It took Carol many years to understand the value and benefits of a real vacation – away and unplugged.
In her latest post on entrepreneur.com, “The Internet Is Bad Brain Food and Other Vacation Learnings,” she shares some best practices for getting the most enjoyment from your vacation, and for getting more work done once you come home. Carol begins:
“Every year, my husband and I put a couple of non-negotiable weeks on the calendar for a holiday. During this time, I completely unplug — I do not go online, I don’t check my email, I don’t even turn on the news.
As a bit (or maybe more than a bit) of a workaholic, this was a difficult discipline for me to learn. However, I have fully embraced it and every time I return, I remind myself of what else I have learned through this practice and try to help it inform my other 50 weeks a year.
Here are some of the revelations that I have learned and lessons that were reinforced while I did very little.
The internet is a bad brain diet.
It’s amazing how much information that you read online can put you in a negative state of mind or a bad mood. When I re-plugged in to social media, news and general online banter after two weeks online-free, I notice that often what I was reading was putting me into a questionable mental state. As my friend Tim Sanders says, be aware of your brain diet. What goes into your head can have a profound effect on your state of mind and your work output. Shutting off the flow of information can help you to be not only more productive, but generally happier.”
You can read the rest of the post here.
