Thinking of Foregoing Vacation This Summer? Think Again
If you’re feeling bogged down by work (there’s too much of it and maybe not enough of it (in sales) at the same time), then you’re not alone. According to an American Express OPEN Small Business Vacation Monitor, less than half of small business owners plan to take vacation this summer.
Wow! That’s astounding, but it’s actually an improvement over last year. The two biggest reasons to forego vacation: Too much work (37 percent of respondents) and affordability (29 percent) according to the article.
I’ve worked with enough small business owners to know two things:
- Money concerns drive every decision. And let’s face it, it’s tougher and tougher for retailers to make a go of it as more business goes online and seemingly every product has become commoditized.
- There’s always too much work. This is often more imagined than reality. There’s always going to be too much to do, but that’s not inherently a small business issue. Most employees who work for huge corporations feel the same way. With layoffs and cutbacks, every employee is expected to do more. And vacation feels like a splurge to many instead of a necessity. And even if you do take vacation, there’s this need to be tethered via email to “check in.”
The truth is that we work harder and take less vacation than any other industrialized nation on earth. According to an article on vacation on gaebler.com, we work about 2,000 hours a year on average and take about 10 days of vacation. Japan is the only country that comes close to working as hard as we do, but they actually work nearly three weeks less per year and earn almost 18 days of vacation a year.
Compare that to many other countries where work weeks are 30-35 hours and mandates for long vacation time periods may be law and include three week summer shutdowns when everyone takes a vacation.
So why is this whole conversation about vacation important? Because vacation is important. And it doesn’t matter what vacation means to you, from camping in a state park for four days to hanging out in a Four Seasons hotel in Manhattan, it’s important to step away from everything.
Last week I had issues with our Internet connection and home phone, and I fell off a ladder and into a pool (unfortunately with my iPhone in my pocket, which required a two day “dryout” period). The feeling of disconnect was tough to deal with at first. But after a bit of reconciliation, I actually began to enjoy it. No ringing phones, no way to reach me other than online via Skype or email (and that was only relevant if I was near my computer). The result was that I was more productive than ever, simply because I had some free head space.
And that’s what vacation gives us -- time to disconnect, time to gain head space, time to put everything aside and just enjoy living life for a day, or three, or seven. It’s incredibly powerful and liberating.
So if you’re considering not taking vacation because there’s too much work, then reconsider. There’s always going to be too much work. It never ends. You just have to step off the treadmill and realize it still is going to be running when you’re back from vacation and ready to get back on.
And if you’re considering not taking vacation because of affordability issues, then it’s time to rethink that as well. A vacation doesn’t have to be a huge extravaganza. A vacation can be as simple as an untethering from the outside world for a day while you hang out in your yard and do some gardening.
The key is to take a mental break once in a while. And chances are you’ll actually be thinking about work while you’re vacationing, and that often results in some pretty interesting ideas on how to move your business forward, simply because you have the head space to do so.
How does taking vacation help propel your business forward?
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