Why you need to get serious about having fun:
One of the coaching drums I constantly bang is the Thump Thump Thump of getting clients to stop engaging in the daily grind of work when they’re on holiday.
Note I don’t say switch off from work completely, because I know that’s unrealistic - our little brains are always on the go, and you can actually have great ideas for your business when you’re in a relaxed state, but that should be the fun, exciting stuff - things you can make a quick note of then forget about until you get back to your desk.
I’m talking about replying to emails, working on projects or taking client calls when the only problem you should be dealing with is how to get the Pina Colada straw in your mouth without moving your head off the sun bed.
Now, this can come with the knock-on effect of feeling as if you’re hit by a poonami of tasks and demands on your first day back at work.
This is why coaching is best done over a longer period of time rather than just a quick fix.
I could give a new client all the theory about how best to prepare for going away in order to ensure a smooth return to work, but until they’re living through it, it’s hard to get them to engage in the emotions and practicalities of making big changes in the way they do things.
Making changes is a process not an event, and change can feel uncomfortable.
It reminds me of getting knots out of my hair when I was a kid.
Back in the 70’s conditioner wasn’t a thing (or at least it wasn’t in the little village where my mum shopped).
If you’ve always had short hair, you won’t know the joys of conditioner, but believe me it is a product sent from God.
When I was young, I had very, very long hair. I was also a tom-boy so it was always in knots and full of twigs.
Hair wash night was torture!
The shampoo turned my hair into wet steel wool, and I’ll never forget the pain as my mum briskly and forcefully teased each knot out of my tresses.
She started at the bottom - they weren’t so bad - but the ones near the roots had to be dragged down the hair shaft, inch by painful inch.
I cowered and yowled like a cornered farm cat.
Learning the skill to leave the daily grind behind you when you go on away can feel just as painful, depending on how much you’ve worked on holiday in the past.
It can feel like you’re just storing up even bigger knots for when you get home.
But, when you gradually learn the skills of running every week well, you apply metaphorical conditioner to your knotty work-load, and instead of dragging a comb through wet wire wool, it feels like running a fork through freshly cooked spaghetti coated in a drizzle of olive oil - the tangles separate more easily.
(Top Tip: Always choose a slatted sunbed. You can lie face down and poke the Pina Colada straw through the gaps. You’re welcome!)