Best laid plans

This summer I learned an important business lesson – when Plan A doesn’t work, be ready and embrace Plan B.   To allow the failure of your plans to overtake your dreams, just fosters further disappointment and festers away at your intent.

I had spent at least six months planning a big family trip to Scotland and the Isle of Man to celebrate our 45^th wedding anniversary and 50 years of being together as a couple.  We’d decided to celebrate the 50 years now when we were all able to travel, rather than wait.

It was a complicated itinerary, as I worked to ensure everyone got to do what they wanted to do, and we also had some down time and space away from one another.

The first dent in THE PLAN, occurred before we left.  Thank goodness.  We discovered, by chance, that the airline we’d booked our tickets to get to the Isle of Man, had gone into liquidation.  So we had to scramble to get seats with another airline and as I write, we are still trying to get our money back from the first one, but not holding up much hope.

We had gone ahead of the “kids” and were collecting them in Glasgow to head off  together for a few days in the Highlands.   Except, last minute because a truck had hit their plane, their flight was cancelled.  It was 3.00am in the morning before they got checked into a Toronto hotel, where the three of them were left to share one bed.  Ever chivalrous, my son in law, spent the night in a chair.

A day late, we met them at the airport.  Now we’d had to move hotels, as there was “no room at the inn” where we were staying, and with two big concerts taking place in Glasgow, hotel rooms were scarce.  We ended up having to tough it out at a five-star hotel, which while lovely, was not part of our trip budget.

But I had decided early on with these unforeseen delays, that they were not going to spoil our vacation, which they could just as easily have done.  Instead I encouraged everyone to think about the great stories they’d have to share about what had happened. 

And with one day short, we focused more intently on we wanted to do and see in the time left.

As leaders in our businesses (and families) we set the tone.  Being pragmatic and coming up with a Plan B is a good start, but so is having a good attitude. 

As John Lennon once said “life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.”

Taking the scenic route

Beach at Port Erin, Isle of Man

Two weeks.  Fourteen days.  That’s how long I had without phone calls, meetings and email.  

Bliss.  

I seem to have a love-hate relationship with my inbox.  Email is a necessary part of my life, my business, but when you switch off, which I did, you discover that life does go on, and you can focus your energies on something else – like relationships.

I do find it is only when I leave home, leave Canada that is easy to close the email door behind me when I go.   When I stay here, it is much harder to switch off.  It is all too easy to sneak off and check the iPhone, but I highly recommend taking time to switch off and leave the electronics at home.

We had a wonderful time visiting family in the UK and reconnecting with old friends on the Isle of Man.  Those windy days on the island just blew the cobwebs out and nothing beats a walk along the beach surrounded by nature at its best.

I was struck by our different worlds when we drove home from Pearson Airport.  On the one hand on the island, it was sometimes a challenge to have two cars on the same road and the same time, because in reality there was only room for one.  While at Pearson there are multiple lanes, with cars going at a fast pace to reach their destination.

I guess in one situation, it truly is about the journey and the beautiful scenery to be enjoyed, while with the other, the pleasure (hopefully) is on reaching the destination.

As I look at my bulging inbox with over 1,400 emails, I kinda wish I could delay getting back on the fast track.  So learning from my vacation, I am taking the scenic route and taking some detours, before I rev up to go on the multi-lane highway.

Your vacation is what you make of it

It was a comment that Peter, the taxi driver made as he was driving me to Fort Myers airport after a wonderful one-week break, that made me realize that my attitude this trip had been different. 

He was telling me about a twenty-something who had come to Florida for some sun, and was sorely disappointed because while the sun was shining, the wind was blowing hard, making it chilly.  Consequently she hadn’t spent the time on the beach that she’d planned, and totally bent out of shape, she whined all the way to the airport.

Now it is true the weather wasn’t its usual glorious self, but hey, compared to the winter we’ve had this year, anything over 12 C, seems balmy to me.   Vacations, like anything else in life, are what you make of them and this year I went south with a changed mindset.

1.              The weather is immaterial.  In the past, I would have been like our young friend, and totally bummed out if I didn’t get my share of rays on the beach. But this year, my focus was on the break, getting away from work and most importantly, visiting with my cousin.

2.              Switching off from email is essential.  I had decided at the outset that I wouldn’t check email and I am proud to report I didn’t.   And you know what, it wasn’t as hard as I thought, all of which speaks to the need to take a break, because without the reminders of work, you can more easily unwind. 

3.              Urgent is a matter of interpretation.  Usually I would leave an out-of-office message giving a forwarding email so that if a matter was urgent, someone could be contacted. But I’ve found in the past that people make contact because they want an immediate answer, not because it is urgent.  So for seven days, Company of Women was offline and to my knowledge, nothing disastrous happened.

4.              Selective shopping.  OK.  I will fess up – I love to shop and normally that is one of our fun activities when I am down south.  However, my cousin had hurt her leg, which made walking distances difficult and so we couldn’t shop as much as usual.  But that was fine, as instead of wandering aimlessly at the stores, I was much more discerning on what I wanted to buy and where we went to shop.

5.              Budget.  Because I can see (and buy) lots of treasures and “have-to-haves,” I set myself a firm budget this year, and as my father would say, “when in doubt, out.”  So I stuck to what was practical, would be put to good use rather than some of my more frivolous purchases of previous years.

6.              Buy local.  Because I don’t take time to shop much when I am at home, I saw stuff that I liked and could easily get in Canada, so I decided to wait and get it locally, rather than carry it back in my luggage.

7.              Relax and read.  Now this isn’t a new direction, but for me the measure of a good holiday is how many books I manage to read – this year 4.5.  Not bad.

I don’t know about you but I am often a tad tetchy before I go, that’s actually my clue that it is time to get away.  So folks should be pleased that I have returned in a better frame of mind.  I am back, all mellow and chilled out, and not so willing to get into the fray once again, but it will come.  

But maybe the 24/7 ability to stay in touch with my business has to go, otherwise my business owns me, rather than the other way around.  What about you?  Who owns who?