As I write this, I am coming off a vacation with the family. We played on the beach, visited a carnival, and ate a ton of ice cream. It was great.
Like most, I do my fair share of ‘people watching’ on vacation. I like to guess where other families are from, watch what they eat for lunch, and see if I am in fact the palest man on the beach.
This year I noticed something different.
Every morning before the family woke, I visited a local restaurant to read the newspaper and enjoy a cup of coffee. Each time, I was joined by many other tourists, who I assumed had the same agenda.
I quickly noticed that, while many of these people were dressed for vacation, their purpose each morning had nothing to do with rest and relaxation. They set up shop with their laptops and cell phones and got to work.
Later at the beach, I noticed that everyone had a drink in one hand and their smart phone in the other. At lunch and dinner, many families sat quietly because they were too busy checking their email to engage in conversation.
As a business owner, I understand how challenging it can be to leave work behind. In addition, technological advancements have made it almost impossible.
While I have made enormous strides in living in the moment and enjoying my vacations, I still have my phone (all notifications/sounds turned off) with me at all times. One day at the beach, in a moment of boredom, I decided to check my email to pass the time. A particular email caught my eye, caused a bit of anxiety, and the next thing you know I was on the phone with my office dealing with an issue that could have easily waited until I was back.
It makes me wonder – is the family vacation disappearing? Can busy and driven professionals ever really turn it off and enjoy themselves?
I’m not sure.
But I have an idea. What if we left the phone in the hotel room/condo every time we left for some family fun? Would your business collapse if a client, prospect, or employee couldn’t get in touch with you for an afternoon?
As with most things in life, the solution is simple. All you need to do is execute.