It's January and I'm Thinking of Vacations

 

We are only three weeks into January and I'm reminded of the quote by Mark Twain - "The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation."  I know that most of you are fairly far along in your vocation, so as we start this new year you are probably not looking to find a new vocation but refine the one you have. 

 

What got me thinking about the whole vocation versus vacation topic is that it's the beginning of the year is a time when I like most of you like to do some planning and so my thoughts started to swirl around how to keep the vacation part - pure enjoyment and learning new things relevant in the work I do every day.

 

I am lucky and I hope you are too.  I truly enjoy commercial real estate. I enjoy the financial success it has brought me and I enjoy the people I get to interact with. So now, 20 years into this career, what I tend to get the most pleasure from is refining things; everything from relationships to process. As President Obama said yesterday in his inaugural speech "Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to act in our time."

 

As I think about keeping a little "vacation" in everything I do, I'm reminded how important it is to keep pushing the limits of our skills with a mindset that it's fun. When we are on vacation skiing, diving, hiking, or enjoying food and wine (don't anyone be thinking that eating and drinking well doesn't require improving skills), we improve our skills while having fun.  That's why I like to focus on the refinement of things.  This is so important as we look to use more technology and process this year. It's not about a giant overhaul, it's about incremental and meaningful improvement. It's about enjoying the process, getting satisfaction from the effort and having enthusiasm most of time instead of only some of the time.  Done right you'll be able to look back and tell stories about what you did, just like fondly remembering a vacation.  Hopefully, you'll even have laughter from things that didn't go as planned and shared experiences with your clients and coworkers that are memorable! 

 

Come join our discussion on our blog or I welcome your feedback through email.