Take The Day Off

By Tim Kolacz

In the world that our children currently live in, 100% connected with their phone no more than one inch away, unless it is totally dead and their charging cord is broken so they need to use the one on the junk table; the pressures of modern life are sometimes more than they can handle. Which in turn means that it is also for us as their parents more than we can handle as well.

Every day my child is asked what colleges she is applying to, when is the ACT test, will she be taking all of the AP exams. She is very blasé about the whole endeavor. That is, or will be, until about 24 hours before all of said items are due to be sent in or the exam time is upon us. Then it will be a mad dash to finish everything, study until 3am for an 8am start time for the test or some late night phone calls to the writers that we have in the family for the last review of the entrance essays. AAAGGGGHH!

So even though it is not me or my wife doing the work, we are going crazy with her inability to get things done early and in a clear and concise manner.

I have similar issues at the office sometimes. There are days when everything is crashing down and between me and my team, it seems as though we can’t focus on the tasks at hand and that there is an over whelming sense that none of it will ever get done. So this is when drastic measures come into play.

Hooky!

And this is where the fun aspect of life comes back into focus. Too much of the time, the emphasis on life is work. And don’t get me wrong, work is good. It creates a sense of accomplishment, it creates self-worth when a job or project is well done and is good for both you and the company. However, you also need some self-help days. Every now and then I am asked to go play golf and when I am, I take advantage of every one of them. It used to be that I would be asked and I wouldn’t go and I would try to grind another day at the office as I was behind and needed to get things done.

Then one time I was asked, and I was totally buried and not being productive, I said yes. I went, turned off my phone and played all day and was present with my friends and had a great time. I went home, slept like I hadn’t in a couple of weeks, got up the next morning and was refreshed and absolutely crushed it the next day. Got more done in the morning than I had in the previous three days. I was super focused, had great energy and was able to breakthrough on a problem that had sat on my desk for a week. It was awesome.

And it was because I played hooky. The world went on at work without me, but when I came back I had such a great mindset that I was able to understand what was blocking me in the first place. Taking the day off was the best thing that I could have done.

Take the day off. And if you have a kid who needs a day off too, take them with you. It’ll be better for all of you.

Tim Kolacz enjoys clearing his head by running triathlons too. Next time you need to clear your head on a run or a bike ride, give him a call. It’ll be fun. 714-922-4234