Eric Tapley

I’m back from a long vacation - ok, long for me. It was only for one week, but I haven’t been away for that long since Kate and I went on our honeymoon in 2001. I know, that’s five years, and I was well overdue for some time off.

I didn’t check email or browse the web while I was gone. I didn’t even try to find anyplace with a ‘net connection to do so. When my cell phone rang I let it go to voice mail and only checked if the number was one I recognized as important. That’s when I had the cell on - about half of the time it was off.

We returned home today and I feel fantastic.

There’s an important connection here, and it’s a lesson I’m working hard to learn. Vacation is a great thing.

Most of the time our actions move us forward forward by inches, if that. Each week is an incremental advance over the previous week, and that’s good, because it’s steady progress that grows most individuals and organizations. But there are diminishing returns when you push beyond a certain point, and I had gone too long without recharging my batteries. I was getting over my rash a little bit, day by day, but it was slow progress. I was getting work done at the office, but only by putting in longer and longer hours to get the same number of tasks complete (or to complete *just one more task*).

This vacation was eye-opening for me. It was a game changer. I didn’t move forward by inches but by yards, both in terms of health and attitude. I feel so much better now: I’m more relaxed, more focused, more energetic, and best of all my rash is gone.

It’s not often we have a chance to move forward by leaps instead of lurches.

We all need to take more vacations.