Are true vacations gone forever due to technology?

Filed Under: All Posts, Janell on October 20, 2009

Here I am in Phoenix, AZ with my children to attend a wedding for my nephew. My original goal was my family would have a true vacation – I would leave my cell phone and computer at home. Well that idea ended when my husband was not able to make the trip because we still have cane to cut and calves to wean so he stayed in Nebraska, which then made me decide I should try and see just how effective technology is and work remotely from Arizona. Well, the good news it’s working I am getting emails, participating in a scheduled conference call and when I spoke to Liz Martin, GROW Nebraska’s Membership Coordinator, this morning and told her I needed to go for my 9:00 bingo appointment she thought I had lost it because it was already 11:00 am in Nebraska and where would I be playing bingo? So, it brings me back to the fact with all this technology it is almost impossible to unplug from your business. The only time so far on this trip that I have been without my computer or phone has been during the flight for two hours.

Now for me having the luxury of keeping on top of emails and voice messages is a good thing. I would be a lot more stressed out to come home to 500+ emails and my voice message box full. It all goes around to what my Mom told me years ago – how we manage our time. So that’s what I am really trying to do on this trip getting up a little early and setting my daily list of things to do to just a few items and making sure the top of the list includes swimming and playing bingo!

The heat is on in Arizona. We are having a great time but I would love suggestions and thoughts how others manage their lives, businesses and vacation. I am hoping I can get really good at this and maybe the
next time Liz calls me I’ll be in Hawaii – wishful thinking.