Want to Live Longer? Take Your Vacation

Rob’s world seems to be spinning out of control. His desk is piled high with stacks of project data. The phone calls never stop. He can’t focus on one thing for long enough to see it through. He’s exhausted during the day but he can’t sleep at night. Why? Rob hasn’t taken a real vacation in more than three years.

Rob oversees a team of 25 people. He consistently works 60­- to 65-hour weeks, but he sees no way to cut back on his hours because he doesn’t know how he’d get it all done and still meet his bottom-line numbers. He’s already barely scraping by. A vacation seems like a distant dream. Besides, if he is gone even for a few days, his boss might figure out he’s not indispensable, he thinks.

Over coffee one morning, Rob’s coworker Janene shares research she’s come across about how vacations from work improve productivity.

If you don’t use your vacation days, the article says, the following consequences arise:

• Relationships suffer
• Health deteriorates
• Enthusiasm disappears
• Productivity goes down
• Burnout and depression result
• Life balance ceases to exist

In contrast, taking your vacation brings major benefits both to your career and personal life:

• It improves job satisfaction by minimizing burnout
• Relationships with coworkers and family improve
• Your morale grows substantially
• Productivity and creativity increase

Thus, taking your vacation is a key component of time-management mastery. That may feel counterintuitive when you’re scrambling to keep up with your to-do list, but having time off to recharge and clear your head is an absolute game-changer.

Skipping Vacations Is a Fast-Growing (and Detrimental) Trend

 Do you take advantage of all your vacation days? More than one-third of American workers don’t, according to a survey by the Families and Work Institute. And only 14% go away for more than two weeks at a time.

Want to live longer? Take your vacation.

Here are some statistics that might chase you out of the office:

• Working 55 hours or more per week increases risk of stroke by 35%, according to the World Health Organization.
• Using few or no of their vacation days increases women’s risk of heart attack by 50%,
  the Framington Heart Study found in 1992 (after tracking subjects with no heart disease history for a period of 20 years).
• Men who vacation infrequently incur a 20% higher risk of death and close to a 30% higher chance of dying from a heart attack, researchers from the Global Commission on Aging and the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies have found.

Among those who manage to escape, 59% check in with their supervisor or colleagues at least once a day during their vacation, a LinkedIn survey found. And almost a quarter engage with their work more than three times a day on their vacation. “Members of Generation Z, born between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s, had the hardest time disconnecting,” CBS News reports, saying that “86% of Gen Z workers said they actively engaged with work while on vacation, according to the LinkedIn survey.”

The idea that time off rejuvenates people is not a new revelation. A study done over 100 years ago by Dr. Ernst Abbe, a German researcher, evaluated work schedules at Zeiss Optical Works and found that reducing hours by more than 10% actually increased worker output. In 1914, Henry Ford appalled his peers by moving production from a six-day to a five-day week. Output increased, while production costs decreased.

As these findings show, your health isn’t the only thing at risk. Not taking time to recharge also affects your career in serious ways:

• Creativity and innovation plummet.
• Work quality suffers.
• Productivity declines.
• Feelings of apathy grow.
• You experience negative feelings toward the job.
• Burnout results.

Burnout is caused by long hours over long periods, often with few or no vacations or breaks, along with high stress and job pressure. If you’re pushing yourself beyond the limits of good health and good sense, it’s only a matter of time before you experience severe burnout.

To avoid burnout and maintain your passion for your work and life, you need to schedule time off. You need time to disconnect and disengage, catch your breath, rest, recover, and relax.

Get away from the business. Yes, completely away. Absolutely no interruptions—no cell phone, computer, or email. You want to be completely unplugged. You’ll be able to return with a fresh perspective and clear mind when you truly take time off to recharge. And you’re likely to live longer, and enjoy better health, too!

Are You a Workaholic?

Dr. Bryan E. Robinson, author of Chained to the Desk: A Guidebook for Workaholics, Their Partners and Children, and the Clinicians Who Treat Them, calls it “the nation’s best dressed addiction.” Find out if you’re one of its victims by taking Dr. Robinson’s 25-question quiz. Then start setting clear boundaries around your personal life—including your vacation time.

If you suspect any of your employees are workaholics, it’s time to step in. Encourage them to plan their next vacation and assist them with time-management to get them back on track. Make taking a vacation feel like something that management expects of them—and insist that they stay unplugged through the duration of their time away.

Rob realized that he fits the bill of a workaholic completely. But he was still floundering in his mountain of paperwork when he realized it was time for his monthly call with his business coach. He hadn’t met any of his coaching benchmarks for the month, so he decided to throw the whole vacation issue in his coach’s lap and ask for advice.

His coach urged him to make scheduling that vacation one of his highest priorities. Follow these tips, his coach said, to get off the treadmill and reclaim your life and sanity.

Four Tips for Scheduling Your Next Vacation

1 – Ask for time off when there aren’t any major projects or deadlines.

You obviously don’t want to just drop everything and go, leaving the pieces behind for your coworkers or boss to pick up. Look at your current workload and determine when your major projects will be completed, if possible. Determine a completion date for your most critical project and develop a plan to delegate other responsibilities to your direct reports. If the project extends for many months, try to choose a time when things will be under control enough for your team to handle them without you—which you can plan for. You may be able to work ahead on your part of a project so others can fill in on the rest of it while you’re away.

2 – Give plenty of notice.

Yes, it would be great if you could hop on a plane tomorrow, but that’s not meeting either the company’s needs or your own best interests. The more lead time you provide, the more prepared your boss and team can be. What’s realistic depends a lot on your own workload, your team situation, and your company’s culture and guidelines about taking time off. Have three or four possible dates in mind so your boss can have some alternatives to think about.

3 – Request the time off face-to-face.

Approach your boss with your vacation request either in person or on a one-on-one call. Do it at a time when your boss is less likely to be stressed or overwhelmed, such as on a Friday afternoon. By making your request in person or face to face, you can check in with your boss about how you can both prepare for your time away, as well as discussing the best dates for your absence.

4 – Plan the right vacation for you.

Start your own mental vacation by planning now. Where would you like to go? Are you an active vacationer—hiking, whitewater rafting, sailing? Or would you rather spend time at a spa or a retreat? Start to collect brochures and trip information. Pick three or four dates that might be possible. Do something that will truly rejuvenate you, whether that means relaxing on a beach for a week or getting your adrenaline fix.

Time off is an important part of your life. You’ve earned it—now take it.

This week, make a list of five dream vacations. Research ideas online, get brochures from a travel agent, and write down some potential dates. Set a target date to talk to your boss. And contact Joel for personalized guidance on taking back control over your schedule and career!