Why Vacations Drive Better Business Results

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Recessions Breed Bad Habits

When times are tough, the tough get going. Unfortunately sometimes they go too hard for too long and wipe out their creative juices. One of the worst habits people develop during bad times is working constantly without a break. This can be working to keep the business alive, working to justify that a current job is deserved, or working to get a job. In any case, nonstop working generates dramatically negative effects. Imagine a baseball player who plays 500 games a year and takes batting practice eight hours every day of the year. Does the word "burnout" come to mind? And yet that is the unsustainable pace many business people put themselves on during dismal economic slumps.

Vacate to Accelerate

Ok, repeat after me, "I need great energy to do great work." All together now, "I need great energy to do great work." And now just the men… And now just the women…

When times are good, most people take breaks. They go on vacations. They get refreshed. And their renewed energy contributes to the upward cycle of greater performance at work. When times are bad, many people avoid taking necessary breaks. They try to work themselves into a frenzied state of being in the name of "We've got to plow through this and find a way to succeed." Their reduced energy contributes to the negative cycle of lowered performance at work.

For the good of your organization, take regular breaks. Take your vacation days and get away from work. During the work day, take a break and go for a walk. Clear your mind. This is critical to long-term success. If you really want to accelerate your achievements in a meaningful way, then vacate your work setting and let your mind rest. You'll come back to work ready to climb the next mountain rather than wanting to drive into the nearest ditch.

The Power of the Unfocused Mind

Ironically, the people who supposedly never take a break end up wasting a lot of time at work being "half in and half out." Really get away from work so that when you come back you really come all the way back.

Take ten minutes to really daydream about a particularly happy time in your life. Let the good memories soak in and clear everything else out. Then when you mentally come back to a work issue you're coming at it with a fresh mind. Rather than worrying all day about things you can't control, give your mind the rest it deserves by consciously going away from work and going to a mental resort.

We've all heard people say they get their best ideas while taking a shower. That's because they've relaxed their minds and, lo and behold, good ideas pop out. There is great value produced from the focused mind, but there is also great value generated by the unfocused mind. Once you've clarified an issue you want to resolve or an outcome you want to achieve, mentally let it go. Get away from your work. Take your family on a vacation, even if it means checking into a local hotel on an inexpensive night or going to a movie.

GET AWAY FROM WORK! (Did that help clarify my advice for you?) Amazingly, you will find that better ideas will come to you the farther away you get from the issue or desired outcome.

Have the Courage to Avoid Busywork

With the best of intentions, people love to ask, "So what have you been up to lately?" During a recession, the respondents to this question seem to be on the defensive to an even greater degree than usual and want to make sure that everyone knows how hard they are working. So the tendency is for the respondent to create a massive amount of busywork so that no one will ever think he or she is not a hard worker.

Remember that business is not about "busyness" but rather about "creating and delivering value to customers that improves key results in sustainable ways." The best way for you to create and deliver this type of value is NOT to fill your day up with busyness. The best way is to carefully preserve your energy and then place it on the fewest things that will have the greatest positive impact on creating and delivering great value for your customers.

Use Pit Stops Wisely

One of the biggest management insights I gained from studying professional auto racing is that there are three key strategic moments in every auto race. They occur during caution flags, turns in the track, and pit stops. The way in which the drivers use these three key strategic situations invariably determines who wins and who loses the race. For a far more in-depth document on the idea that vacations drive better results, I encourage you to read Chapter Six called Use Pit Stops Wisely from The Management 500, which you can get by clicking here: http://www.thecoughlincompany.com/The_Management_500_ch6.pdf.

The Shack

A friend of mine named Karen encouraged, inspired, motivated, ok she pestered, me to read a book called The Shack by Wm. Paul Young, and I'm so glad she did. Before I recommend this book, let me give you two warnings: one, it begins with a profoundly sad story, and, two, it is a deeply spiritual book. Having said that, the reason I'm recommending this book in this article is that the concept of the shack is exactly the point I'm trying to get across in this article.

The main character in The Shack endures a long-term great sadness and finally decides to return to a place called "the shack" where he can regain himself. This is exactly what I'm encouraging you to do. When you have been under enormous stress you simply have to get away from the pressure or it will eventually break you.

