114: Take a Vacation

Ever found yourself nodding along to a friend's tales of misdiagnosed ailments or dietary no-nos? That's where Bruce and I, Clark, kick off our latest chat, taking you through the maze of life's unexpected twists. We swap stories of health hiccups and embracing acceptance, sharing how we've learned to juggle the worry balls life tosses our way. And since laughter's the best medicine, we even find time to chuckle over our shared love for the show "Andor" while on the mend.

But it's not all medical charts and chicken soup; the tech world is buzzing, and so are we. We're dissecting the groundbreaking news of the first human Neuralink implant – the stuff of sci-fi is our reality, folks. Imagine controlling devices with a mere thought! However, it's not all about the wow factor; we ponder the ethical implications of such technology and whether we'd willingly become cyborgs for convenience. Plus, we're digressing into how nanotech could change our sensory experiences and maybe, just maybe, make vacation planning a breeze.

Speaking of which, who hasn't returned to a monstrous email pile post-vacation? We've been there, done that, and are ready to share our battle tactics for managing work-life balance. From setting boundaries and out-of-office messages to the sweet satisfaction of finding your team's kicked goals without you, we're dishing out tips to make sure your time off is actual time off. Tune in for advice, anecdotes, and good humor as Bruce and I navigate the balancing act of work, wellness, and the wonders of technology.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:14

Welcome back to Corporate Strategy, the podcast. There could have been an email on Bruce and I'm Clark.

Speaker 2 0:21

And we're all out of whack.

Speaker 1 0:23

We are out of whack. Craig is not here. We're doing this like the way we used to do things. I'm immediately put on edge. I'm not feeling it. It's already a weird vibe for me. It's not a good start.

Speaker 2 0:35

I'll tell you that it's not when you have like technical issues. It just throws us off our game.

Speaker 1 0:41

It really does, and we didn't even have a topic. We do now. We didn't have a topic. You know we were like there's that we haven't recorded one of these in forever. I've been sick as a dog.

Speaker 2 0:51

It's been two weeks.

Speaker 1 0:52

Yeah, I know.

Speaker 2 0:54

Since we recorded it. Granted, it hasn't been that long since we released the episode.

Speaker 1 0:59

So for the listeners it has been long, but for us it feels like forever.

Speaker 2 1:03

Yeah, it does, it does. It feels like we haven't talked around corporate strategy forever.

Speaker 1 1:08

I had a 101 degree fever for four straight days between our last episode and right now. That's so brutal.

Speaker 2 1:15

It is brutal. Did you figure out what happened? This is your vibe track. You're starting.

Speaker 1 1:19

No, I was just a flu. I had the flu. My stomach thing is still undiagnosed, ongoing. I go back to get checked up, and two weeks hopefully, then I'll know, hopefully.

Speaker 2 1:32

That's basically how the whole you know works. It's just you, you know. You go in and they're like, well, I guess we're going to run some tests and then you, you like, actually cross your fingers that they find something. You tell me this Do you cross your fingers that they find something or don't find something?

Speaker 1 1:46

I would much rather they find something.

Speaker 2 1:48

I'm in the same camp with you. Like I want to know if they don't know. That actually causes me more concern.

Speaker 1 1:54

Yeah, I mean I think I've hit this point in my life now where I just don't care about anything anymore. It's a good place to be, because one, it doesn't stress me out the way that it used to, because this is kind of stuff used to just drive me up a wall and then I get sick because I think about how much it stresses me out. But now I'm just like, yeah, whatever, whatever, I would like to be able to eat normal food again, but I'm going to keep doing this diet and doing the nice thing. You know, I'm not going to, I'm not going to let it get to me, just like everything, I don't care, I just can't care anymore.

Speaker 2 2:29

I'm over here dying because I can't tell if these are just the stages of grief you're going through. You're just in the acceptance stage right now. You just accepted it. You're like it is what it is, but it also sounds really mature of you because it feels like you've ascended to a new height.

Speaker 1 2:46

Yeah, I'm just so far ahead of it.

Speaker 2 2:47

You're just like, eh, you know what happens happens and I'm going to be fine either way. That's kind of it, though we're not fine, we're not fine.

Speaker 1 2:55

The sun will stay in the same spot, we will rotate around and then tomorrow will happen. Yeah, you can't worry about it. There's nothing that worrying is going to do. So, you just accepted and you live, and I live.

Speaker 2 3:10

Fair enough. Well, you know, sometimes a diet is a good thing. I don't know if you're feeling any benefits from it, but sometimes you change a diet and it can feel good. Well, it's unfortunate.

Speaker 1 3:19

Well, it's not a healthy diet. I'm not on a healthy diet, clark. It's like I'm not. I can't eat vegetables, I can't eat citrus, I can't eat things that are, you know, things that I love, that are good for you, like peppers or anything like that. It's a no acid diet. So I'm eating lots of bread and carb and occasional meat.

Speaker 2 3:39

I like this diet, can I go on it?

Speaker 1 3:42

I hate it. I hate it. I love fermented vinegar, you know, like kombucha's, kimchi's. Give me your, your pickles and cabbage that's been fermented in a jar for 18 years. That's what I'm here for. And like not being able to eat, that's just like making me sad, yeah that does suck when it takes away the things you love it makes your life a little bit more, a little bit less exciting, I would say. Yeah.

Speaker 2 4:07

A little bit, a little bit more down than it used to be. That's unfortunate. Sorry to hear that, Bruce, and I hear you coughing man. You're just going down a bad trail right now.

