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Today I'm on my way back from a five-day vacation. Well, I'm not writing you today (I don't work on my vacations) I'm writing you last week, before my vacation.
Hopefully everything went fine. Survived the twenty hour car ride to Colorado...survived the white water rafting...survived my family at the family reunion.
The drive out was interesting I'm sure. Two big car loads o' family! My kids...my sib's kids...my sibs.
My sister wanted to remember my mom who passed away seven years ago so she was to bring peanut butter and jelly (this in a one jar concoction called Goober)...and lemonade. On our cross country sojourns as kids, that's what my mom brought. It is the worst combination ever.
Not the peanut butter and jelly part-love me some p b & j-but the lemonade with it. Peanut butter and jelly should be served with milk...only milk. But I drank the lemonade because that's what mom brought...the perfect uncomplaining child that I was.
I brought my Droid on this trip. That's highly problematic and potential trouble.
The point of a vacation is to get away from our primary responsibilities, have a diversion from life's norms, have some fun and rest. Come back to work fresh, re-motivated, refocused and reinvigorated.
Before the cell phone was invented, this was much easier. In the mountains of Colorado it would have been a piece of cake.
What makes the phone great for work, of course, makes it bad for vacations. I was available by phone, text and email-and the phone is not shy in telling me when someone wants me. The internet was right at my finger tips too.
It was all so tempting.
It's like an alcoholic spending a week with a bottle of booze he knows he can't have, or a dieter sleeping on a chocolate pillow.
I had to bring my phone in case my wife wanted to reach me (she chose to sit this trip out. I can't understand why, given the forty-hour round trip in just five days!). And, since I run a business, I had to be reachable in case of emergencies.
When an email notification popped up it was like the song of the sirens. "Just take a quick look," it enchanted. "How can that hurt?" or "Aren't you just a little curious?" or "You know you want to."
But I couldn't. Maybe it would only take a moment, but it's a moment my mind is stolen from relaxation and deposited into work stress.
Besides, it's seldom as brief as the email itself. Maybe I'd be tempted to respond. Maybe I'd feel the need to ponder. It's like an annoying giant octopus from a really bad sci-fi movie...its tendrils everywhere and all over me. Slimy octopus.
Let's be clear: we're not heroes if we work on our vacations and our work ethic isn't validated by it. Our self-importance is staggering. Actually, our people need time away from us as much as we need time away from work. Trust me...it's a win-win.
In addition, we do a disservice to our people if we lead them in a burned out state. No greatness has ever been proven by the hours kept.
Unless it was Heather, family or friend-and I hope I'm not lying here-I did not answer my phone or a text on this trip. And I never checked my email-not one time. I didn't even tweet my Daily 10-Second Leadership Reminders.
Now I throw down the gauntlet to you. Can you do it? I dare you to get some rest. Reject the bottle, roll away from the chocolate pillow, close your ears to the sirens and slay the octopus.
No, I double dog dare you.
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