I am back from two wonderful weeks of vacation. At some point this week, I was scrolling through Linked In and I saw this tired, overused meme: “Build a life you don’t need a vacation from.”
I could not eye-roll hard enough.
Let’s tackle all of the reasons why this is idiotic advice.
Vacation Is A Part Of Life
My fundamental problem with this so-called advice is that it seeks to say – “If you take a vacation, you’re escaping your life; you don’t like your life.” But vacation is a part of life. Maybe we should start shipping out advice that says “build a life that you don’t need sleep from.” None of us would adhere to that. Because it’s stupid.
Yet we accept this hustle-bro psedo-life-advice? Rest, recovery, relaxation, exploration…these are fundamental parts of our life experience. Hey hustle-bros…the billionaires you worship? They take vacations!
Or is it that we shouldn’t take vacation until we’re billionaires? Is that when the advice changes and vacation suddenly becomes OK?
Taking a vacation isn’t escaping your “crappy life.” It’s adding to it. It is experiencing something new. It is about rest and recharging and reconnecting with friends and loved ones. Which…aren’t those things what life is all about?
You see…this advice is subtlety trying to convince you that life is about work. And only work. Which now seems like the hustle bros are trying to escape their ‘life’ instead, yes? Maybe they hate their life so much that they are escaping to work. Insert sad face.
Problem Solving
I’ve not yet taken a vacation in which something didn’t go sideways. A missed flight. Got lost. Couldn’t understand folks (during international trips). Vacations offer new opportunities to practice problem solving outside of your usual experiences. Outside of your comfort zone.
At some point during our trip, we had to run to the pharmacy. In another country. That didn’t speak English. With products that were not quite similar to the US products we were used to. Our brain neurons were lit up trying to figure things out.
There’s a concept called Neuroplasticity. I don’t fully understand the concept, but the basic idea is that our experiences force our brains to change and adapt. If we don’t introduce new experiences, our brains don’t adapt and change. That sounds bad. In fact, studies show that neurons that aren’t used? Die.
Travel has been shown to enhance Neuroplasticity. Which helps us stay mentally “young” and enhances our ability to learn, adapt to new situations and grow. Which…sounds kind of important if I want to keep crushing KPIs.
Who Does This Advice Benefit
I’m normally not a conspiracy theorist…however…who benefits from this advice? You, the worker? Or management? The owners? If I’m an owner of a company and I give a benefit package that includes three weeks of paid time off…but I convince my workers that taking said time off is “bad” because “build a life you don’t need a vacation from”…who wins? I, as the owner, now get three weeks of additional productivity from people who would have been out on PTO. For free.
But sure, continue to spread this piss-poor advice and think that you’re some office-space-hero. You aren’t. In fact…adhering to this ‘advice’ is similar to you receiving your paycheck and giving it back to your boss and saying “I’m building a life I don’t need a paycheck from.”
What? Like, actually…what??
Variety Is The Spice Of Life
Those of you who commit to a work-out routine are very familiar with the concept of cross-training. Cross-training seeks to eliminate imbalances in our bodies, reduce the risk of over-use injuries and make us more well-rounded with regards to our fitness.
The fitness world accepts cross-training as a true fact. Yet in our work-lives, we believe that a singular focus on one silo of our work is the only way to get better. We can’t grasp that taking vacation can actually enhance our skillset because, well, I’m a marketing person so how can seeing the world possibly make me a better marketer? I better just listen to yet another podcast by Seth Godin.
If I only do bicep curls, I’m not actually getting stronger or better. I’m going to burn out, risk injury and create imbalance. If you only focus on your silo work activities? You’re going to burn out, stall out your career and create imbalance.
What if you can’t go somewhere? A staycation can be just as stimulating as going somewhere. Here in Kansas City, we have a world-class museum…and it's free. We have a wonderful library system waiting to be explored; again, free. And gorgeous parks to wander through. Free.
Take your vacation. Explore, learn, rest and recharge. Ignore this rubbish advice. And if you find yourself working for someone who believes in said advice? Find another boss.
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