The nature of most of our jobs/careers is that there's never a time where all the work is done and where you can take a vacation without some accommodations being made, no matter how well you plan for it in advance.  Sometimes people wear that "I can't possibly go anywhere" to a point of absurdness and a badge of honor, but most of us know we can get away...it's just we can't TOTALLY get away.  I don't care how good you are at efficiency and process or how many nifty tech tools you incorporate, getting a way takes planning.  I know that the few times I've been so remote that I've rented a satellite phone, the planning to get away and making sure the "reentry" was fairly smooth took a lot of work.  But boy it's worth it, and I know my employees know it's better to have me rested and recharged.   I feel the same about them.  We run a very tight operation and each and every person is vital to the organization with little to no overlap of duties.  So it's never easy when someone is out, but again, as a team we all know that it's in everyone's best interest to support one another's need for time away.

The question is how away can and should someone be? This can be very different depending on the person's duties and responsibilities to both the team and the customers served.  So are there secrets to being "independent and responsible"? Sure, but I think the only thing that's important is that there's an agreed to plan of how connected one wants and is needed to be.  So let's table trying to work on that, assuming you've got that part figured out and add some icing to the cake.  Let's look at how to get extra bang out of your time away.  Some extra benefits.  I'm talking about making the fact that you're actually going to work on your vacation work for you. Which brings me to why this topic popped into my head after Independence Day - taxes!

You know you're going to have your smart phone and probably a laptop packed right there next to your bathing suit, that novel you've been wanting to read and walking shoes. There is no law prohibiting you from combining a business trip with a vacation and so make it worthwhile. The IRS concedes that you're entitled to deduct expenses for taking a business trip or attending a business convention as long as the trips benefit or advance your career or business. Most of us know this and that's a big reason that conventions are held in cities like New York, Las Vegas and Miami. Clearly, you'll want to make sure that you follow the IRS rules when it comes to making the fact that you are working during your vacation "work," but if you do it right you can get the desired rest and fun and put a little jingle in your pocket.  So just extend your pre-vacation and post-vacation planning to a little tax planning and you'll feel your independence when that $5,000 to $10,000 "workcation" is subsidized by Uncle Sam to the tune of several thousand dollars!  

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