Speaker 1 4:15

Hopefully this podcast can lift you up. I mean, the flu is not. It takes like two full weeks to recover. So the best part about having the flu when you also have like your stomach dying they can't prescribe you anything Like they're like we would give you Tamiflu and you get over this in two days, but given your current situation, you're just gonna have to ride it out and you can only take Tylenol, and Tylenol doesn't work for you. So enjoy your pain, and I did. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the pain. I watched all of Andor while while flu-ish and you know what. It was a good show, I really liked it.

Speaker 2 4:48

I enjoyed it a lot. I remember it.

Speaker 1 4:50

I did, I just.

Speaker 2 4:51

I have one strategy for when I get the flu, because I get it every year no matter what I do. I can't avoid it. Flu shot usually helps. I've talked about it before. If I remember to get the flu shot, usually it doesn't. But typically my strategy is just Nyquil for like three straight days. I just sleep for like a good 19, 20 hours of every single day. I'm out.

Speaker 1 5:09

And it helps me bounce back. Wish I could have done it. Couldn't take Nyquil so out of the question, yeah.

Speaker 2 5:17

Well, I started to hear that, bruce.

Speaker 1 5:19

And the technical difficulties.

Speaker 2 5:20

today, life is just. It's hitting us with a left hook right to the jaw, but we're gonna be alright, yeah, we do have to.

Speaker 1 5:28

we need to apologize ahead of time, because I'm gonna be coughing and Craig would have gotten rid of the cough. There's no like, there's no way. It's just gonna show up. So this is a rough. This is a rough episode.

Speaker 2 5:38

Yep, it's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright, you know, sometimes you know you gotta make it your Michael Jordan flu game. Sometimes you're just feeling down, but we gotta do it for our people. Our Discord server is growing, our listeners are waiting, they need their corporate strategy tips and we are here to give it to them, regardless of how we feel.

Speaker 1 5:56

Yeah, and if you're interested in joining the Discord, you can do so by going to corporatestrategybiz, that'sbiz.

Speaker 2 6:03

Just prepare yourself. We're gonna say that about 20 more times, this episode, any time we get the chance.

Speaker 1 6:09

Any time, join the Discord, get in there and get your butt in there right now. It's such a cool place it is. It's the greatest place on planet Earth.

Speaker 2 6:15

It keeps growing. It keeps on getting better. I have admittedly been bad at responding in there, but I will get better.

Speaker 1 6:20

I will.

Speaker 2 6:22

You will not. I bounced back for a little while in the beginning of the year and, man, you know the first quarter is over and I've just failed for the last 30 days ever playing anything.

Speaker 1 6:32

You fell off hard. Let's be real.

Speaker 2 6:34

here You're not a spelled Discord anymore. Don't you worry, I'm gonna come back. When Craig's back, I'll be back.

Speaker 1 6:41

Do you know how to join the?

Speaker 2 6:42

Discord Clark. Oh yeah, that's right. If I go to corporatestrategybiz, that's dot B-I-Z, that's right. Or the show notes, or the show notes right Good to know Amazing. Oh man.

Speaker 1 6:55

Do we even have news? We do, actually. Did you see that the first human being to receive the neural link implant happened today?

Speaker 2 7:04

No, did it.

Speaker 1 7:05

Yeah, paraplegic, had the implant put in, played a game of chess.

Speaker 2 7:11

Wow, yeah, that's incredible. Is there a video?

Speaker 1 7:15

You're gonna have to link to it. I think there is. I was just reading an article on it, but yeah, I mean it's. You know, obviously there is the. There's always the. Everything's political these days. I hate that. I hate that everything has a political. I have to, you know, put a hashtag warning up a front, because neural link, which is not a bad idea, is owned by a questionable person, and that's the issue, right, like it could be the absolute greatest thing for the future of mankind, for people who have, you know, paraplegia or any number of other issues that prevent them from using their, their limbs or you know, just the convenience of being able to control things with your mind still tied to Elon Musk. Yeah, you know so.

Speaker 2 7:58

It's true, it's, it's rough. I mean, would you get it?

Speaker 1 8:03

No, I would get it, not unless I needed it.

Speaker 2 8:04

And obviously I don't need it. You know I don't have any sort of you know disability or inhibiting factor that I would need it for, you know, to stabilize anything or anything like that. But I think I'd get it. I'm one with the robots. What?

Speaker 1 8:17

benefit does it?

Speaker 2 8:17

bring. Right now Probably nothing, but when it becomes beneficial to me, I might be like you know what? Put it in my head, I'm ready.

Speaker 1 8:25

I will get one, the second my. If I log in to play a first person shooter online and my reaction time has gotten really bad and Neuralink is like better than my hands at reacting to like oh, we gotta breach the wall and shoot the dude in the head, then I'll get it If it's faster than my hands.

Speaker 2 8:47

But that's that's what it's gonna take. That's a very low bar. I feel like Do my reaction times great.

Speaker 1 8:56

We've never played games together before, because I know you hate my guts. I'm pretty good, I'm pretty good at multiplayer shooters.

Speaker 2 9:04

Yeah, my reaction time is good, we've been talking in the chat about getting together and doing a hangout. It was suggested by Squid Boy. We're gonna have to see if you actually hold up to that Cause.

Speaker 1 9:15

I don't play video games.

Speaker 2 9:16

So I'm just gonna openly say I'm gonna be god awful. Yeah, you will be, You'll be terrible. I'll destroy you. I accept that. I accept that for me and I'm here for it. It's gonna be a good time regardless.

Speaker 1 9:29

Yeah. So I mean it's a cool technology. I'm again, I'm glad it exists. I'm glad the people in the need it can get it. But it's just one of those things you know Like it's. I'm very curious what the longterm impact of this will be.

Speaker 2 9:41

I'm trying to think like what would be my pushing factor to get it Like what's the bare minimum upgrade for my life?

