We got off the boat in the national park of Canada on Maligne Lake and stepped onto spirit island on the last full day of our vacation (picture above). It’s been a long time since I was back around Jasper, AB. The first for Blake and the first in the mountains for my daughter Tess.

One third of Americans have not taken a holiday in two years! We all have been locked in through Covid and many people have told me “they feel limited by where they can go with the amount of delays and cancellations (up to 20% of flights are delayed on average 48 minutes in 2022).

We’ve taken two driving holidays in the last two months, one in the north fork of NY (2.5 hours away) and the latter on the back end of a flight home to see Mom, and in the mountains (Banff and Jasper 4-5 hours drive).

I have also had a good stretch not taking a vacation. The thinking being, if you can’t go anywhere fun, it’s not worth taking. I am someone who likes to work, and likes to contribute, but I can tell you, turning all the tech off, and turning your out of office on is the only way to truly recharge.

Many of us think, the work or our team mates will miss us while we are gone, but most people love when the boss is away (especially if you are an idea fountain like me) and are happy to back up a colleague when they are away with their family.

As my old team would say, before you get “crispy”, the beginning of getting burnt out, take yourself off the chess board, and hit your happy place and fill the battery back up.

Tess kept dragging me out on the back of the cruise boat, as we went to spirit island and back. She likes to look at the water and feel the wind in her hair. She just may be a chip off the old Canadian Iceberg after all.

Defeating Average while not working.

Colin