I’m reading Seth Godin’s new book Tribes, and something on page 101 jumped out at me and bopped me over the head.
Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you ought to set up a life you don’t need to escape from.
Isn’t that the way to live? Heck yea!
This sentence hit me in a funny way. I do already have a life I enjoy – great family and love the work I do. So it is very rare that I actually feel like I ‘need to get away’ and go on vacation. And i’ve always felt a bit strange (guilty?) about this – why don’t I ever feel like going on vacation? Shouldn’t I want to? Everyone else around me wants to go on vacation… I daresay at times i’ve almost wondered if there was something wrong with me that i’d rather stay here at home doing what I do already. I’ve set up a life that I don’t need to escape from.
Cool.
That’s not to say i’ll never take a vacation for fun, but I certainly don’t feel like I need to take a week or two off at a time just to escape.
Seth shares a story in the book about how he couldn’t sleep one night while on vacation in Jamaica and decided to check his email in the hotel lobby. A couple walks by and says “Isn’t that sad? He’s here on vacation checking email and he can’t even enjoy his two weeks off”. But the thing is that he is passionate about his work and there was nothing he would rather be doing in that moment.
I think that is the key – vacation or not, is there something else you would rather be doing in this moment? Ask yourself that question as you go about your day…
Loving the book Tribes by the way, it’s actually been very timely for me with the release of my new book. What i’m most excited about is connecting with people who want to play a bigger game with their clients in the role of Online Business Manager. I’ve setup OBMConnect.com to be our own little tribe… come join if you are game.