap the benefits of doing so than in coaxing them to work more.
The motto of my Restaurant Owner’s Success Club is, “Dominate. Grow. Enjoy Freedom.” “Freedom” is there for a reason.
Over to you. What benefits of your summer vacation activate once you arrive at your destination, and once you return to home and work?
