No Time to Spring Break – Think Again! 5 ReasonsWhy You Need to Take a Vacation from Your Business

blog.dlvrit.com /2015/03/excellent-reasons-to-take-a-vacation/

Debra Garber

If there’s anything currently burning up social media, it’s the hashtag#SpringBreak. Check it out on Instagram – nothing that happens in Cabo everstays in Cabo. Don’t fret; spring break doesn’t have to be about Fort Lauderdaleand drunken debauchery.

Running a small business can be a 24/7 job. But, time away from your businesscan be a good thing. Nobody does their best work if they’re too tired or overlystressed.

Unconvinced? Here are five good reasons why you need a vacation from yoursmall business this Spring Break.

1. Your Brain Needs Down-Time

Mental downtime is necessary for your brain to function at its best.

Research from Scientific American, studying the habits of athletes and exceptionalartists, reveals how naps, meditation, nature walks and prolonged breaks actually:

Increase productivity

Replenish attention

Boost memory

Encourage creativity

Essayist Tim Kreider wrote in The New York Times,

Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as

indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprivedof it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets…it is,paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.

Since starting your business, can you remember the last time you took a realbreak? Staying home sick with the flu does not count! Downtime is a must. If youwant to run your business effectively and on all cylinders, your brain needs abreak.

2. You Can Recharge Your Batteries and At the Same Time,Empower Your Team

Does this question sound familiar: How will my business go on in my absence?

There’s an incredibly common misconception that we are indispensable. In ourabsence, everything will fall apart at the office. Believe me; don’t believe it’simpossible for you to take a vacation!

Jennifer Deal, a researcher at the Center for Creative Leadership who hasexamined the way executives deal with taking vacations, told The Wall StreetJournal that when bosses take time off they come back more creative and ableto think about the long run future of the company better. If they don’t take abreak, she says it’s extremely difficult for them to “see outside of the immediate

whirlwind.”

As a business owner or manager, it is also your responsibility to challenge,empower and motivate your staff by entrusting them with your business so youcan take a vacation.

Divvy out the critical tasks that need to be taken care of

Set expectations

Hold your team accountable

Lastly…TRUST that everything will be ok. TRUST your team and TRUSTyourself.

3. You Can Set an Example – Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk

As important as it is for your own health, to take a break, it is equally important toencourage your staff to take care of themselves. After all you do not want theentire team burning out!

Set an example:

Show the importance of taking vacations by taking one yourself.

Also, remember that vacations can be done in small increments — an afternoonoff, for example, can possibly work wonders for morale.

Fact:

The more (shorter) vacations you take, the happier you’ll be.

So go on, give your staff and yourself a needed and deserved break and returnwith newfound energy, focus and creativity to transform the world.

4. To Innovate, Disrupt Your Routine

If you have a hard time relaxing, you might just need to jolt your subconscious intorecognizing you need a break. According to the Harvard Business Review,disrupting your everyday regimen can even increase creative thinking.

Disrupt your usual schedule by:

Sleeping in

Eating dessert for breakfast

Getting tickets for an event that you normally would have passed on

Taking a spur-of-the-moment vacation with family or friends

Or maybe better yet, take a staycation. Sometimes there’s nothing better thanrelaxing at home without the stress of travel, planning and extra expense to giveyou a fresh start.

5. New Stimuli — faces, places, smells, tastes — BoostsCreativity

New faces, places, smells, and tastes can all help unlock creative ideas. Even ifyou don’t work in a creative field like the arts or entertainment, tapping into yourcreativity releases a sense of playfulness and fun, a return to that child-like wonderand curiosity, and can help you sort through challenges at work or in life.

Why is creativity important? In his TEDxDirigo talk, You’re a Lot More Creativethan You Think, artist John Paul Caponigro believes that “The human being is acreative species.” Basically, the idea is that we are all born with creativity – someof us are just born with more than others. And even if you’re in a field that doesn’ttypically ooze imagination in the same way that advertising does, creativity is askill that can still improve your value in the workplace and at home.

From Caponigro’s talk, a few benefits of creativity that are applicable to youreveryday life include:

Improved problem solving skills. Thinking creatively allows you to findsolutions to problems that you might not have considered otherwise.

Faster idea-generation. When your friend asks you, “Where should we gofor lunch?” is your typical response, “I dunno. Where do you think?” Don’tbe that person. Fine-tuning your creative abilities will help you think quicklyand to generate more ideas on a whim.

Better mood. It’s hard to hold back a smile after you’ve discovered a newpath or created something original. Now go brainstorm five new uses forcrayons, and tell us you didn’t have just a little fun.

So, are you sold yet on the reasons why you must take a vacation and soon?

Bonus Reason: It Will Make You Happy!

Is that not reason enough?

How about taking a break right now? Toss your guilt aside about leaving the officebehind. Bypass all the kids going to Cabo, Cancun and Miami and start yourvacation. Your business will manage without you and you will come back refreshedand enlightened.