Paul reminds you to TAKE A VACATION!
Show Notes
There are innumerable mental and physical benefits to taking time off.
Since the pandemic and the shift toward remote work, the lines between work, home, family, and fun have been blurred.
You can’t serve from an empty cup. Take a vacation and refill that cup.
Set your targets and goals every year with your vacation reward in mind.
When you are on vacation…be on vacation. Unplug completely! You and your family deserve it.
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And most importantly…make it a big day.
Why should I take a vacation?
(Transcribed from podcast)
Well, it is around this time of year where I feel compelled to remind salespeople to take a vacation. It is time. And you might be saying, “Man, Paul, I got quotas to hit. We’re busy. I’m stressed out. I can’t take a break. I can’t take a break.” Well, if you don’t take a break, you may end up broke. And I’m going to explain why here in just a little bit. So, we need to take a vacation and that’s what we’re going to talk about today. And it’s kind of fitting because, as you’re going to be listening to this, I will probably be in Disney World with the family and hitting the beach after that as well. So I’m taking my own medicine, so to speak. So let’s get right into it. Why should we take a vacation?
Before we do that though—hey, you may be tempted to find some vacation reading. Well, I’m going to encourage you not to buy Value-Added Selling and not to buy, Selling Through Tough Times for your vacation book. Instead, go to Amazon, wherever you get your books, pick up a novel, pick up something fun to read—enjoy that. While you’re there, I mean, I guess you could still buy the book and just read it afterwards, but hey, take a break from everything. Let your mind rest. Read for something other than just development. Hey, just read for fun.
So let’s get to it. Why should we take a vacation? Well, there have been numerous studies showing the mental and physical benefits of taking a break, of having vacation. In fact, there was one study, appeared in New York Times and it showed that just by taking a regular vacation every couple of years, it will improve your health. In fact, it’s going to lower your risk for heart disease compared to people who only take a vacation every six years. So right then and there, there are physiological benefits. Selling is a grind. And I’ve heard, I want to say Jeb Blount, I believe he mentioned that salespeople are kind of like the professional athletes of the business world. The challenge we face though, you know, professional athletes get an off season—we don’t. And so, I would encourage you to view this as a way to just shut down and improve your health: your mental health, your spiritual health, a little bit of everything. So, it’s going to improve your health by completely unplugging.
Let’s, let’s talk about mental health though, too. We are, I mean, in this work-remote environment that we’ve been shifting towards since the pandemic, the lines have been blurred between work and home, family and fun, and balance and all of that because we can work anywhere. And it’s been like that for years. But as we work remotely, it’s easier, let’s say, to just dip into work mode, dip back into family mode, dip into vacation mode, oh, back to work for a little bit. The lines have been blurred. So, when you’re constantly in that environment, it’s mentally taxing, and completely unplugging is a great way to do this.
Again, it’s going to help improve mental health. You need to get away from the things that cause you stress. All right. And, for many of us, that’s work, right? It’s okay to have some level of stress. It means that you care. It keeps you motivated. But you need to break away from it. It’s also going to increase your motivation.
One thing that’s so amazing. I remember working for the Hilti organization when I sold for them, and we were at like a, it was a company retreat, regional-type retreat. And the theme was, slow down so we can speed up. And the analogy they were using was Formula One racing, and how, as fast as they’re going all the time, they come in and they take a break and albeit it’s a short one, right? The pit stop is a short break. But, you know, we talked about how important that was, but really what it did for your motivation. You know what’s interesting? When I come back from a vacation—every vacation I’ve ever had, where I come back and I’ve completely unplugged, I have a stronger sense of motivation. It’s like my tank is filled back up and I absolutely love it.
And so, I think sometimes we feel guilty for taking a break, like, we should be working, we should be doing this. Or man, have I earned it? And we feel that, but what’s interesting is when that feeling subsides, you replace it with a stronger motivation when you get back. So, you know, I would highly encourage it just from a motivational factor. I mean, if you’re feeling like you’re in a slump, if you’re feeling like, “Oh man, I just, I am worn out,” you will come back with a stronger sense of motivation.
