The kids started back at school this week. Honestly, it was hard to let them go this time. Summer break was magical this year – hands down the best one yet! I wasn’t the only one who loved the past three months. The Mayor also commented that this summer was some of the best days of his young life.
Over the weekend, I spent time reflecting, trying to make sense of it all. I guess because when something is so amazing, you want to figure out how you bottle it up and replicate it again.
I thought I would share some of my reflections as a bit of a guide for how you might plan events and hopefully experience an abundance of joy from them.
A Lack of Commitment Gives Us the Space to Decompress
I am confident that one of the main factors our trips and the weeks the boys and I spent together were so fun was because it was the first time that I didn’t have a major all-consuming commitment I had to go back to at the end of it all. Regardless of how much I loved school as a kid, college as a young adult, or work as an adult, I always knew that there was a huge commitment I had a responsibility to get back to. My commitments took away some of the freedom that comes with being on vacation because in the back of my mind, they invoked a level of stress that, unbeknownst to me, created anxiety while I was meant to be decompressing.
Setting your out of office (and being disciplined to not check your emails or texts), letting your non-urgent, time sensitive commitments take a pause (and trusting your team to carry the weight), and simply not sweating the small stuff for a while helps us all to decompress and come back from a vacation refreshed.
Entrepreneur contributor, Dr. Kira Graves, advocates that “employees lead healthier, more productive lives by taking vacations.” In fact, and I concur, Dr. Graves says that “[t]ime off from traditional work activities and the opportunity to view the world through a different lens can stimulate your employees’ creative muscles. They can explore the scope and potential of their innate talents during the vacation period and get their creative juices flowing.”
Over the course of 12 weeks, I came up with a laundry list of new ideas I can’t wait to explore!
Purposeful Activities Produce Greater Outcomes
Earlier this year, I was at a leadership conference where I had the space to spend a lot of time alone. During the conference, many of the speakers talked about their life’s purpose, something in the past I skeptically rolled my eyes at. However, during my solitude at the conference, I challenged myself to take a stab at defining my purpose. I wanted to see if this focused approach to living could really have an impact on my level of happiness.
In a moment of pure clarity, my life’s purpose came to me. I fell in love with it. I completely surprised myself! For months now, I have used my purpose statement to create greater focus for how I spend my time. Much like my days in Corporate America when I would set a strategy for my teams and maniacally ensure we all stayed laser focused on it, I am trying to do the same for myself personally.
My life’s purpose is to inspire people to dream big, help dreamers gain the confidence to “go for it,” and celebrate dreamers when they achieve great things.
I put this purpose statement to work last winter while I was planning our family’s summer events. This was a very different way to approach summer activity planning for my kids. Historically, I would sign The Mayor up for any camp that would fill an entire workday because Bogey and I had busy schedules. We needed him occupied.
My approach to planning summer vacation this time was to find camps and trips that fueled The Mayor’s dreams and enthusiasm. I also found trips and activities that fueled my family’s passions, notably opening new discoveries for Boom Boom. Bogey also engaged in this deliberate planning, instigating a family reunion for his dad’s clan kin relations that inspired brothers and sisters scattered across the country to come together and re-connect.
As a family, we filled our time with things we all love and dream of getting better at versus scheduling activities simply to fill the time. Our approach resulted in more personal growth, more ambition to achieve our goals, and an appetite to explore even more.
We Rested, Relaxed, and Restored
I firmly believe we are all uniquely wired. For me, I love mornings alone to simply get $#*+ done! Give me a cup of coffee, a pair of readers, an internet connection, and a computer and I can get more done by 10:00 a.m. than some people get done in a week. However, when the day comes to an end and my tank is empty, I simply need to just go to bed. I can’t claim I ever mustered the stamina to pull an all- nighter preparing for an exam or a presentation. If I did stay up late to help with things at work, I was usually not very pleasant to be around as we finished the task, or I was a zombie the next day.
Said simply, I need sleep! My kids take after me.
To this end, I made a point to use summer for what it is meant for when kids are away from school – to rest, relax, and recharge. I intentionally gave my family members the opportunity to get mounds of sleep. We limited the number of camps The Mayor went to with early start times. While traveling in Europe, afternoon naps were a high priority not only for Boom Boom but for all of us. I even recall some nights that we all went to bed before sunset or mornings where my kids slept past 10:00 a.m.
Instead of “vacationing hard” like we did in the past, often times requiring us to wish for a vacation from our vacation, we prioritized rest and relaxation.
We ended the summer well rested, restored, and ready to tackle the commitments ahead of us.
As a family, we have already started planning for next summer. We will do new things while taking the same approach to deciding what we embark on. I am also trying to do the same as we plan other times off throughout the year. I hope you will consider taking a similar approach to see if you get amazing outcomes.
What about you?
- When you take time off, do you really check out? What can you delegate to others? How do you set good expectations with people about when (and when not) to contact you? Do you really need to check your email every morning before you head out for your adventures?
- Do you know what drives your ambitions? What about your family and friends? How do your passions and your purpose fuel how you spend your time? Do you need to be more deliberate?
- Are you well rested? How can you incorporate more rest and relaxation into your itinerary?