Speaker 1 9:49

What if you could? What if you could just write, take notes, do all of your administrative work by thinking it, instead of having to type it or dictate it?

Speaker 2 10:01

That would be incredible. I think, honestly, that's it. I think, if I can think things and it can record that. You know it's so crazy because there's there's these things out here that still blow my mind. I've got the whole week off for it to get into that in the at the topic today, but I saw this guy wearing headphones during his workout and nothing was in the ear. And then I remembered I was like oh yeah, there's headphones out there that just use vibrations attached to your head that you can hear something and no one else around you can hear it. That's crazy. It blew my mind. I was like that's around. Why doesn't everything use this? I need to get a pair. But this is another upgrade like that that it could probably just play music for me to hear and no one else can hear it. That's true.

Speaker 1 10:42

Yeah, I think it's going to pair very well with things like the vision. Once that gets better, the privacy of your technology and the interactions with it will well. I mean, there's no such thing as privacy anymore when everything's connected to the internet but, like your personal space, your physical privacy will be increased.

Speaker 2 11:00

You know what? I don't want, though I don't want to have to, like connect it to my devices.

Speaker 1 11:05

It just feels so annoying.

Speaker 2 11:07

Like I have to do that with headphones now with, like my AirPods, and it's so annoying to be like I mean, it's gotten better because of the handoff and whatever between my devices, because I'm in the iOS and Apple Colt, but still, it's really annoying. I'm gonna be like, oh, I gotta choose my audio input. I guess I'm playing audio here instead of there. Maybe I just want to keep those two things separate. I don't know.

Speaker 1 11:25

Can you imagine? Well, you know the gamers, but you know when I'm PC game and occasionally my graphics driver will crash and my whole computer will just go like, for you know as long as it will do it. It sounds like loud in my ears and it truly is. You know it's never had a graphics driver crash my steam deck because Linux is the best. But, yes, the I mean drivers, they're just, they're the worst. Regardless, the sound is unbearable. I have to rip my headphones off my head when it happens because it's so awful. Yeah, can you imagine that happening when they're a link, but you can't turn it off.

Speaker 2 12:01

And you can't do anything you can't like. Tap your, tap your head. That's probably what I do if I heard a buzzing noise, I probably start hitting myself in the head and I look crazy.

Speaker 1 12:09

You just the loudest most. Oh, piercing noise on repeat, no ability to turn it off. I mean, if it messes with your vision, then you know you can't see anything. You're just a prisoner of this technological implant that now resides in your skull. Yeah, that's the only downside. Yeah, yeah, it is.

Speaker 2 12:27

I.

Speaker 1 12:28

Think it's worth it. I don't know. I think it's got to be. See, the implant is what gets me. If it was a port or something that was like on the surface that you could just rip off at any time, yeah, not, it's not so bad, that's not so bad.

Speaker 2 12:43

I mean it's like hearing aids, but there's some hearing aids that just sit on the outside of your ear and they're like attached to your, your head, but you have full control, like there needs to be a battery replacement or whatever, right.

Speaker 1 12:53

It's right there.

Speaker 2 12:53

So you can just do it right. Yeah, maybe that's a little better.

Speaker 1 12:57

It's not like a pacemaker, it's not keeping you alive, it's adding a quality of life. So I don't know, I don't know.

Speaker 2 13:04

And then there's time will tell a whole bunch of issues with pacemakers in the past of like the early adopters of pacemakers, so maybe don't be an early adopter to this one but someone's got to really need it.

Speaker 1 13:13

Yeah, I'm just really got to need it.

Speaker 2 13:15

You know, and then you better volunteer you better make sure they have a top tier support plan and you better bet that thing is gonna be on a subscription plan where it's a monthly charge to you.

Speaker 1 13:24

Oh my gosh, don't and then they're gonna start playing ads in your head, oh my you can't close your eyes cuz it's beamed directly into your retinas, says you can't sleep until you pay your subscription fee.

Speaker 2 13:37

Okay, this is getting real dark. Have you seen that?

Speaker 1 13:38

episode of black mirror, where they they play ads and you can't sleep. So I think it's the second episode second episode, black mirror.

Speaker 2 13:44

I'll be honest, I watched the first episode. I haven't watched a sense.

Speaker 1 13:47

I was out that's. That's such a great experience. I love that for you I.

Speaker 2 13:52

Literally was like I am not watching the show anymore. You know, I do kind of want to watch the rest. I'm not gonna.

Speaker 1 13:56

That would be your black mirror experience. I'll. Firstly, I love that the first episode of the show is the one that it is. I feel like it just, it just is the perfect first episode. No other episode is remotely like that. That's what I said. It just brings me so much joy it does. It brings me so much joy now.

Speaker 2 14:22

I do kind of want to watch the rest, though, because, like the first one, I was out, but everyone's always talking with the black mirror episodes and I feel out of the loop, feel a bit of FOMO.

Speaker 1 14:29

They're all based on white papers and things that are going to be or already are. The shows old enough now that the things of the Future are now things of the present, which is Horrifying?

Speaker 2 14:38

It is very scary. It's like the Simpsons, but much darker, not not funny.

Speaker 1 14:44

I Mean the Simpsons aren't funny anymore either. So, to be fair, you know the statement stands, but yeah, it's unfortunate. Well, thanks for that news. Yeah, I think I'm out after further reflection.

Speaker 2 14:55

I think I'm out on being an early doctor for for Neuralink Good plan.

Speaker 1 14:59

Yeah, good plan. We'll get it together when, when it's ready, we'll go in. You and me We'll get the implant at the same time. I mean, let's get a tattoo first, you know, let's see how we do, let's get a corporate strategy tattoos.

