Tom was completely burnt out, yet he didn’t even know it. Whenever he felt tired or overworked, he simply responded by “grinding it out.” He was the best technician around. He worked for the local oil plant. And around there, he was “the man.” He developed profoundly complex systems and spent weekends at the plant. Shut-downs (times when workers were required to work over 20 hour days) were his favorite. Now, five years later, Tom is gone. He grinded himself into the ground.

What makes people like Tom sacrifice themselves for their employer? It could be a number of things, yet researchers find that it’s mostly a combination of hope, fear and falling into habits that really serve as a shelter.

What You Will Learn From Reading This Article

In this chapter we will explore the dangers of falling into Tom’s trap. We will learn why vacations are critical, and what one should strive to do on their vacation. We will also explore specific places and services that help the mind rejuvenate while on vacation.

4 Truths Researchers Reveal About Vacations

1. The Nine Reasons You Go On Vacation

In an academic article titled, “Motivations for pleasure vacation,” it is found that people really go on vacation for nine reasons.

Looking at this list, there are some empowering reasons for one to go on vacation, as well as some questionable reasons–reasons that are short-term solutions.

1. Escape from a perceived mundane environment
2. Exploration and evaluation of self
3. Relaxation
4. Prestige
5. Regression
6. Enhancement of kinship relationships
7. Facilitation of social interaction
8. Novelty
9. Education

Before making plans for a vacation, it’s critical that you understand your underlying reason for going on vacation.

Select one of the nine reasons above before moving on.

2. Avoid Postvacation Intense Workload

Your goal should be to clear off everything on your plate before going on vacation; otherwise, your entire vacation experience will revolve around thoughts about work and how much you have to do when you get back.

3. Understand the Empowering Characteristics of Vacation

When asked to describe vacations, many people respond that a vacation should liken itself to relaxation, alcohol, food and sun. If your goal is to become a more purposeful, focused person, your vacation can involve alcohol, food and sun if that’s your thing–but not relaxation. Your goal should not center on relaxation; rather, it should center on rejuvenation.

When going on vacation, one’s goal should center on setting goals, thinking deeply, meeting new people, reading new books, exercising the mind in new ways through mind games (here’s some excellent mind games that you HAVE to sign up for). Jimmy V described his full day as centering around three actions: laughter, being moved to tears and deep thought. Your objective in taking a vacation should revolve around experiencing a full day according to these three metrics.

4. Vacation Spots

Although the previous three truths are critical for experiencing an empowering vacation, the most important component centers on selecting the right place to vacation.

Some of the most well-revered vacation resorts are now catering to those who are seeking rejuvenation, instead of relaxation. This is thought offering collaborative activities, mind games (yes, hotels literally have mind games available in their rooms) and other activities that empower vacationers.

I. Condo Direct

The first place to check out vacation spots is Condo Direct. This place offers unbelievable deals on where to stay. You can rent out beautiful, immaculate condos for yourself.

Not only that, the owners of these condo’s are usually high net worth individuals, and the condo is their vacation home. Because of this, they can afford to rent out the condo at a very cheap rate (because it’s better than nothing).

You can also book regular hotel accommodations from this site for significantly less than on the major hotel reservation sites such as Expedia and Orbitz.

Click here to check out Condo Direct

II. Home Exchange:

The second place to explore for vacations is Home Exchange. This is a really unique program, and something that’s gaining popularity more and more everyday. And, it makes a lot of sense. You rent out someone else’s home, and in exchange, you let them rent out your home. It’s an amazingly simple concept–especially for rejuvenating and getting away in an economical fashion. If you’ve seeen the movie, “The Holiday,” then you know the concept.

Click here to check out home exchange.

III. Sandals

The third place to check out vacation spots is Sandals resorts. This is my personal favorite. Sandals offers an all-inclusive stay, which allows you to forget about details. All you need is your room key. The resorts are stacked with games, activities and opportunities to meet other couples. Plus, during the day, you can simply drift around in the pool, read a book and sip maragrita’s at the swim-up bar.

