I’m a big believer in taking at least one unplugged vacation per year: no computer, no work phone. I think that it’s important for a few reasons. Such as:
- Work gets a lot of my undivided attention when I’m not on vacation, and my family needs and deserves some undivided attention too.
- The mental break always helps me feel invigorated about my current work, and always gives me new perspectives on my work-related goals for the future.
- It keeps me from developing an inflated sense of my own importance. If I start to feel that my clients really cannot live without me for a week, I’m the one with the problem.
- It forces me to plan financially for the time off; I use my business savings account to pay myself for the time that I take off work.
- I recognize that my energy, enthusiasm, creativity and probably other qualities are not infinitely renewable. I could work 50 hours a week, 51 weeks a year, but I don’t think that my current productivity level would last long. Everyone does what works for them, and for me, about 30 hours a week, 46 weeks a year is what’s sustainable.
Unplugged vacations might not be the norm these days, but even people who are actually important (as opposed to those of us who only fancy ourselves as important) think they’re worth considering. Here’s an interesting article in Harvard Business Review, which discusses the advantages of completely unplugging versus plugging in at scheduled times. And this article on CareerCast argues that unplugged vacations not only don’t hurt your career prospects, they actually help them.
So, now that you’re convinced (!), how do you do this? First, you pick a vacation destination that helps you, or even forces you, to unplug. As in, you don’t go to New York City and tell yourself that you’ll just leave your cell phone in the hotel room. You do something like go mountain bike camping in Utah, where there’s no cell reception anyway. Then, you find at least one trusted colleague who is available while you’re away. You send a pre-emptive e-mail to all of your clients and to the colleagues who regularly refer work to you, and you say something like:
Dear clients and colleagues: my office will be closed for vacation from X until Y, and I will not have access to e-mail or phone messages during this time. For urgent translations, please contact my trusted colleague (insert name and contact information). Otherwise I will respond to you as soon as possible when I return.
Note that if you truly want to unplug, you do not say that clients can call your cell phone if they need to reach you urgently. Nor do you leave them totally hanging and unable to get an urgent translation completed if they need one. You let them know that you are checking out completely, and you tell them who to contact while you’re away.
Finally, you put on your e-mail auto-responder and change your outgoing voicemail message, with something similar to the e-mail above. You clearly state that you are unavailable, and you provide a referral right there in the auto-response.
Then you go; you just do it. Put the office in the rear view mirror and enjoy your vacation. While you’re away, spend a little time making your peace with the fact that you may miss some work. You may even miss a really awesome project that you would have gladly interrupted the vacation for, had you known about it. That’s the reality of a week off the grid, but it’s a small price to pay for the renewed energy and enthusiasm you’ll have when you return. Because while you’re away, you’ll have a moment like this, and all of the missed work will be worth it!
Awesome picture! What fun!
Thank you! And thank you for being my trusted colleague 🙂
Thanks for the encouragement! I really want to take more unplugged vacations while our kids are still little – for one thing so we really can enjoy their childish enthusiasm for new things, but also because we won’t have to listen to them mope about being disconnected from their friends for a few days just yet. 🙂
Both of those are true Marion! Although my daughter is 10 and doesn’t (yet) complain about being unplugged or being alone with us on vacation. I agree, kids are a good incentive to leave the computer at home!
Great idea about letting clients know who to contact while I’m away, work won’t be lost that way and a good colleague may take care of everything. That’s also showing much about organization, trust and responsibility. @gravitaniamex
I agree; providing a referral ahead of time hits all of those important points. Finding the right person can be difficult, but it’s worth it!
We should all aim to be able to totally unplug once in a while, be it even for a few days. Not always easy, but definitely needed. I’m dreaming of one …..
I think that’s true; as Andres commented above, even two days and a night can really help. Try it!!
I couldn’t agree more! I just got back from a camping trip with my sons. It was only two days and one night, but the fact that there was no computer, no WI-FI and no smartphone around changed the experience altogether. I got back feeling more refreshed than ever! The fact that we surfed some really good waves probably helped as well : )
An unplugged surf vacation sounds amazing (as does living someplace where you can go to the beach for one night…at least from the perspective of living in a landlocked state). Glad the trip went well!
I’m so glad I’m not the only one that does this! My husband and I never bring computers on vacation with us, ever. And generally one cell phone only, for a single obligatory call to family to say we’ve arrived safely and are the cats behaving for them while we’re away. We sleep better, connect with the vacation spot better, talk so much more… The best kind of getaway!
Carolyn, that’s impressive that you never bring a computer on vacation…that could be a blog post in and of itself! And good point about sleeping better when you’re not worrying about e-mails and phone calls!
Too right Corinne! Indeed we do need to switch off to be able to switch back on full power. Excellent pic by the way!
Thank you! A stranger took the photo (thank you, whoever she was!).
I usually don’t take long vacation (max. a week), but I try to stay unplugged for 3-4 days many times a year. It works too! Just being able to share activities (even board games!) with my family makes it all worthwhile.
So true about the board games! We played a lot of Bananagrams on this trip!
Couldn’t agree more, Corinne! I could almost physically feel my energy recharging when I’m on my vacation. Last time we took one, we didn’t plan on being physically “unplugged”, but we found out that our mobile operator had no roaming coverage in the country we travelled to and Internet charges in the hotel were so exhorbitantly high that we spent 2 weeks without mobile and Internet connection. Couldn’t say either me or my husband missed it 🙂
Great post! My twin and I did one of these trips last year, when we hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (Supai Indian Reservation) and spent 2 wonderful and completely disconnected nights! We caught up on everything and did lots of great hiking, too, and had many adventures that you just can’t have in front of the computer.
I am also a firm believer of unplugged vacations to get a different perspective on life and what is truly important, for example family and I take one or two per year. Utah and Colorado are great destinations for these kinds of trips, by the way, since you can easily find breathtaking scenery and be truly off the grid, i.e. making it impossible to even have a cell-phone connection. Afterwards I return with new energy to work and I have always found that my favorite clients have not abandoned me, but contact me again upon my return. Perhaps our unplugged paths will cross sometime in the wilderness in our vicinity. 😉
For me i try to go camping , this is a great way to be away from it all and be completely out of touch with clients etc I have only my private phone with me and that is it. It is always difficult the first day and then it all disappears.
I totally agree with tess , it gives you a different perspective on the life .. i get too involved with my job and end up forgetting what is really important