Speaker 2 15:11

See how we do get something permanent in our bodies and then we can try it on and be like do we love it, do we hate it? And you know what, if we love it, maybe it's worth it.

Speaker 1 15:19

Yeah, I agree fair.

Speaker 2 15:22

One million subs. I think we're gonna have to get a corporate strategy tattoo. I just signed a million subs Whoo.

Speaker 1 15:29

We got a little while, but we're gonna get there. I get a tattoo this life. So it sounds like but hey, we got a topic for this week. We do Everything's falling apart. We have the perfect topic it's spring break. It is spring break, you're on vacation. I wish I was on vacation. Spring break Take a vacation. That's. That's our topic. How do you take a vacation? I?

Speaker 2 15:54

Love it. I love it because I'm on it, I'm living it. You are give my firsthand reflections. It's. Let's give them. Give them the time. Check. It's Thursday. I've been off since last Friday, so I took most of Friday off. I did do something in the morning, but other than that I was like I'm taking the rest of the day off. So I've been off Since last Friday and now it's Thursday, so we're almost a weekend. It feels good, bruce. It feels so good.

Speaker 1 16:19

I'm telling you I love it. I love not having to work. It's the best feeling in the world. How did you take a vacation?

Speaker 2 16:26

Man, what did I start?

Speaker 1 16:28

Like you know, do you have to request?

Speaker 2 16:29

time with somebody. That that's a good place to start, actually for me. Okay, maybe we got to go back. Maybe we got to go back to the early days when you actually to put in time, obviously before you started a corporate salary job. If you work hourly and your shifts are scheduled, yeah, you got to put in a request. You got to do it ahead of time so they can find someone to cover your position. Oh, they get stuff. But once you get into the salary world, things change a bit. You know, it's not exactly the same as it was previously. Maybe not in every role, but for most roles you still have to request or at least notify your manager that hey, by the way, I'm planning to take this vacation ahead of time. But for me, bruce, I feel like and I don't know if it's the same for you I'm at a level now where I don't really ask permission.

Speaker 2 17:19

I just kind of let people know I'm like, hey, I'm taking this time off Because I've scheduled everything around this and this week is the best time for me to take off.

Speaker 1 17:26

Yeah, same, same, I would say, regardless of whether you're salaried on no time off or if you have a More traditional PTO paid time off model where you accrue time, the. The first tip is plan things out in advance, and the earlier you request time off, the better. They're more likely that it gets approved, that everything's gonna go the way you want it to. It's on the books Once it's a, once it's in the approval process. You know God can't take it away from you, right? Like that's just the way that that generally goes. Yeah, but I have a plan. Now you gotta get it out like quarter by quarter.

Speaker 2 18:09

At least that's what I recommend. Otherwise you get in a bad spot where either you just forget to take the time and we'll get to that tip too.

Speaker 1 18:17

But you can't or you can't.

Speaker 2 18:18

Yeah, it's like last minute and you're like, hey, I want to take next week off. And then you're like well, we got this big project do, or we have this huge client presentation happening and you just can't, you can't step out. I Think I interrupted you completely.

Speaker 1 18:32

No tip, no no, no, I thought you had more there. All good. No, my, my thought was one thing that I love to do when I request time off is Is create an outlook invite for the people I work with. That sets their time is free, but it marks me out for whatever that the time period is, so they know I'm not here. Don't try to make me here, because I'm not gonna be you. Pair that with taking of the time off and set your out of office. You are ready to go on vacation. You are ready to go?

Speaker 2 19:08

I actually think that's the best tip that you just gave, because it is so annoying when.

Speaker 1 19:13

I get in.

Speaker 2 19:15

Out of office message that just blocks my whole calendar. It's like what are you doing? What are you doing blocking my whole calendar for a week? Now I have to decline your out of office and hope I remember that you're out of the office when just case I need me that. But you've got to set it to be free.

Speaker 1 19:28

You can set different statuses.

Speaker 2 19:30

You do it out of office, you set it to free, and you missed one point, though, bruce. Then you create another one, for just yourself.

Speaker 1 19:37

That's.

Speaker 2 19:37

Oh yes, office, that your calendar and if anyone tries to book anything, it shows and whatever color is pink or purple or whatever and it lets them know oh, this person's out of office. Oh yeah, that's a great idea. Thank you so much for watching. I'll see you guys next week. So you got to do both there's two invites.

Speaker 1 19:50

Some platforms will do that for you, which is nice they will. If when you request time off and it's approved, it'll automatically just block your calendar as oh for however long you've got approved, which I've got right now and I got to say I like it.

Speaker 2 20:05

That's good.

Speaker 1 20:06

Yeah, it is nice, I like it. You still have to set your out of office Message message. Yes, the automated reply, which I think leads us into tip space Number two communication during vacation. Just don't do it. Let the out of office do the work for you. Best tip I can give you is whoever your person is, the person you feel can fill in for you, put their name front and center in your email. Hey, I'm on vacation. If you need anything, reach out to my good friend Clark Cheddar. Movements Do not bug me. That's end of message right there. Like, keep it short, keep it sweet. Do not give them any additional information which they can bother you. Send them to Clark every time.

Speaker 2 20:48

Yeah, no, that's a great point. Yeah, make sure you have a backup, make sure you have coverage, especially if you're on a key project or you work on something that you know people are probably going to reach you now. For Make sure you know who that backup is. And inside your out of office, the second they respond to that, they're going to get hit with that message and you can say, hey, yeah, reach out to Clark for this and for me. Anyways, I have a few projects, but I have some more senior managers in my team and I direct everything that's within their domain, that goes to their team, to that. So I'm like, hey, if it's related to this, reach out to this person, they'll help you out. And so I try to cascade the different domain areas and then, as a last resort, I put my boss to say if it's urgent and none of the above apply, reach out to my boss.