For a limited time you can get 65% off and your first day free when staying at Sandals. Click here to get the deal.

Ways to Develop Rejuvenation During Vacation

The critical piece of taking a vacation that rejuvenates you centers on actions that allow you to regain touch with living life. This centers on relationships, laughter and deep thought. You’re on your own in regards to laughter and building relationships while on vacation. I’ll leave it up to you to figure out which vacation spot you like most above; however, when it comes to deep thought, I suggest the following tools.

I. Get a book that will change the way you think.

This must be a genre that you typically do not read. Within Amazon there’s an excellent way for finding books that you’d normally not read. Typically, I do this by selecting the New York Times Bestseller list, and then browsing around in the Paperback Fiction Bestsellers. These books are ones that I normally wouldn’t read, yet for rejuvenating the mind, this section stands as an excellent choice.

II. Mind and Brain Exercise Games

There’s no better service for exercising your mind than Luminosity’s mind games. They even have an iPhone application; so when you’re on vacation, you can still exercise your mind in new ways. Best of all, it’s free to sign up!

Click over here to sign up for a free account with them.

III. Moleskine

There’s no better way to grow one’s mind than writing. The activity of thiking, forming and clearly communicating one’s thought sky-rockets the sharpness of one’s mind. Yet, vacation centers on rejuvenation, not sitting couped up in your hotel room. For this reason, I strongly recommend picking up a moleskine notebook and writing out your thoughts.

Pick up a Moleskine on Amazon here

Conclusion

Before going on vacation, understand the nine reasons why people go on vacations, and select which reason you’re going on vacation. Try to clear everything off your plate before heading on vacation. And last, seek rejuvination, not relaxation, when going on vacation. Pick up an empowering book, exercise your mind through Luminosity’s mind games and write thoughts and reflections in a moleskine notebook.

Photo credit

References:

• Burnout
• Wiley Article on Burnout
• Nine reasons for vacation

Yesterday morning was a very focused, productive day. I established the daily foundation of writing and jogging. I also met up with a couple local entrepreneurs that are doing some great things, and will hopefully help boost the Southern California Startup brand.

Here’s the thing, though: I didn’t get enough sleep. I got about five hours of sleep. In the past, I once attempted an experiment of sleeping only five hours; however, that lasted about a week. I ended up crashing on a Saturday night and ended up sleeping from 8pm to 12pm the next day. Not very productive. I’ve found that I need about seven to eight hours of sleep to be at my best. My wife needs eight to nine hours.

Anyways, this lack of sleep didn’t really hit me until around 11am. Combined with this, I had a banging headache. And no, it wasn’t a hangover. My theory is this headache and groggy feeling also came from the fact that I had quite a sizeable dinner yesterday.

My thesis for when writing the chapter on the concept of “sleep” and its effects on focus will center on experimenting with different sleep cycles and meal times.

Today’s the first day of the Focus Experiment. It may be a little tougher than I thought.

Today I planned on accomplishing the following before heading off to work. It’s a concept about doing what you should/want to do before the day starts–before heading to class, work or whatever.

Jog, Read, Review Notecards, Write, Walk Dog

Guess how many I accomplished? One. I walked my dog.

Reason: I couldn’t sleep last night. My mind was moving. I couldn’t stop thinking about this experiment, “How To Get Focused,” which I coded and built yesterday (Sunday, January 3, 2009). I ended up going to bed at 2am, which may be a carry over from staying up so late for New Years.

Key: I see this as a good thing. Challenge is why we’re here. It’s why I’m writing this. Getting focused is hard. It begins before the day begins. This means I’ll likely be writing about sleeping patterns, and how to get your mind prepared to sleep in the future.

Next up: Tonight, after work, I plan on mapping out the overview and contents of this living book–note, this is not a blog .

Result: The result of not following this habit didn’t necessarily have a negative impact on the day. I just didn’t achieve all that I’m capable of achieving. Tomorrow I’ll share the results of following these habits.