Vacation: A Practical Application of Vision

AJ and I were working through our podcast conversation the other week and had an epiphany in the middle of the conversation. AJ was talking about how he hasn’t had to deal with idleness because he has been traveling lately. The conversation proceeded around how having something to focus on in the near future really helped deal with this second quarantine.

This had me thinking about how I rely on my vacations. I probably put too much weight on them for my emotional well being. I was seriously devastated when there was even a possibility that I may not get to go on my vacation. Why was it so devastating? Because I needed a vacation? Because I needed to relax? No, none of that. So, what was it?

It was a loss of vision.

Think back to all of the times you have had a vacation scheduled. There is all the time you spend researching and picking hotels. Then as soon as you purchase, you have a point in the future that you see in your minds eye. You can almost taste the frozen fruity concoction and feel the sand in your toes. There is a little pep in your step going forward. You find more energy to persevere through the sucky days at work. As you get closer to vacation time, your productivity actually goes up because you are getting everything in order for your absence.

That, folks, is the power of vision on the micro level.

We need a nice mixture of short, medium, and long term visions to help keep us focused on a positive future. A short term vision is something we do on a daily basis. One of the things I’ve started working on is envisioning how I wake up, how I go down stairs, how I do my work out, everything. Medium term visions are like your vacations that span a few months to a year. Long term visions are what you want to achieve with your life. Having a mixture of those three will help keep something in the future to focus on while also achieving small victories to keep from burning out.

This is a skill that is hard to develop, but well worth it.