If this recession has created enormous stress in your life or if you've worked so hard that you need time away, then I believe you mentally need to go to a "shack", a place away from work and home and community responsibilities, where you can regain perspective on your career, your life, your purpose, and so on. As the main character in the book did, I believe you will come back with an extraordinary and renewed sense of focus in your home and work life. And that renewed focus, which paradoxically happens as a result of intentionally becoming unfocused, will ultimately drive better business results for your organization.

A few announcements.

First, we've created a section on the website called Video Library on Business Acceleration, which you can view at http://www.thecoughlincompany.com/video_library_acceleration.html. It includes 18 video clips from 5 keynote speeches I've given over the past three years. I hope you find the advice to be practical and user-friendly in helping you to guide your business and your career to greater heights.

Second, here is a link to an interview I did regarding The Management 500 for the American Management Association, http://www.amanet.org/training/podcasts/7172.aspx.

Third, here is a link to an interview I did for an on-line publication called, Smart Planet: http://www.smartplanet.com/people/blog/pure-genius/5-things-nascar-can-teach-us-about-business/518/?tag=content;col1.

New White Paper – Accelerate Your Strengths

On June 16th I gave a half-day seminar on “Accelerate Your Strengths: practical ideas to boost business momentum” for GE Capital. It was such an interesting project that I wrote a white paper for the group after the seminar based on what we talked about. In turn, that white paper was forwarded on to 7,000 GE employees. Consequently, I thought you might like to read the paper, except this version has all the references to GE taken out. Here is the link for the

Accelerate Your Strengths white paper: http://thecoughlincompany.com/accellerate_your_strengths.html

New Book, Find a Way to Win: Management Insights from Terry Michler, America's All-Time Winningest Soccer Coach

This book focuses on business lessons that can be learned from soccer. The foundation of the book is how Terry Michler used the powerful simplicity of Dutch soccer to win more games than any other U.S. coach in history.

On July 11th, the finals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa between Holland and Spain was watched by more than 700 million people. While I was cheering for Holland at the beginning of the game, a major decision by their coach led me to learning a valuable lesson all over again.

Dutch soccer, which is highlighted in my book, is all based on extraordinary technical skill, efficiency, and precise attacking soccer. This is how a country with only 16 million people competes so extraordinarily well with the world's super powers in soccer including number-one ranked Brazil, whom they beat in the quarterfinals. However, in the World Cup finals Holland abandoned what made them great and instead focused on playing brutal, violent soccer. They wanted to intimidate Spain, and in the end they lost the game and the respect of so many people who love Dutch soccer. What happened and why did they do it?

They felt they couldn't compete with Spain if they allowed them to get into their normal passing game. So they consciously decided to physically attack the Spanish players with violent tackles all over the field. One Dutch player even shoved his metal cleats into the chest of a Spanish player. They received numerous yellow cards, a red card, and ridicule from the world-wide soccer press after the game.

What's the lesson to learn here for every business? Stay true to who you are. When the prize is close don't abandon what got you to be one of the best organizations in your industry. Too many companies in the past ten years have decided that what made them very, very good wasn't going to be enough to make them number one in their industry, and so they got away from their strengths. Big mistake.

I believe Holland will return to their traditional style of play, focus on precise, skillful, attacking soccer, and get away from their violent style of play. I think they learned a huge lesson. And hopefully every business that got away from its core strength in the pursuit of being bigger and more successful financially than anyone else in the industry will also return to its core and get back to winning again.

You can learn more about Find a Way to Win at http://thecoughlincompany.com/book_store.html

Republishing Articles

Each month my e-newsletter gets republished in approximately 20 blogs, on-line publications, and internal publications for businesses, universities, and not-for-profit organizations. If you would like to republish all or part of my monthly articles, please send me an e-mail at dan@thecoughlincompany.com with "Republishing Article" in the subject heading. I will send you the article in a word document. All I ask is that you include my name as the author of the article and a short paragraph at the end of the article about me with a link to my website.

Take care and have a great month!

Dan Coughlin

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