Take your bloody holiday :-)

I’ve found that time off gives you perspective. If you love what you do, a holiday isn’t always what you feel like taking. But after my holiday in 2011, I wanted to explain why the break made me sharper.

Time off gives you perspective when daily life takes over

I’ve noticed in myself that busyness can crowd out creativity. You rush around, sort things out and work all day. But when someone asks what you’ve accomplished, it can be hard to answer.

When I’m more relaxed, new ideas start coming. I can see the bigger picture and realise that something I’ve spent an entire week on could have been done more simply, handed over to someone else or skipped altogether.

Being busy isn’t the same as making progress

For me, getting stuck on small details can be a sign that I’ve lost sight of the bigger picture. Small tasks are manageable, while the big questions are harder to tackle.

It’s about asking what makes life easier for customers or for yourself. Those thoughts don’t necessarily come to me when I sit in the office for fourteen hours feeling efficient.

Get far enough away to take time off

I’ve been terrible at skipping holidays myself, and I find it hard to leave the computer alone. In the video, I explain that I liked cruises back then because getting online was expensive. That meant several days could pass without emails.

As I lay in the sun and started getting a little bored, I gained some distance from everyday life. That helped me see what I should cut out, where I needed help and what I should focus on.

So take your holiday. Try to use the computer as little as possible and give yourself room to look at your life and work from the outside. In my experience, that’s when I spot the things that really make a difference.

Innovation starts with making life easier

I’ve been on holiday, which is why it’s been a while since my last video. I don’t want to talk about the holiday itself, but about what happens when I get some distance from everyday life: I become more aware of whether I’m using my energy well.

That applies to schoolwork, entrepreneurship and being the boss of a dairy, or whatever the hell you do. In a way, innovation is about finding the easiest way over the fence. Not doing a sloppy job, but finding a smarter route to a result.

What does the world need? What could make other people’s lives easier? And what could make my own life easier? Those are the kinds of questions that can lead to new ideas. But when I’m tired, frustrated and caught up in the daily routine, there isn’t much room for those questions.

A whole day of busyness and almost nothing to show for it

I know it myself, and others have told me the same: You’ve been out all day, working and rushing around. You feel under pressure and may have a knot in your stomach. But if someone asks what you’ve done, it’s hard to remember anything that really moved you forward.

It’s an unpleasant realisation. You’ve been insanely busy, but when you look back honestly, you may not have achieved a damn thing. Being busy fills the whole day, even though the result is very small.

When I get things sorted and feel that the situation is under control, I start to relax. Then the bold thoughts and new ideas arrive. I get a bird’s-eye view of the work.

From there, I might realise that a task I spent last week on could have been handed over to someone else for very little money. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been done at all. Or perhaps a different approach could have produced a better result in a tenth of the time. Those are the possibilities I spot when I break out of the routine.

The small details can become a hiding place

I also use Danish politicians as a pointed example in this 2011 video. I think they can sit there fiddling with pointless details while the country’s big problems drift. That’s my frustration with political work at the time.

But you may recognise something similar in a boss or colleague. A lot of energy goes into plans, budgets or a tiny detail in the website design. My thought is that excessive attention to detail can reveal that the overview has gone.

I try to spot it in myself too. When the bigger picture becomes difficult and overwhelming, it’s nice to tackle something small. I can move a comma in a Danish assignment or balance the books. Those are clearly defined things I can handle, even if I don’t know what to do about the bigger situation. I discuss my experiences of setting priorities as a leader in Min vej som leder.

It can make you feel efficient, but I still have to ask myself whether those are the tasks that make a difference.

That’s why a cruise suited me back then

Summer is approaching in this video from May 2011. My advice is to take a good few weeks off and properly get away. Many busy people and entrepreneurs don’t, and I’ve been terrible at skipping holidays myself.

My biggest challenge is the computer. I find it very hard to leave it alone. That’s why I liked going on cruises back then. It sounds exotic, but I didn’t necessarily find the holiday itself particularly expensive.

Getting online out on the ship, however, was expensive. I exaggerate in the video and say a billion kroner a minute. I was too stingy to pay, so several days could go by without me receiving or answering emails.

When I lie in a sunlounger and start getting a little bored, I get exactly that distance. I can look at my life and work instead of constantly being in the middle of it.

Fourteen hours in the office won’t create the next Skype by itself

In my experience, that’s when I can cut out the bad stuff, focus on the right things and work out where I need help. That applies to running a company, a leadership role and schoolwork alike.

Sitting in the office for fourteen hours and feeling bloody efficient with commas, debits and credits won’t in itself determine whether you create the next Skype. I want to spend my time on what really makes a difference, and a holiday helps me see what that is.

And you can take some comfort in the fact that it rains here in Florida too, where I’m standing telling you this. At least it’s 22 degrees, but it is bloody raining. Take care, and take that holiday.

Best wishes, Martin