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Summer is Here...
And with it comes dreams of vacation
If you are busy, stretched thin, or in a demanding job with deadlines and dependencies, taking a vacation can be a scary thought.
In fact, according to the
Huffington Post, 40% of Americans won't take all of their paid time off. Why? The most frequently cited reasons are the dread of work awaiting when they return and a "martyr" complex, meaning the belief that they alone can do their jobs.
In fact, 20% of workers said that they don't want to take vacation because they don't want to be perceived as replaceable. In essence, the main reason for not taking vacation is
FEAR!
Benefits of Vacation
The benefits of vacation are multi-fold and the risks associated with not taking a break are also plentiful. It's important to relax, have fun and completely unplug on your break. Doing so will result in the following positive outcomes:
- Increase your creativity and ability to come up with innovative ideas
- Provide your team members with the opportunity to develop their skills and manage during your absence
- Gain a fresh perspective for your organization and come up with ideas to accomplish long term projects
- Set an example to others that time off is important and valued
- Economic and productivity benefits: The restorative power of a vacation enables employees to be more productive, thus contributing more to the bottom line
- Enjoy health benefits
- Cultivate quality time with your family
Conversely, studies have found the following risks of avoiding taking some time off:
- Increased heart disease in both men and women
- Risk of burnout
- Higher blood pressure, weight gain, depression, breast cancer and other conditions
- Elevated stress
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Summer Reading Selection
Need some inspiration? Whether you ar
 e able to physically take a vacation break or not, reading can be a great escape. Here is a list of the
top 12 business books of all time according to
USA Today:
- How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- Choose Yourself! By James Altucher
- The Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker
- Turn this Ship Around by L. David Marquet
- The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen
- Competition Demystified by Bruce Greenwald and Judd Kahn
- Influence by Robert B. Cialdini
- Purple Cow by Seth Godin
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
- Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
- Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur
- The Essays of Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett and Lawrence A. Cunningham
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for the following upcoming conferences:
Tacoma, WA
October 14-15, 2016
Two separate sequences of education - one for design and writing and the other for tools and technologies
Las Vegas, NV
October 26 - 29, 2016
Multi-day conference for content strtategists, documentation managers, and marketing professionals.
Las Vegas, NV
March 28-30, 2017
Content strategy event for marketing and communications professionals. Learn how to scale content, leverage the technology, repurpose and reuse content, and deliver to the right person at the right time regardless of the device.
Washington, DC
May 7-10, 2017
Provides technical communications professionals with insight into future trends of the profession through education sessions and networking.
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