I don’t need to work on vacation. So why do I?

Ah vacation. That blissful time when you step away from the demands of your normal days and instead just let them roll around in the back of your head… What? That’s not what you do on vacation? I’m bummed to report that I do this. At least for the first few days, and then I finally let my brain completely let go of all of my normal worries and duties and focus on something else. Or on nothing. Nothing is particularly good on vacation!

Taking time away from your work is critical to doing great work. Your brain and your body need time to rest and recuperate from the hard work they do so much of the time. Your brain needs to be stimulated in new and different ways to help new and different ideas to germinate. Your brain needs space to create new connections so that you can create new solutions. And frankly, we all need to do more things that fill our souls. Whether that’s time with the family seeing amazing art in the worlds most sophisticated cities or time spent alone in the wonders of a National Park, we need to refill our souls and to remember what this crazy life is all about.

Time away from work is also great for a leader’s team. When the leader goes on vacation and really commits to being out, that leader’s team gets opportunities to take care of different work activities and to solve different problems for themselves. In some cases, that’s easy and natural and in some cases it’s terrifying and disruptive. But in nearly all cases it’s developmental either to the team’s skills or to the team’s confidence. It’s also developmental to the team’s network and to other leaders’ knowledge of the team. All good!

So why is it so hard to really check out when you go on vacation? One driver is certainly ego: “Those still at work couldn’t possibly do this work as well as me, so I’ll do it even though I am on vacation.” Another is fear: “If I can really check out for a week or two, the company will figure out they don’t really need me and I’ll lose my job.” A third, and I think the one I struggle with most, is that I’m not nearly intentional enough about my work when I am working, which means there’s too much “stuff” on my plate when it’s time to go on vacation. I know there is work I’m doing on the regular that I don’t really need to be doing – and maybe nobody needs to be doing. I know that when I multitask and allow a significant level of distraction throughout every day that I’m not as productive as I could be so the work I should be doing doesn’t happen as efficiently as it should.

I’m working on those things and I have a long way to go. But I’m going to try not to work on them while I’m on vacation.