Speaker 1 21:29

Yeah, you're nice. You're way nicer than I am. I just choose one person. They just become the Bruce, the little Bruce. For that time I'm gone and that's their responsibility now.

Speaker 2 21:39

Yeah, yeah, I've got a couple different people. It depends on your level of management. But I have a couple more senior managers that manage other people, and so I don't want to have 20 people for different projects. I could delegate it to one, but then I have a bunch of cascading things so I'm like, oh yeah, just bring it to them. Generally, I want you to talk to them anyways rather than talking to me, so it kind of trains them anyways. But I like that though Random thought.

Speaker 1 22:03

You know what I hate when I go on vacation and then I come back and people are like, oh my gosh, don't ever go on vacation again. We need you here. Oh, it was nightmare last week without you. I know they're trying to be nice, but you've literally just ratcheted up my anxiety, because all I can think of is how incompetent people are when I'm not around. That does stink.

Speaker 2 22:25

Yeah for me how I know things are going well. We don't need Danny on this. If Danny listened to this how I know things are going well I think he actually might appreciate. This is when no one reaches out to me, because that means my team is doing a good job.

Speaker 1 22:38

That's how I know. Have you experienced?

Speaker 2 22:40

that, yeah, right now no one's reached out to me Wow.

Speaker 1 22:44

Which is so. Are you sure they're?

Speaker 2 22:46

not going to fire you. I know, honestly, I had a moment where I'm like, man, they don't need me. This is nice, but for me I've hit that level of acceptance and I'm like, if they let me go tomorrow, let it be, let it be.

Speaker 1 22:56

I'm ready, oh, I'm so ready to get fired. Oh, every damn time.

Speaker 2 23:00

But I think it's also like I think it's just partially that I've built my team and I trust them to handle things without me, and so it's really nice to see that execute. I love it.

Speaker 1 23:09

So it's honestly a good feeling.

Speaker 2 23:11

And usually it doesn't happen. I'll be honest, this is probably the first out of office I had. I'm not going to wood because it's the end of day, thursday, and they're still Friday. So as long as no one reaches out to me tomorrow, that means my team did their job and there was nothing urgent enough where they had to send me a no. So maybe I'll come back to a hellstorm on Monday. I don't know, we'll find out, but I trust my team did a good job. I'm ready.

Speaker 1 23:35

All right. So here's the question is do you respond if there's an emergency?

Speaker 2 23:41

This is always a tough one. Someone did text me just as an information thing. I'm like hey, we hired this really cool person Just wanted to let you know. So that wasn't a work-related thing, they just wanted to let me know, which I kind of appreciated. But they accepted the offer. But yeah, if it's an emergency that comes up, do you tap in? Let's talk first. We really need you.

Speaker 1 24:01

You're the only one who can do this. Is it possible for you to step away from your little beach cabana and log into this Zoom call for the next two hours and help us out.

Speaker 2 24:10

Especially when they know what you're doing and they're like, hey, I know you're like in the middle of nowhere and you're on a cruise, but if you could just get a small 2G connection and just respond to this, that'd be great. It depends on the type of vacation. I'd say, if I'm doing a small vacation, like I'm doing now, if something's super urgent, I'd probably hop on to help or just at least guide them in the right direction. I'd be like, hey, you know what, try doing this instead. If I'm remote, remote, I'm in another country, I'm camping, whatever it might be, if I just don't have good connection, I just ignore it.

Speaker 1 24:47

What about you? That's what sea levels are for. In all honesty, I'm not even being the remotest bit sarcastic. If it's an emergency and I'm not here I'm on a vacation that's been approved time off then you need to escalate up, not to me. That is the issue. You need to go to a chief whoever officer is responsible for this thing and get their eyes on the situation, or they will find someone to get eyes on situation. There's no acceptable reason, unless you are, and that's the thing. That's the sea level contract. Sea levels don't get private time off. They are always expected to be able to respond, and that's part of the agreement why you get paid so much money. So no, under no circumstances you can literally say I'm gonna fire you if you don't come on the call. You're like hey, it's my vacation, fire me. Like I ain't joining your Zoom call. Take it up with the execs. That's the agreement and I will die before I give up that agreement.

Speaker 2 25:47

Okay, let me give you another situation. Let's say it's your own team, so you've hired someone that's underneath your wing and you're like listen, Bruce, I really need you. The server's melting down, the matrix is happening. I need you. You just gotta log in, review this and then, once you review it and you hit okay, life is gonna be good, you're gonna save the world. Would you do it?

Speaker 1 26:09

I would respond. I trust you to figure it out yourself.

Speaker 2 26:18

I love it. What if you're the only person that has access to the server? You've got to go.

Speaker 1 26:22

That's a mistake that was made beyond my capability, I would never make my own. I would never put myself in that position where I'm the only person who could do the thing. Now I will say there's definitely times when I'm the only person who can do the task, but that task shouldn't have happened if everyone knew I was gonna be on vacation in the first place. So again, no, If it's my team and they're floundering, I trust them. They need to make the decision themselves. Put on the big boy pants, big girl pants, go get it. But no, You're hitting tip number three.

Speaker 2 26:56

You're hitting tip number three for me, which is in a corporate environment, it's good to make yourself replaceable and set other people up to do things. Sure, hoarding information, job security, yada, yada, yada. At the end of the day, they're gonna replace you. If you leave, they're gonna find someone else to do the job. You're not gonna be the linchpin to the whole company more than likely, so make sure that you've got redundancy. Other people can jump in and do the task if they absolutely need to, and nothing's gonna burn down If you are hesitant to let go on out of office because you're like well, I'm the only person that can do this thing. That's a problem. There's a huge problem.

