Make Room For Time Off

There is nothing that has scared me more in my life than the idea of not being needed. I have always wanted to be in the mix, to have a seat at the table, to be consulted when things happened, to be in the room when it is decided what goes forward and what needs more time to bake.

For decades, I took great pride in not taking (m)any days off so as always to be ready to be needed. And when I did leave the office/not have my laptop open all day, I was still 100% available if asked to be. It didn’t matter where in the world I was or what time zone my body was in, I still ran an 8am EST to 8pm PST work day that I called Hustle Standard Time. Even though my Out of Office was always very clever, I was never actually OOO.

It has only been in the past three years that I have learned just how valuable time away from the work without thinking about the work truly is. Being completely off holds space for new ideas to fill the spaces previously held by whatever wheel was squeaking the loudest. It doesn't make challenges go away, but it does allow the most critical concerns to rise to the top above the concerns that feel most important because of a persistent person in your inbox or Slack.

“Your inbox is a to-do list written by other people.” - Chris Dixon