LOG out and UNPLUG

In the past few weeks, I’ve spoken to salespeople and leaders who told me they were taking time off AND IN THE NEXT SENTENCE said they’d be:

  • Checking email
  • Backing themselves up (what DOES that even mean)
  • Be available for a call

You are not on vacation if you’re doing any of these things.

When I want to see if my beliefs are correct, I start googling and reading. This time it was about the importance of mentally and physically taking time off.

Unfortunately – I was horrified to immediately find that a 2017 Glassdoor Survey found: Two in Three Employees Report Working While on Vacation.

This was then countered by an article quoting a 2006 finding by Ernst & Young who found that for each additional 10 hours of vacation employees took, their year-end performance ratings improved 8%.

Ok, so I might be correct that removing ourselves from the stress of work is important to our overall career success… YET 67% of employees weren’t doing it.

Which was when I came upon this…

“Reframe Rest as Recovery”

… quote from Melody Wilding in the article Why You Should Take A Day Off, Even If You Have Nowhere To Go by Monica Torres.

There is obviously some feeling or belief that we don’t deserve rest. Like it’s a luxury, not a necessity.

What if instead, we think about time off, unplugged as recovery. That we are recovering our mental capability to do great work. Reclaiming our ability to be calm instead of stressed out. Recapturing our creativity and problem-solving skills. Replenishing everything we need to be successful at work.

It doesn’t have to be a vacation…

I’ll admit, although I was being very disciplined about making sure I took one day a week with no computer time (including my phone!), somehow that hasn’t been happening lately.

I am recommitting to do this every week. One day of actual recovery. One day without work.

How about you?
Lynn

ps: here are the resources I used and found as I was writing:

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