Now, I love this. I heard this the other day. It’s called the oxygen-mask rule. I know many of you listening to the podcast, you have families, you have employees, you have people that you serve, that you’re responsible for. On a flight, they always tell you, secure your mask first before assisting others. You can’t serve from an empty cup. And oftentimes, when we’re constantly working and hustling, that cup’s getting emptier and emptier, and what happens is we don’t save enough energy to serve those that we need: our family, our spouses, friends, parents, whoever it may be. And so taking a vacation is going to help you fill that cup back up. But again, it’s—you’ve got to take care of yourself, so you can take care of others.
Number five, you’ve got to reward yourself. I remember listening to a Tony Robbins book. We were on the way to Colorado just driving through Kansas. I think it was Awaken the Giant maybe. But it was one of his famous books. And in his book, he talked about the importance of rewarding yourself when you do something good. When you reach a goal, when you hit a milestone, when you accomplish something, you should reward yourself. And it can be big or little like, you reward yourself when you make ten sales calls by having a candy bar or, you know, taking a break and walking around the building. You give yourself little rewards and it really rewires your brain. And it more positively focuses your attention—keeps you motivated.
Well, guys, vacation is a reward. It is a reward. And in fact, one thing I would highly encourage you to do, when you’re setting your targets and your goals in the beginning of the year, do that with a reward in mind. And tell yourself, “Okay, if we accomplish this, this, and this, we are going to take that dream vacation this year.” And that does a number of things: number one—it gives you something to shoot for. But also, it’s a way to reward that behavior. So remember that it’s okay to take that vacation.
Now, I would prepare for the vacation. You know, there are things you can do to make it less stressful. Clear out your inbox before you go on vacation. Make sure you set up an out-of-office response on your email. And same with your voicemail. Let people know you’re on vacation and let them know that you will respond to them when you get back—not during vacation, but when you get back. And in that out-of-office reply, make sure you have another contact—someone within your organization that can handle anything that’s going to happen.
And, I know that as salespeople sometimes we feel like we are more important than we actually are to the customer. I’m trying to think of a delicate way to put it, but sometimes we believe that the sun sets and the sun rises based on our ability to serve the customer. And that’s not true. You have a team of people in place and things will get done without you. As important as you are, if you don’t set up your territory in a way that you can completely unplug, you’re always going to be limited. You’re always going to be limited. So, we want to make sure we set up for that vacation.
If there’s anything out outstanding that you need to take care of, take care of it. I think Zig Ziglar said, what if we worked every day as if we were going on vacation the next day? Ziglar said something along those lines. But it speaks to that point that we prepare. I think Ziglar also said nobody needs a vacation like the person who just gets back from vacation. So, keep that in mind as well.
Other prep pieces for those know, for those salespeople listening, I would encourage you to pal up with your other fellow salespeople. If you have salespeople that can handle some of the day-to-day stuff, team up with each other. That way when he or she is on vacation, then you can come in and take care of them and vice versa. So, you want to pal up with someone as well.
And the final, final tip here—truly unplug. When you are on vacation, be on vacation. Don’t check your emails, not even once. If you have a personal phone and a work phone, leave the work phone at home or leave it with a colleague. Truly unplug. And the reason why, number one, you deserve it. You’ve earned it. You absolutely have the right to step away from how hard you work. Step away, you’ve earned it, but your family deserves it too. Your family deserves 100% of your attention, 100% of your time. They’ve earned that as well. If you’re going on vacation with your friends, if you’re going on vacation with a friend, it means they’re a good friend. That friend deserves a hundred percent of your attention as well.
And so, we want to make sure that we completely unplug. You know what, it may be daunting even to think about doing it, but I guarantee you the reward is there. You’re going to come back more motivated. You’re going to come back with a better mindset. You’re going to come back healthier.
All right folks, enjoy that vacation this year.
Make it a big day.
