I am leaving later today for a family vacation in Europe.   Like last year, it turns out that I am in the middle of several business things that can’t really wait until I get back.  I don’t find that to be a problem though, especially when heading to Europe.  For starters, I tend to get on European time right away, which means that I have a couple of hours in the morning before everyone else gets going.  As I won’t be blogging while away, this will be time completely available for work.  It also helps a lot that I can rely on an incredibly capable team both internally (shoutouts to Andrew Parker and Eric Friedman) and externally (great counsel, etc).  Finally, I am fortunate that I don’t actually “need” a vacation.  One of the first people I ever worked for had this saying: “If you NEED a vacation you are living wrong."  His idea, which he achieved entirely, was that you have to have the right work-family balance year-round not just when you go away.  According to this approach, vacation is gravy on top.  I realize that’s hard in many jobs and maybe impossible for entrepreneurs in early stage startups (at least until there is a bit of a team built out).  But it’s one of those things that has stuck with me over the years and I believe is worth striving for.  So even though I titled this post "workation,” as far as I am concerned, it is all gravy!

I am leaving later today for a family vacation in Europe.   Like last year, it turns out that I am in the middle of several business things that can’t really wait until I get back.  I don’t find that to be a problem though, especially when heading to Europe.  For starters, I tend to get on European time right away, which means that I have a couple of hours in the morning before everyone else gets going.  As I won’t be blogging while away, this will be time completely available for work.  It also helps a lot that I can rely on an incredibly capable team both internally (shoutouts to Andrew Parker and Eric Friedman) and externally (great counsel, etc).  Finally, I am fortunate that I don’t actually “need” a vacation.  One of the first people I ever worked for had this saying: “If you NEED a vacation you are living wrong."  His idea, which he achieved entirely, was that you have to have the right work-family balance year-round not just when you go away.  According to this approach, vacation is gravy on top.  I realize that’s hard in many jobs and maybe impossible for entrepreneurs in early stage startups (at least until there is a bit of a team built out).  But it’s one of those things that has stuck with me over the years and I believe is worth striving for.  So even though I titled this post "workation,” as far as I am concerned, it is all gravy!