TWO TYPES OF VACATIONS  One of Floyd’s ingredients for achieving a long-range goal is to “Schedule Vacations In Advance.” Vacations provide a light at the end of the tunnel to our loved ones. They are a reward to them for letting us live out of balance. They are a great big giant LFT (Look Forward To) that energizes everyone, and recharges our battery. Vacations put the day-to-day problems in the rear view mirror, and give us a fresh perspective, because you have to go somewhere different. 

Floyd also distinguishes between a vacation and time off. Whenever we take some time off, it’s generally just a few days or a long weekend. Time enough to do some chores around the house and then go back to work more tired than we were before. 

The evidence is clear that more vacations don’t hurt your income. They actually increase your effectiveness before and after. They make for a better, happier, more peaceful and more productive you. 

But one of the biggest challenges to taking a real, pre-scheduled vacation in the modern tech world of real estate is actually disconnecting from work. We carry our business around with us on our phones. We are tethered to calls, voice mail, email, text messages, notifications, beeps, buzzes, dings-dongs, customized ring-tones, check the weather, check the stock market, watch a funny video, go to webinar, listen to a podcast, check on Stout Street . . . 24/7/365. 

One type of vacation is to stay connected and try to limit the hours when you check in, follow up, respond, forward, delete, communicate, reciprocate and delegate. How’s that working out for you? How about those icy stares from your family waiting for you to get off the phone so you can all finally go to the beach? Or to a romantic candlelight dinner? Or the Magic Kingdom? 

That’s one way to try to take a vacation. 

The other type of vacation is where you just simply turn it all off. Believe it or not, there is an on/off switch on most modern conveniences. Perhaps you haven’t discovered this marvelous feature of technology, or have just forgotten about it. 

Being able to turn it off takes preparation, though. Systems that take care of details automatically. People you trust to handle things competently. And advance notice to clients, prospects, broker, friends and family. 

That’s the easy part. The real challenge is disconnecting from technology. If you wait until the start of vacation to disconnect and go cold turkey, the pain of withdrawal will distract you more than if you still have the phone on. 

If you want to take a real, disconnected vacation in three months, start practicing now. Disconnect one day a week and get used to the feeling. It’s called a Tech Sabbath, and it has an impeccable historical pedigree, Genesis. 

It took God six days to create the world, and on the seventh day, rest. If it’s a good enough schedule for the Creator of the All Things Visible And Invisible, it’s good enough for you. And here are a few other benefits of disconnecting one day a week.

Taking a weekly Tech Sabbath allows us to step off this wheel of endless sameness. It’s a ritual that pushes us out of the norm, to pursue different activities, and use different parts of our brains. In so doing, it refreshes and rejuvenates our minds and spirit. It provides the motivation to unhook our wired craniums from the matrix of cyberspace and explore the pleasures of the real world. – from The Art Of Manliness blog

Vacations are one of the greatest pleasures of the real world. Next time you are planning a vacation, plan some prep time for back-up systems, and practice rewiring the brain to disconnect from technology, and reconnect with your surroundings.