Speaker 2 27:33

You need to fix that problem, otherwise you're always gonna feel that stress, that anxiety. You're never gonna be able to take time off. Don't do it to yourself. It's not worth it in the corporate world.

Speaker 1 27:43

Have you heard the stories of where they will fire people and then realize how important that person was and then have to rehire them for like four X their salary. Yeah, that needs to be like the vacation agreement. You bug me on vacation. I won't do it unless you are willing to give me four times as much vacation for the rest of the year.

Speaker 2 28:05

It's a negotiation.

Speaker 1 28:07

Yeah, that's the only way I'd do that. Ooh, let's turn this one week into four, shall we? Then I'd do it in a heartbeat, but I think you should.

Speaker 2 28:16

And it's set up those rules Like if your manager calls you and they're like Bruce, I need you to get off the vacation and start doing this thing now. You know if you truly are able to do that thing, because you're not on a remote island, you know, drinking margaritas by the water with no cell service and you can do it, sure, you know, do it, but let them know, be like, hey, you know I'm separating from my family to go do this right now. I expect that I will be compensated. Or, you know, get additional vacation time because this is interrupting my vacation plans.

Speaker 2 28:48

And if they say no you're just in a bad culture area, right? Alternatively, just ignore it, you know, and then they can't. You can be like sorry, I didn't have any access to, you know, the internet, so I couldn't help you out, and if they fire you over that you could sue the company.

Speaker 1 29:02

You really, can I really?

Speaker 2 29:03

couldn't do anything about this, and yeah, they can't stop you, you know, from making that case. So just remember that.

Speaker 1 29:10

They chose to give you the time off, right. They approved it. They approved it. They knew you weren't gonna be here and they continued to make bad decisions while you were gone. Exactly Like I think, vacation is one of the best sniff tests to a bad corporate culture. You will quickly find whether you work for a good or bad place based on how people treat you when you're not in office, right. No better way to determine a plan exit.

Speaker 2 29:36

It's so true, yeah, that can really push you over the edge. But yeah, you've got to use that time up. You know, even if you have you know, unlimited time off or whatever. It's there for a reason.

Speaker 2 29:46

You know the reason why we have those days. You got to recoup, you got to recover. It's super important you take the time, especially if yours, like mine, is not unlimited. Technically, it is accrued. But I have a tons because I don't take a ton of time off. But let me tell you, take it. This week I've just been like man. I need to do this more often. This is great.

Speaker 1 30:04

Yeah, I mean generally, the rule of thumb is like three weeks a year, right, if you're a normal functional environment. Now, if you're lucky and you work for a place that has seniority and tenure, you can get a lot more. Do you realize, clark, if we'd stayed at our original place and they kept PTO, if I was still there right now, I would get basically two months off a year, yep.

Speaker 2 30:27

Man. That policy was wild.

Speaker 1 30:29

It was wild, but it was such a good reward for loyalty and dang I would have loved to have. I mean in all honesty, I would take a huge pay cut to go back to that Two months a year.

Speaker 2 30:43

Yeah, that's impressive. It's awesome. Well, I mean, it speaks to loyalty too. Like you think about who was around us, we had a lot of people who were there for 20 years, 15 years, 10 years.

Speaker 1 30:51

Why wouldn't you? You don't see that?

Speaker 2 30:53

now. No, I'll be honest, like every company that I've been to, after that company, it's very common, like two years, three years, sometimes even less, that people are hopping around. It's rare to find anyone that's been there over five.

Speaker 1 31:06

Yeah, I mean crazy and it makes sense to it. Just, you know there's not a reward for loyalty anymore. Right, vacations like the, the one thing you get outside of your salary and your benefits, like yeah, you can take some time off and how your company respects that is Very telling. That's the other thing I would. One last tip I got Don't tell them what you're doing.

Speaker 1 31:29

If you request time off, do not tell them why it's. Firstly, it's your right to take vacation, right, what you do on vacation is your own private business. But me personally, I take a lot of time. When I take time off it's usually just to kind of chill out at the house, maybe play this place in video games. I wanted to catch up on. There's a new one coming out tomorrow.

Speaker 1 31:46

I honestly thought about taking the day off and I was like I've been sick too much. I won't. I won't abuse the amount of time I've been gone. Don't tell them. And the reason is Different vacations get treated differently. If you're doing some abroad travel or you're going to some little hut in the middle of the mountains, we're gonna stay and do a nature bath for a week, for whatever reason. People respect that more than I'm just taking. I'm taking a few days to land the couch and watch the Simpsons. You know like they will Break the contract with option two before they ever do option one absolutely, and that's not right. All vacation is equal in the eyes of corporate and it should be treated as such, so don't tell them. How do you respond to someone else? What?

Speaker 2 32:31

are you doing for vacation?

Speaker 1 32:32

Tell me oh, I'm just taking some time for me. Uh, it's, it's personal, you know, we might, we might go do some things.

Speaker 2 32:39

I Like that. And then it's even better when you, you know, just wait a while before responding. Most of the time people are gonna figure it out like give it a day, give it two days. Sometimes I did that with for a message someone sent me about the hiring. I just waited two days. I was like I don't need to respond to this. Now I saw it, but like there's no, there's no point, like cool, like I appreciate that they sent that to me, it's good to know. And then I respond to you as later I'm like, hey, you know, it's great news, thanks for sending me that note. But then it also sets the precedent like I'm not gonna answer immediately when I'm on vacation.

