For Productivity’s Sake: Take that Vacation Even When you Think You Can’t

This past weekend I took a vacation I felt I had no business to take. I’m under a ton of deadlines, and it feels like I need three of me just to get my job done. Buried, as they say.

However, I reluctantly took the time, and by doing so, remembered how crucial vacation time really is. It should be mandatory for people to spend all their days. Macho work-a-holics who eschew vacation time are kidding themselves, their managers, and their employees.

It’s only through taking a step back that things are put in perspective. Priorities come into focus. Pros and cons are weighed out of the crossfire of the day-to-day battlefield. Elegant solutions to difficult problems present themselves. There’s a lot to be said about going to the mountain, so to speak, and seeing things from another perspective.

For a non-anecdotal and more academic approach to the subject of vacation and productivity, check out All Work, No Play?: Maybe Long Hours Don’t Pay, published by the Harvard Business Review.