Date: 7/20/2015

Title: HAVING FUN – Part 1

By Jill Olson

It is officially summer! We don’t want to think too much. We don’t want to ‘work on ourselves’ or ‘engage in self-improvement’ too much. So, what are you doing to have fun?

There are many studies that say Americans are taking less and less of their vacation days than their employer allows them. Really? Why? This can probably be answered in three ways: afraid of losing my job, afraid of falling behind, and not being able to relax and really have fun.

In Europe, most workers take many more weeks of vacation than we do in the Unites States. Some studies have this number at hundreds of hours. What is our fascination with working, working, working?

When the economy tightened and tanked in 2008 – 2010, many people were so thankful they even had a job…they kept working at it. They didn’t want to appear ungrateful at being employed, so they kept working. They knew there were 20 – 200 people waiting to take their job (some who were even qualified to do so), and they didn’t want to be gone for even a few days.

Some people are so afraid of falling behind in their work, they choose not to be gone. What they don’t realize is that it is important for us to “sharpen the saw” regularly. In Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People this habit encompasses all the others. In order for us to be good at what we choose to do, we simply MUST take time for daily rejuvenation.

Think about times you have worked and struggled to complete something. When you allowed yourself time to step away, you actually came back and solved the issue quickly. This is how ‘taking breaks’ helps us. Covey says that if you fight this idea….just think about taking a break and then coming back at 110%! This is how he hooks the workaholics!

To learn more about how to practice this understanding, contact Results Group, LLC at www.ResultsGroupLLC.com or 515-330-2866.