Well, End of Summer holiday anyway… Summertime is traditionally the time when businesses pack up and go on holiday.  But why does sometimes taking something as simple as a holiday actually cause stress?  Because it means time away from the office and all your to-do lists.  Greg and I are taking a late holiday this year to catch the end of the summer, so I thought I’d share with you 5 hot reasons why taking a holiday is the best thing you can do for yourself and your business.

  1. Creativity
    I don’t know about you, but as soon as I’m sat on that plane, snapping on my seat-belt and gazing out the window, my mind is already starting to relax.  I can allow myself to daydream in a way that my busy day to day life never allows.  When the mind is relaxed then the door of creativity opens and in bursts all those juicy ideas.  It’s within this creative mind that all the best, most profitable business ideas are.
  2. Perspective
    I often liken going abroad to a pair of binoculars.  It feels like I am watching my life back home through a different lens.  How is this important? Well it means that projects suddenly take on a new dimension, I see staff in a new light, tensions and struggles can be seen from a fresh angle.  Taking geographical distance often means you expand the way you look at things.

  3. Relaxation & Flow
    When the body and mind unwinds, stress levels drop and this can only be a good thing.  When stress levels drop we can actually start to see the true value of our business.  Is it really measured by the hours we put in or can we measure it instead, with our own personal happiness? Does happiness really come from how much we are earning or the car we drive?  Holidays allow us to reconnect to our flow and from this flow – this love of life itself – we might get a glimpse of our truest self and our long-forgotten dreams.
  4. Connection To Source
    I don’t know about you, but I find my connection to source comes from being in nature.  A beautiful forest, the edge of an ocean, a mountain valley.  Those places where I can find stillness and beauty. And it’s in these moments that I feel closest to God.  I call him God but it can be Source or the Universe – however you wish to describe that higher sense of being  – and it’s in this state of stillness that we are most receptive to new ideas and true wisdom. Which in turn we can channel back into our business and reinvigorate it.
  5. New Direction
    Holidays are healthy.  They feed us up body and soul and gently plop us back down into the workplace renewed with new purpose.  It may be that the holiday opens up a new career path or detours you from the one you are currently on.  It may that be that you met someone on holiday that is going to be a great friend or a fabulous business contact.  It may be you found you again.  Holidays take you from the rut of where you are headed and gently open your eyes to new horizons.

So have a think about the kind of holiday you want this year if you haven’t already had one and what you want to get out of it.  Get yourself onto the internet and book yourself some time out before those winter evenings start coming in…  Not only will you benefit, but your business will too.