Disconnect

Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons

Most of us live very busy lives. We are inundated by media of all types, surrounded by people at work and at home. The question is, do you take time to disconnect? If you do disconnect, how do you do it? How frequently do you do it, and for what length of time?

When you’re on vacation do you do everything you can to disconnect? I see so many people that are tied to their email and cell phones, they are diligently keeping up with every detail in their business and even in the news. The answer is simple: be present when you’re away and get focused on what you are doing in the moment. Stop thinking about business, that’s the very reason you’re away. Find someone that you trust to cover for you while you are gone. Direct your calls and emails to that person. Give them specific crisis instructions. In other words, ask not to be contacted unless there is something significant that requires your attention. The point of a vacation is to completely recharge. To recharge you need to stop thinking about the office and free your mind to enjoy other things. The mark of a truly great vacation is when you don’t know what day it is and you almost forget you have a job.

The challenge for many of us is that we don’t have that person we trust. We become control freaks (this is especially true for many business owners). The first order of business is to find the person that you trust to handle things for you. Once you do that, be sure to take care of them and let them do their job. We all believe we can do it better than anybody else, but if you have the right person covering for you, your business will still be there when you get back.

How critical are you? Are there life and death situations in your business that require your immediate and continuous attention? If there are, is there someone that can fill in for you? Let them! If your role is not that critical, let it go. When I got into the money management industry many years ago my mentor gave me a great line: “There’s no such thing as a mutual fund emergency, there are other people to handle things while you’re gone.” We’re so used to being connected 24/7 that many of us have taken on this self-importance mindset. Here’s the reality: being important is overrated. Most of us are not as important as we think we are. Life and business will go on without us. That’s a good thing. Stop thinking about the importance of what you do, and start enjoying every moment of your time away.