Turn Your Holiday into a Creative Reset
Do you have a holiday on the horizon, or weighing up whether to book some time off? If you are, then today’s newsletter will either make you more excited for this time or get on with your bookings.
The reason for selecting this topic, is that this week’s newsletter is coming to you from the sunny slopes in Austria.
I am just coming to the end of a holiday, in one of my favourite places to visit. There is something about the mountain air and environment that I love so much.
A few years ago, I recognised that holidays could serve as a chance to reset my creative energies. Let’s take a look at why holidays are important and consider some tips for making the most of the opportunity for a creative reset.
What is a Creative Reset?
A creative reset is the process of taking time away from our typical routines and projects, to enable our imagination to flourish. Of course, this isn’t limited to holiday, however the likelihood is that this will be the easiest time for most people to experience this.
In the UK, studies have shown that approximately 20-30% of holiday is left unused by employees. This has been placed down to workplace cultures and pressures which lead to discouragement around taking time off.
The Benefits of Taking Holiday
There are clearly pressures in the modern workplace around taking holiday, however the benefits to your long-term productivity far outweigh these downsides:
- Reduce The Chance of Burnout: The pressures of modern work are geared towards always being on, which heightens the possibility of burnout. Taking holiday provides the chance to take time for ourselves and maintain consistency of productivity across the year.
- Taking Time For Reflection: Holidays provide the time and space to review our goals, routines and what makes us happy. Without these periods of reflection, it can be easy to fall into patterns which don’t fulfil us, and we only recognise this when too much time has been lost.
- Reset Your Relationship With Technology: A holiday grants us the ultimate chance to review and reduce our screen time. For more on this topic, check out last week’s newsletter here.
- You Time: Holiday should be the ultimate time for self-care. This is the opportunity to do something that you love, or that interests you. Whether that means going away or simply taking the time at home, consider ways that will refresh you.
With some clear upsides to taking time for holiday, let’s take a look at how to power up your creative reset.
Practical Tips for a Creative Reset
- Walk: Wherever you are, find time to get outside and walk. The process of getting into nature is known to clear our minds, whilst exploring new surroundings.
- Read: If you are looking to find inspiration, then books are a great place to start. As an example, Lin Manuel Miranda’s inspiration for Hamilton came whilst reading Ron Chernow’s biography on Alexander Hamilton during a vacation in Mexico.
- Exercise: Not an easy one to tackle on holiday, but physical activity boosts blood flow and releases endorphins, which reduce stress. This is crucial for helping to break mental blocks that can lead to creative ideas.
- Practice Doing Nothing: The art of allowing yourself the freedom to let your mind wander without any distraction. By getting comfortable doing nothing, we create the space for unexpected, spontaneous creativity to emerge.
- Deep Thinking Time: Consider taking the time to focus in on one topic or area of exploration during your time off. This was something done by Bill Gates, who would take himself to a cabin for a week and focus on the study of an area of technology that he wanted to explore.
Let’s Get Creative
Holidays can serve as the perfect opportunity to refresh our brains and provide the reset we need to be creative. The key is to give ourselves this time, so that we may experience the long-term benefits.
What tips have you utilised on holidays, or in your daily life? Hit reply and let me know.
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