While I’m Out...

I'm going to be out of the?office?the next two weeks and so my plan is to reacquaint the readers of this post with previous Friday Focuses. And my goal is to make these posts as impactful as possible. And given that one of the weeks I'm gone is a week of vacation, it's the perfect time to remind everybody about a post I wrote a little over two years ago about the importance of making time to disconnect and recharge.?

It's called Disconnect to Reconnect. I know you'll enjoy this. Cheers!?

You may have heard the statistics about how workers in the United States leave?their?vacation days?“on the table”,?never taking all the time off they’ve earned.?A total of 768 million days went unused in 2018, a 9% increase from 2017. Of those, 236 million were completely forfeited, which comes out to $65.5 billion in lost benefits. Fifty-five percent of workers reported that they did not use all their vacation days.??

The top 3 reasons people gave for not taking all their earned?vacations;?40% of the people surveyed said they didn’t want to return to a?“mountain of work.”?35% think no one else can do their job, and 33% said they couldn’t afford a vacation.??

1/3 of the people in the study believe that the more you advance in the company,?the harder it is to take time off. The study also determined that management is a primary influence on employees that choose not to take all their time off, with employees claiming they?either?hear nothing, mixed messages or discouraging messages about taking time off. About 25%?of employees claim to be unsure about whether their company expects them to work while they are on vacation.?

I’m not being critical of the results of the survey, or the?“why”?behind people’s actions, and what they do with their time off. But I’d like to share what I believe when it comes to this topic.?

I used to be the guy that always worked on vacation regardless of where I was or what I was doing. Before the days of e-mail and cell phones, I would call the office to check in every day, sometimes spending hours on the phone, while my family busied themselves waiting. And after e-mail came along, it became possible to stay connected to work, without being tied to a hotel room. I’m not sure what was worse.??

It was after I began coaching with Building Champions?in 2001?that I focused on the importance of really disconnecting from work and becoming completely focused and connected?on?family. Taking time away from work, completely disconnecting and not checking e-mail has made a hugely positive change in how I look at my time off, and how I?spend time with my?family.?

My biggest takeaway?is?how much more energy I have when I do return to work, rather than coming back from a “connected” break, not feeling like I truly relaxed. I’m just better to be around when I’ve been unplugged from the office.?

How do I unplug? Here are some of my?“hacks.”?

First it starts by knowing that I must be very intentional about taking breaks. I try to schedule them a year out. (If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.)?Next,?it’s a simple process to stop my e-mail from synching on my phone, and I leave it that way the entire time I’m gone. I never take a laptop with me on a vacation. It’s too tempting. My out of office message is clear that I won’t be checking e-mail or voice mail while I’m gone, so no one expects to hear from me. The message is also clear about who they should contact if it is truly urgent.?That person knows what to?do?to?get ahold of me?in case of an emergency. (And in the years that I have put this practice in place, there has never been an emergency.)?

The last thing I do is I always plan my next break, before I leave?on?the current one. This way I make sure?to not?go too long without a break.??

So let me be clear. I expect everyone that works at Zenith to take all the time off they have earned. You owe it to yourself, your family and your co-workers.???

Quote of the Week:?

No one ever says on their deathbed, “I wish I had spent more time at the office.”?

Senator Paul Tsongas?

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