Why Taking Time Off is Essential
I'm stressed. Not going to lie. We leave Monday for East Asia. But it's not the passports, visas, inoculations or the host of other things we need to do prior to leaving that stresses me out. It's making sure all of our clients are properly covered in my absence. And they are. They'll be served well and most probably won't even notice I'm gone because our team is so solid.Why do I leave if it's so stressful, though? I know plenty of people who just work all the time. It would be easy to fall into that lifestyle. But since I started freelancing full-time more than 16 years ago, I made some rules for myself that I've done my best to uphold throughout my career:
Step Away to Gain Perspective
One of the reasons (beyond the fact that I own one) that I am a big proponent of companies working with a creative agency, is the perspective an outside person has. It's really easy to get stuck in the weeds when you're living a marketing plan or building a brand every. Single. Day.The same goes for our business. I spend a good percentage of my time these days working on guiding TIV Branding. Working on our crappy positioning (read this blog about why I'm okay with it being crappy). Making sure our team is positioned for success. Writing fluffy blogs like this. So I have the same challenge of gaining that perspective that's essential to move a company forward while being so buried in the day-to-day.Christy knows before I know, so she books our trips. I usually grumble about the time off, but when the time comes to leave town, I'm very much in need of perspective. It allows me to see the big picture instead of the little details.
If Your List is Finished, Go Play
Creative work is exhausting. People joke about how easy it must be to make pretty pictures all day (at least I think they're joking), but it's mentally taxing to be so focused on a puzzle for a long period of time. And I have found that it's not the kind of exhausting that can be powered through. Especially when you're stuck on a project, putting it away and coming back with fresh eyes is the only way to move forward.I used to have a list on a dry erase board of everything I was doing for the week. Now it's digital, and my lists are less likely to ever be finished, but the essence is the same. If I completed my list by 2:00, I made sure to go play a round of golf. Or at least hit a bucket of balls. Or go for a run. Or totally crazy, watch a movie in the middle of the day.Otherwise, the work never ends. There's always something more to do. Always. So allowing your creative mind the time to rest is one of the techniques that's allowed me to do this creative thing for nearly 20 years and still absolutely love it.
Experience New Places
I've never been to East Asia. I have the good fortune of having a father who travels constantly. As a child, and through my adulthood, he would take us all over the world...Russia, Australia, Europe...he often said that the two best uses of money are travel and art. As a result, I've been lucky enough to experience many different cultures and have seen many different aesthetics.It's so easy to think that the life we live is how everyone else in the world lives. And when your job is to walk a mile in a brand audience's shoes, you need to be able to put all of your preconceived ideas aside. What would they see? How would they read that and how would it affect their perception of a brand? I think experiencing so many cultures and experiencing the visuals of each of those cultures has given me that ability.Easier said than done, right? Get out there. Go away. Leave your worries behind. But if you can figure out how to take that essential break, especially if you work in a creative field, the time off will benefit your time on tenfold.
Brandt Hoekenga is the Co-CEO and Creative Director for TIV Branding–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––TIV Branding is a boutique branding firm in Sonoma County, California. We specialize in building brands by using traditional, social and digital channels in unison. If you would like to discuss a project or find out more about how we do what we do, please email us at info@TIVbranding.com.