Don't Forget to Forget About It

Only five souls visited this nursing home blog today, including myself. I was hardly on all week. It's been so nice outside that I haven't spent much free time chained to my boss, a Dell Inspiron 9400. Today I built a retaining wall, dug out a 75 sq. feet flower bed (full of Indiana clay taboot), and built 15 meters of a trail. Didn't think one bit about the facility for 12 solid hours. Had a call at 5:45 am and three more around 8pm. But I made a point to leave it all behind and work on my personal life for a day. Completely.

It's hard to do. But letting go for a day can be liberating not only for yourself but also for your staff. Are you a manager that regularly calls in at the same times every weekend? Goes home every night for dinner but returns to check on staff or catch up on paperwork? Keep your email linked up at home all night every night?

Running a business can be tough, I know, but it can function without you. If it can't then you aren't doing something right. That's what Margo taught me. The goal is to not be needed. This doesn't mean you can't get involved - you just don't have to be the main player every time.

You don't even have to be an Administrator. It's 2007. We live in a cell phone culture. How connected are you? Accessible 24/7? Sleep with your phone next to your bed? Answer no matter who is calling?

What would happen if you just didn't answer your cell phone for 24 hours?

No comments: