So I have been very selfish and I took an extended break from everything to do with work and career. I took a 9 day break from everything apart from my wife and our two boys and wow it was brilliant.
My mind had chance to relax and not race at a 100 miles per hour thinking about my job; what my next blog should be about; what would be a good personal development step for me to take that next step? So I turned off Slack, LinkedIn and work emails.
Instead I focussed on going through the wish tin we started with our boys at the start of lockdown. In that tin they wrote down things they missed and wanted to do after lockdown.
So we went to the swimming pool and had a family swim; we went on a family bike ride and bought ice cream; we went to the cinema and out for a meal in Leeds and finally went to Lightwater Valley theme park.
It was so refreshing and inspiring to see how our sons had grown up yet were excited to be ticking things off the list. More importantly also how much fun we had.
It made me realise why I work, yes it is because I like the people I work with and the company I work for, but most importantly I work for my family.
That small 9 day break has given me the inspiration and focus to take on the second part of the year with renewed energy and purpose.
So take a leaf out of this short blog and make some time for yourself and your loved ones. Turn off all the distractions, trust me they will still be there when you return. Protect the asset because the asset is you.