| 18 August 2008
Next week, I’ll be flying from the Caribbean over to Europe to enjoy
what I consider is the best time of year in Europe. Summer – when the
weather is great, and everybody’s more relaxed and happy. I’m taking
a month-long holiday.
Are you surprised? Jealous? You may be. You might be thinking “Peter
must be doing very nicely, thank you” or even “Peter doesn’t
care about his clients.” But I am confident my holidays will pay for themselves
many times over, and that the quality of my service and information for my clients
will improve once I return, refreshed and reinvigorated.
If you want to become wealthier and freer, you should seriously consider taking
this kind of vacation too. Here’s why.
If you’re anything like me, you are addicted to the internet. I get hundreds
of emails per day and process most of them myself. The daily influx grows all
the time. This year, I’ve added RSS feeds from many news sources and blogs
that I need to follow for my writing, which has generated hundreds if not thousands
more headlines to read – every day!
But here’s the secret. Once you realize that you can turn off the noise
for a few weeks without the world coming to an end, you will find yourself liberated
in a way that few people will ever know.
As a writer and businessman, having some time to get on with new projects undisturbed
is of great value. But even if you’re not a writer, all of us need free
time to contemplate without distractions. To spend time with family. To make
plans for the future. To take a step back and see how far we have come, and
set goals about where we really want to go. If we don’t know where we
are going, we are surely not going to get there!
The danger of being in constant communication with the world is
that you will fall into that classic trap of being “too busy earning a
living to make any real money.”
Many people go on vacation, but don’t turn off the Blackberry. And as
tempting as it is to "just check e-mail for one minute," it really
doesn’t work like that, does it? Any problem you find in your inbox will
linger on your mind for hours or days after you shut down the computer, rendering
"free time" useless with worry. It's the worst of states – you
experience neither relaxation nor productivity. Another important lesson I’ve
learned is that time without attention is worthless, so you should value
attention over time.
Will little problems happen? Yes. But put them in perespective. They can be
solved. It’s also a great opportunity for team confidence-building: force
your people to solve problems on their own, and you might be pleasantly surprised
at how things work out. It will build their confidence and your confidence in
them at the same time.
The important “big picture” thing is to move on with your
life, know where you are going, and make things happen to achieve your goals.
These things will more likely happen while you are sitting on the beach or by
the pool relaxing, than they will while you are sitting in an office answering
emails about trifling matters. And if you do make the time for the big picture
goals but you puncture this time with distractions, you won't have the attention
to make effective use of it.
The challenge is to allow urgent things to "fail" - even for a few
days - to get to the next level with your potential life-changing and wealth
creating tasks.
That’s the challenge I’ll be taking when I leave for my vacations
next week. You can do the same.
Look forward to more blog entries about Freedom, Wealth and Privacy. I hope
you enjoy them and that you can use the information here to benefit your business
and your life. In turn I would much appreciate your feedback, comments and questions.
I can be contacted via info@petermacfarlane.net
Just remember I won’t answer until mid-September!
Peter Macfarlane is joint editor of The Q Wealth Report an established
newsletter dedicated to informing readers about creating, protecting and growing
wealth in a secure offshore environment. It also covers international living,
banking, retiring and investing. Visit www.QWealthReport.com
to see more.
You have been reading an entry on the following blog:
The Q Wealth Report
Peter Macfarlane of The Q Wealth Report blogs on Freedom, Wealth and Privacy
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