Vacations Ruminations

I’m writing this barefoot while listening to Patty Griffin, drinking good coffee, and surrounded by family in the hills of South Carolina. There’s a golf course outside my door. The Mobil station just up the road has coolers full of ice cold soda pop – including RC, Mountain Dew, and Coca-Cola – in glass bottles for under a buck apiece.

Vacation does not suck.

When not on vacation like this, I work crazy hard for three reasons:

1. So I get to do this several times a year.
2. So the rest of my team gets to do this several times a year.
3. So our clients get to do this several times a year.

Successful companies – at least the ones who measure success the same way we do – work hard, play hard, and rest hard.

Otherwise, what’s the point?

Seriously, if you have an answer, I’d love to hear it. So many people leave so much unused vacation time—in 2012, the average American wasted 9.2 UNUSED vacation days—in the trash bin every year. Why? It eludes me.

If you waste vacation time, who the heck are you helping exactly?

You hurt yourself. You hurt your family. You even hurt your company because you’re not recharging your batteries so you can give them the full measure of your devotion.

Our team has no set vacation policy. Work like heck when you’re here, but when you need or want time off? Take it. We probably average about six to eight weeks each, but that’s a guess.

And as our company grows, I realize these times of respite and living life’s adventures with family and friends are what matter.

Yes, it’s great that the company is growing, and that we are helping other companies grow (many of them like crazy right now), but if we’re not making time to enjoy the growth, what’s really the point?

This week, my friend Heidi shared the picture and verse below on Facebook… I’ve learned a lot from her in the decade I’ve known her… she once taught me about “living your dash” – that little mark between your birth and death.

How’s your dash doing these days? Mine’s doing mighty fine.