Speaker 1 33:09

Yeah, I actually Uninstall apps from my phone like outlook and slack, just get rid of them. I know you can say I do not disturb and all that, but like no, I'm gonna take the app.

Speaker 2 33:20

Turn off notifications, like when you're on vacation, you don't need the stress of like, oh, I saw the same outcome and I gotta like go on and check it. Like this information, I've got to be like one of the first to know. It's like, just don't do it to yourself, It'll be there when you get back. I actually to tell someone on my team that I was like they kept on responding to things when they were out of the office. I was like listen, it's gonna be there, it's gonna be okay. Like no one's gonna take it away from you. And, as a manager and I'm curious in your thoughts, bruce, it's like if my team's doing that, I really want to understand why, like why do you feel the need? Are you missing someone on your team? Do you feel like you know your positions at risk? Like I really want to understand that as your manager, why you can't just get disconnect and take the time off and feel comfortable with it.

Speaker 1 34:02

I don't know if you're the same way.

Speaker 1 34:04

Yeah, no, it's definitely a fear thing. They've either come from a bad culture or they're, you know they might be in a not so great culture, so they feel the need that. Oh, if I let this go unresponded, it's a, it's a negative reflection on me. It's also again why it's so important to do that pre-work with the vacation. Make sure you have those automatic replies set up. Show yourself as out of office on your calendar, do it on Slack too, do it on whatever Platforms allow you to do that, so they know you're not being a bad employee, you're on vacation.

Speaker 2 34:34

Absolutely yeah, because for me, you know, with that, with that employee, I need to go back and tell them like, hey, you know why did you feel like you need to keep responding? I literally had to cut someone off one time a couple years ago. I was like listen, don't reply anything else. If I see you reply to things, I'm gonna put it on your performance review. And I said it like jokingly, but I'll serious this. I was like you need to take the time off. You've been working too hard. Take the time. If you're gonna have an out of office, be out of office.

Speaker 1 35:00

I mean, that, is that on it? In all honesty, I think that's worth putting on the performance review if they didn't do it right like it's bad behavior and what it does is, it creates a culture where their co-workers will see that and think, well, I have to do this too Right, because you know James over there doing this, so I guess I have to be responsive as well. Like you gotta nip that in the bud as soon as it shows its ugly little face, because it can quickly infect the rest of your team.

Speaker 2 35:24

Yeah, absolutely and I think some like corporate strategy hard-o's would be like well, you know you want them to keep working hard, so you go on. I encourage it, but don't shoot it down because you want to keep the ambition up. It's like no, no, no, it has broader implications. Like what you're saying, bruce, it actually hurts the culture more. I 100% agree with that, because then everyone feels like they have to do it and they shouldn't have to. There's a reason. Time off is there. I love that.

Speaker 1 35:47

It's a great job and if the corporate sickos say, oh you, they just won't work hard, they're doing the grind, the hustle, that's the worst possible thing you could do to yourself because you need to recharge. It's mentally good for you, it's physically good for you. There's no reason not to step away from work. I mean it's sad. In America we get like some of the least amount of vacation on the planet. You look at some other countries and how much time they get off and it is disgusting how little we have. This is your chance to recharge, to step away, to like have some mental health improvements, in clarity, to bro, to break that agreement and to do more work. All you're doing is damaging yourself and your performance in three-foot. You're gonna have for the rest of the year.

Speaker 2 36:32

Yep, I agree. I have one last piece before we cut it. How do you handle the following week? You know you're gonna come into emails. You probably don't really remember what's on your calendar for like for me for the Monday. I'm like I don't really remember. You know, do I have a packed day? Do I not have a packed day? I'm not gonna check, but how do I, how do I prep for it? What are your tips?

Speaker 1 36:56

You don't want to hear my number one tip, but I'm gonna give it to you anyway. If my name is not in the two and it's not the first word and in the email, like Dear Bruce, that's not there, I delete the email, really all of them. And here's why because, whatever it is, firstly, if it's not like Trachten, jira or something yeah, emails get lost all the time. But secondly, they will come back to you when they remember it's important and you can say yeah, sorry, I got that on vacation it, you know my. It got caught up in my filter. No big, I'll address it now. Let it come back to you in time when it's appropriate for it too. Don't just go through 700 emails and try to Do them all. All you're gonna do is undo all of the good that happened over the last week, delete them, get rid of them and let's just address to you directly. That'll just cut down the number tremendously.

Speaker 2 37:52

I think that as like when you're coming off like an injury or something like that, like you, don't just jump in like, let's say you like tear your ACL.

Speaker 2 37:59

You don't like jump in and just start doing like 500 pound squats. It's the same thing with work if you jump in and you just tackle everything in the first day you just spent all that energy. You just recouped before the week even started. It's like now you have no balance. Yep, now you're just jumping into the same mess you were before and you're in an education even faster. You're just gonna feel that urge that you need that time off. I think time off is a really good time to reflect on your balance. Like I think before you get back you'd be like man, how is my work life? Like, do I need to step back a little bit? Do I need to?

Speaker 2 38:30

you know, take it easier or work less hours, whatever it is, and then when you come back, remember that and be like okay, what do I need to do, starting today, to set those things up that I I need to for my life to be a little bit happy, a little better? Yeah, and I think that's what you got to do when you get back is be okay, there is just accepted. There's gonna be a ton of emails, there's gonna be a ton of meetings and stuff and you can only do what you're one person, you can only do what you can do to your point. I like the idea like I try to use the getting things done that I kind of Cruise through my email.

