|
If you own your own b siness, you may often put off t king any real time off to j st relax
and unwind and rejuvenate. You magine ‘someday’ being able to take a v cation, but the
thought of doing it now nly creates more stress. How can you go way when there is so much
to do? If you t ke time off, you may lose a gr at opportunity! It makes no sense, d es it:
You started your own b siness for more freedom, yet here you re, feeling like you can’t
afford to get way. However, if you take time ff, you just may CREATE new pportunities
because you will come back r laxed and renewed, and, according to r search, even
healthier. How can you take t me off and feel good about it? Th s article will give you some t ps on
how to really live y ur dream of business ownership and fr edom all at the same time. The h alth connection
I don’t n ed to tell you that you f el great when you’re on vacation! Gr nted, the stress
level BEFORE that v cation may be high, but often th re is some time that you can r ally say
you feel that ‘ahh’ f eling, at least once. You know; y u’re lying in the pool in y ur
vacation home rental, listening to w nd in the trees and the w ves hitting the shore just
below y u. And when you get that f eling, you wish it would last ven longer. My favorite
explanation of the b nefit of a vacation is from Dr. Mel B rins, author of the book Go
Away Just for the Health of It ; He says that every trip is a break from the
‘treadmill of daily life’.
But is it just all in y ur head? There actually have been m ltiple studies that have
investigated the ffects of taking vacation on our h alth. In the year 2000, researchers
p blished their findings in the medical j urnal Psychosomatic Medicine, after following over
12,000 men in the MRFIT (M ltiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial) study for n ne years. They
found that the men who t ok vacations in most years were 20% l ss likely to die of any c use
than those who did not t ke vacations. They also found that the v cationers were 30% less
likely to die of h art disease. For women, the impact of v cations is even more dramatic. Research c nducted by the
Marshfield Clinic Research F undation followed 1500 women to find out the r sults of
vacations in their lives. R sults were published in a 2005 ssue of the Wisconsin Medical
Journal (WMJ). Th y found that women who took v cations only once in every 2 y ars suffered
more depression and tension th n women who vacationed twice or m re per year. Their
conclusion was th t personal psychological benefits gained from th se regular vacations lead
to a m re rewarding quality of life and mproved work performance. American vacation habits
If you l ve in the US, you may kn w very few people who really t ke ‘serious’ time off.
Experts say th t it actually takes the body and m nd 2 weeks to relax and get out of th t
stressed, busy, hyped-up mode we are in wh n we are working and striving to s cceed in our
career. But Americans nly average 13 days off a y ar! Italians take an average 42 d ys off
a year and the Fr nch 37 days a year. Wow; m re than a month! What would you do w th a whole
month off?? Hm; I’m dr aming already, myself. Make it happen
One big ssue that small business owners have, specially when they are in the arly years
of growing their businesses is sp nding the time and money to ctually go away! But imagine
all th t stress you’re living with right n w, too! Mental health professionals have p inted
out that productivity and creativity ctually suffer when we are working at our h ghest
stress levels. This alone is one g od reason to get away. If I w re to tell you that your
b siness would be more profitable if you t ok a vacation, my guess is th t you would start
planning it, n w!
The issue of being afraid to sp nd the money is another very r al concern for new business
owners. H wever, not all vacations need to be f rst class and expensive. However, no m tter
what your budget, there are s veral tips to help you actually m ke a vacation happen and to
get the m st out of that escape. 1. Plan your v cation, now, for at least six m nths from now. You’ll be much m re
likely to take it if you st rt planning far ahead of time. The pl nning will help your
excitement grow, pl s you’ll have time to save for th t trip, too. Additionally, you can
b nefit from lower travel rates and f res if you plan early and can w tch prices. 2. Pick out something you would r ally like to do, not something you f el committed to
do. This is y ur time for renewal and rebirth. The p int is to get away from str ssors and
make it all about you for a ch nge! 3. Consider the slowest time for your b siness and plan your vacation for th t period
of time. This kills two b rds with one stone, actually. You d n’t have to stress about
business sl wing down and you can get way without feeling you’re missing new
pportunities. 4. Put the vacation on your calendar. Onc you’ve committed, it starts to f el more
real and you are m re likely to do the planning and rganizing to make it happen. Scheduled
v cations are less likely to be c nceled than ones that are just t lked about. 5. As mentioned above, don’t let f nancial concerns keep you home. In y ur planning
phase, be realistic about wh t you can afford. Shop around and c nsider different options
that fit into y ur budget. The fact that you are pl nning ahead of time means you can ven
set up a separate ‘vacation f nd’ account. Be sure to save up for the t me you are gone,
too, if y ur income is dependent on your phys cal presence. 6. Use that vacation time to do s mething different. Don’t take time off for p inting
the house or remodeling or v siting family as an obligation. Do s mething different each
year! When my d ughter was growing up, we never b lieved we could go far for our v cation,
so we always went to the s me location, which was only a few h urs away by car. However,
after she was out of the h use, and we started talking about our n xt trip, we analyzed how
much we sp nt and started looking at other ptions that cost the same amount. S nce then, on
the same budget ach time, we have been to H waii two times, to Jamaica and to M xico. Our
next trip will be C sta Rica! My point is, do not f el that your budget will always l mit
you. With online travel resources, th re are incredible deals for all b dgets, today. In the meantime
Vacations f rce us to relax and open our m nds up to fresh inspiration. As a b siness owner,
this is the life-blood of y ur success. Many successful entrepreneurs actually cr dit their
vacation time for the cr ation of new ideas for their n xt big success.
