On vacation? You really need to unplug yourself

Vacation should be a joy and a wonderful time to spend with your friends and family. It should be relaxing to the extent that you forget what day it is, which is a good indicator of a great vacation.

Too many managers and entrepreneurs just do not take vacation like this. They stay plugged in to their offices with their phones or tablets.

Every time your phone beeps or vibrates, it steals some of your time away from your much-needed vacation and adds stress. Even just glancing at your phone to check your e-mail, text messages or voicemail, shifts you out of vacation mode and back into work mode. Re-engaging with work steals away that peaceful feeling you should have on vacation.

I know it is hard for so many people to put down their electronic devices and stay unplugged on vacation, but it is so important that you do for your mental and physical health. Always being on alert will almost certainly cause an increase in your stress level along with associated medical issues like high blood pressure.

I know some people are saying, “There is no way I can unplug. I need to make decisions and stay in touch with what my team or business is doing.” When I hear managers and entrepreneurs say this, I know the real reason these people cannot let go is that they either have a fear of not being needed or they do not trust their staff to make good decisions while they are gone.

Whichever the case, managers and entrepreneurs must find a way to be able to step away and unplug from time to time. If you feel you cannot, it is clear you have not built a staff you trust to handle everyday details. You must have competent staff in place so that everything is not totally reliant on you as the manager or entrepreneur.

Recently, we bought a second house in Sky Valley, which is way up in the mountains of northeast Georgia. It is a beautiful community with a golf course in the valley and a scattering of homes on the mountainsides. Most important, however, it is very cool in the summer.

Being this high in the mountains, I have no Internet, no e-mail and barely any telephone service. In fact, my phone seemed to be a co-conspirator in this “unplugging” concept because it rarely worked that first week we were up there on vacation.

I quickly discovered that, although I wanted to connect the first couple of days, over time I wanted it less and less. In fact, when we were packing up to come back to Tallahassee, I was not looking forward to getting plugged in again.

My time in Sky Valley taught me a very important lesson. I learned that relaxation and calm comes from having serenity and quietness, which is something I never get when I stay plugged in.

Now go out and make sure you have a plan to train your staff to make great decisions so you can unplug on your vacation. If you do this, I promise it will pay dividends.

You can do this.

Dr. Osteryoung has directly has assisted over 3,000 firms. He is the Jim Moran Professor of Entrepreneurship (Emeritus) and Professor of Finance (Emeritus) at Florida State University. He was the founding Executive Director of The Jim Moran Institute and served in that position from 1995 through 2008. His newest book co-authored with Tim O'Brien, "If You Have Employees, You Really Need This Book," is a bestseller on Amazon.com. He can be reached by e-mail at jerry.osteryoung@gmail.com.

Tags: Florida Small Business