Speaker 2 38:59

I archive everything and a folder. So I use like keyboard commands to go through it super fast and I do the same thing you do. I'm like if it's not addressed to me, then I'm archiving it to something else because it's probably not that urgent and I'm like, okay, if it's directly addressed to me, I basically go through. I scrub it first for exactly what you're saying, archive everything that's not addressed to me. I don't even read anything else. Then, after I just narrow everything down to what's actually addressed to me, that's when I go through and actually read it I'm like, okay, what is this thing? Okay, I got it. You know, I'll put it my my working system. Whatever I need to do next, what's the next action? So I try to do that layer by layer. Get rid of the fluff. Then you narrow it down to the things you actually need to pay attention to find whatever the action is. Put it on the to-do list, plan out your week. Life will be good.

Speaker 1 39:40

Yep, don't Try and take a sprint first day back. It's like the work is going to have to get done eventually. Let it get done in its natural course. When someone reminds you about it and says, hey, see that email, it's like no, can you recent that to me? I was on vacation, it got buried. Everyone understands the emails get buried on vacation, so it's not something that you need to stress yourself out about. The work will get done regardless. It always does.

Speaker 2 40:07

Definitely agree with that. Great tips.

Speaker 1 40:10

Yeah, I hope you enjoy your vacation, Clark.

Speaker 2 40:13

It's great. I'm going to come back stronger than ever. Well, I love it. The next episode? I mean even now. Like you're dying, you need a vacation. Me, on the other hand, I'm flying sky high.

Speaker 1 40:25

Yeah, I don't think I'm getting a vacay until about May. I think May is going to be a do, a little anniversary thing.

Speaker 2 40:33

It's not too far.

Speaker 1 40:35

Yeah, it's not too far but it feels, it feels far, it feels pretty far. Uh, we'll get there, it'll, it'll, it'll be good, it's fine. I really don't care, so it doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 40:46

Anyway, I'm good, Are you good? Clark I'm great.

Speaker 1 40:51

Oh great that. Just that just makes my life that you're doing great. So hey, I don't think there. There is no memes, right?

Speaker 2 40:59

They might have been one, yeah, but it was for there was a.

Speaker 1 41:03

there was a meme that was made for Papa Yonk, so we can't.

Speaker 2 41:06

Yeah, we can't do that. I agree, can't do that. No memes, no memes.

Speaker 1 41:10

No memes. That's fine with me. Like I said, I mean either either way. Easy come, easy go, hey Clark. If they wanted to submit a meme, though, how would they do that?

Speaker 2 41:22

There's only one way.

Speaker 1 41:24

There's only one strategy Dot biz.

Speaker 2 41:25

That's our website, but if they wanted to join the discord Okay, oh I was right there for a second the dot BSE. You can do it, Listen. You can join discord in so many ways Show notes, website, newsletter. There's a hundred different ways.

Speaker 1 41:42

If you can't figure it out by now what are you doing?

Speaker 2 41:43

Why are you still listening, especially if you made it this far in the episode and you still have enjoyed the discord. What are you doing? Because if you made it this far, holy cow, you're committed.

Speaker 1 41:53

First time listener who found this episode because of SEO is like man, these guys are cruel. Hey, there might be ads on this episode as well. In fact I think there are, because I accepted them before we started recording. If you want to help us get rid of that, you can actually support the show. It's completely funded by us right now, and by us I mean me Just want to make it a listener funded show. We're not opposed to that.

Speaker 1 42:13

It does cost about $20 a month to run this and we do it out of the goodness of our hearts. But if you want to support us, you can do so by going to the show notes or corporate strategybiz That'sbiz and buying us a coffee through those links Super easy to do. The money goes directly to us and we put it directly back into paying for the show. So if you want to support it, that's how you do that, and if you can't, then it's totally fine. What you could do is share this with your friends If you found the show via search or whatever. Think about how hard it is to find good content these days. Now think about how much easier it would be if you just took the time to share corporate strategy with a loved one.

Speaker 2 42:55

Do you share time off Always? If you have someone that has time off coming up, this is a perfect episode for them. Let them know. Hey, before you go on time off, maybe listen to this episode. Or if you're planning time off and you just love that, share it with your friends. We always share the good content. You can request topics inside of the Discord channel. You can find by going inside the show notes or going to corporatestrategybiz. That's B-I-Z and you can find the link and join, and then you can ask us to talk about anything. Even if you throw out something totally random and ridiculous, we'll probably talk about it.

Speaker 1 43:26

That's so true, and you can do that at corporatestrategybiz. That's dot B-I-Z. It stands for business, which we're in the business of making podcasts. So don't ever forget corporatestrategybiz.

Speaker 2 43:39

Dot B-I-Z. I'm good, I'm done. Are you done? Well, we have a newsletter. Actually, we forgot to talk about that. You did mention it, though. Did I mention the newsletter? You can sign up for the newsletter at corporatestrategybiz and you just enter in your email. And every single time we publish a new episode you will get an email about it and you'll know and you can go in there and it will deep link you right into your podcast provider of choice and you can listen to that episode right away.

Speaker 1 44:07

I love it. I had no idea. I had no idea that you could get to the newsletter by going to corporatestrategybiz. The Biz stands for business. Wow, mind blowing.

Speaker 2 44:18

Can we say we're a business when we make no money?

Speaker 1 44:22

I think many do. I think many do with tax write off, which we should, we should, I should be doing, I should really be doing that. Think of how much money a year I could be writing off of my taxes. Dude, at least a couple dollars, yeah, I mean all the money I dump into this thing that we get none back. That's, that's anyway Lessons learned every, every episode, both for you and for us. Thanks, as always, for being a listener. Thanks for joining us in the discord. If you're in there and if you're not, get in there by going to our website. That's corporatestrategybiz. Join the discord through there and remember, make it a brain dump. I'm Bruce and I'm Clark and you're on mute. We'll see you next week.