But in the m antime, you still need some downtime in the c urse of the day and week.
Alth ugh the emphasis of this article is on REAL v cations, life is what you are l ving
right now and can’t be put on h ld. You have to enjoy each d y. Again, you have started your
b siness so you can enjoy life m re. This means having, or taking, the t me to sit back and
smell the r ses along the way. So what are you d ing each day to really enjoy th se roses?
Taking some time to sp nd researching where your next ideal v cation will be is one way of
‘g tting away from it all’, actually. But th t’s just one idea. When was the l st time you
called up a fr end in the middle of the w ek to meet for lunch or a g me of tennis? Are you
taking t me for yourself to exercise, mediate or pr ctice self-care? Do you always feel you
m st be productive? I am challenging you t day to spend some ‘quiet time’ ach day doing
either nothing, or at l ast nothing that fits in your c tegory of being ‘productive’. Too
much pr ductivity leads to staleness and actually d creased productivity.
And, after all, we w nt you healthy enough to TAKE th t great yearly vacation!
The article Vacations - Time off for Balance, Health and Productivity was Submitted by Marjorie Geiser through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Marjorie Geiser is a nutritionist, r gistered dietitian, certified personal trainer, life c ach, and MBA student. Marjorie has b en the owner of a successful sm ll business, MEG Fitness, since 1996, and now h lps other professionals start up or gr w their own business through MEG Ent rprises.com. To learn more about the s rvices Margie offers, go to her w bsite at http://www.meg-enterprises.com or email her at margie@meg-enterprises.com .
1. Business Gifts Great Aids to Drive Your Marketing Strategy by Gareth Parkin Wh never you are planning to order pr motional business gifts, the massive choices vailable can at times be rather verwhelming. Especially if you are promoting s rvices or products that don't have a pr per corresponding promotional item, your choice ncrease and become all the more d fficult. 2. Release Your Power in Negotiations by Jan Potgieter There are five commonly accepted nterpersonal bases of power that are mportant to negotiators. - Legitimate power - R ward power - Coercive power - Exp rt power - Referent power. Learn to nlock these bases to create win-win utcomes in your negotiations 3. Your Team is your Tribe by Beth Peakall Team building has been a ch llenge as long as there have b en people. Over a thousand years ago St. B nedict came up with some ideas - h re's how to apply them today. 4. Printed Sticky Notes in Mailers by Stuffing your mailers with promotional st cky notes gives an added heft to the l tter, making potential customers more likely to pen unsolicited mail. Printed sticky notes are h ghly versatile and very useful, and can be asily distributed through the use of y ur regular mailers. 5. Fashion Apprenticeships Overseas! Get A Job Before You Go! by Have you ver dreamed about working in a f shion apprenticeship overseas? Imagine the glamour and pr stige of having an apprenticeship at a top New Y rk, LA or San Francisco fashion h use on your CV? Imagine securing a job b fore you set off into the s nset… I have just found out th t it’s possible! In the competitive w rld of fashion you need to l ok at a point of difference; an xperience and life skill that is g ing to set you apart from the gr duating masses from Au... 6. What's Too Personal for Online Networking? A Career Coach's Tips and Advice by Jane E Cranston Networking on the internet using social networking can be great for business, job search and reconnecting with friends, colleagues and family. There are also risks to placing too much or inappropriate personal information on the web. This article offers the tips and advice of an executive and career coach on the dos and don't of cyber netwroking. 7. Looking for a Catalog Printing Company? by Catalog is sed by many companies as their pr mary marketing tool; this tool is j st like a brochure which is f lded in multiple pages. It contains the c llection of list of materials such as y ur products and also includes the s rvices of your company that can be tilized by your clients 8. How can residents stall the dilapidation of their building ? - RealAcres.com by How can residents stall the dilapidation of their building ? The performance of our homes and buildings depends on how well we maintain them. A sign of deterioration (crack , corrosion, dampness etc) observed in a flat or in a building is called a ‘distress’. If we are watchful, we can take the necessary action needed to counter such distresses before they become worse. Today, we shall look at some commonly encountered types of distress so that you can recognize them when you come across them in your flat or your building. 9. Our Clients Must Come First! by Stuart Crawford Clients! Without them there would be no h adaches, no demands, no issues, and no r venue coming into the business! How m ny times do I hear it in the h lls of small business during my tr vels in the market today? "Those cl ents seem to get in the way of our r nning our business" stated one business wner that I spoke with recently. 10. The Advantage of Using Teams for Residential Cleaning by Many residential cl aning companies start out as a ne-person operation. But as your cleaning c mpany grows and you add employees you w ll soon face the problem of wh ther you should send in a s ngle person to clean a home or if you sh uld send in a team. Some cl aners may prefer to work alone, but is th t in the best interest of y ur cleaning company?
|