When is the last time you had a real holiday?

September 15th, 2011

A break from work is essential
How important is it for everyone to pause, recharge the proverbial batteries and take a little well-deserved rest? Okay, times are bad and every second that one can use to strike a deal or make a little money may be critical, but vacations, even if you never leave home, are essential. We live in a wired world and we are on line every second of every day. Take break sometimes and recharge yourself as you recharge your Blackberry or iPad.

The 24-7 job
There are 24-7 jobs; the president has one, meaning that there is no real "off" switch, no matter how good your support staff is. One sees people like that, camped out in a beach chair, feverishly typing away on a BlackBerry. He is probably an entrepreneur of some sorts who feels he has to use every second of his waking time. Entrepreneurship or running a business comes with enormous responsibility, and there is little or no down time. A deal can sail in through the window and if you are not there at that precise moment to nail it, it’s gone, maybe never to reappear.

Unwinding
Research tells us that vacations are essential, not just for unwinding and de-stressing, but because they often serve as a time to regroup and generate new ideas, making us even more productive when we return. Americans already take far less vacation time than people in nations around the world.

Viewpoint
We asked a prominent director of a company what he thought about vacations. "I get quite angry about companies in America, who give people such short vacations. I think you can say it’s an absolute disgrace and especially for people that have families. I really do think, especially when you’ve got such high unemployment, that jobs could be shared around amongst everybody in America. Those people who want to job-share would have longer time off with their family without being made to feel guilty by the company. You should be allowed to do so. It’s a much better balance of life.

Job sharing
"I know how difficult it is to change that attitude, because I get the chief executives of our companies to talk to them occasionally and tell them that if people want to take leave for six months, they should be able to do so. If they want to share jobs with somebody else, they should be able to do so. It’s just so difficult to get people to change their attitudes. But, it’s time that parents need to find time with their children and occasions like that are very important for recharging the batteries, getting healthy and coming back to work even harder. Vacations are critical. Time away helps not only the mind and spirit, but is good for the office to be without you.
 
My holiday
I missed my annual holiday this year due to medical problems. Now that I am on the mend and feeling great, I need a holiday more than ever!

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 15th, 2011 at 4:01 am and is filed under Business, Economy, Employment, Finance, Money, Personal / Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website