Taking a break may seem counterintuitive if you’re building your career. But, as business development professional Fahim Imam-Sadeque explains, holidays are excellent for career advancement.
When you skip holidays, you may see a boost in productivity over the short term. However, in the long term, you’re likely to feel burnt out, become less productive and feel more stressed. Ultimately, this leads to a collapse in your happiness, which could lead to the downfall of your career rather than a boost in it.
Here are some reasons why holidays are good for your career.
Inspiration
Holidays aren’t just good for letting you get a proverbial breath of fresh air. They often inspire you to try something new, take a new approach to an old situation and see things from a new perspective.
Getting away from the office to new surroundings for an extended period reinvigorates the soul. When you return to the office, you may do so inspired to create. You’ll often approach situations with a clear mind and take inspiration from what you experienced while on holiday.
Stress Reliever
When you take a holiday, you’ll likely travel to a place that makes you feel relaxed. You’ll likely participate in activities that provide pure joy, and you’ll probably be spending extended time with family and friends.
It’s no surprise that people sleep better when they are on holiday. They may not even require as many hours of sleep to feel more rested and rejuvenated than they do while at home on their routine.
All of this leads to a lot of stress and anxiety relief, which will have enormous health benefits in the short and long term.
Brain Break
Your brain needs a break as much as you do. When you’re constantly working without a long break, you’re likely to not be as productive as you can be. You’re not as likely to be creative or solve problems as effectively as you could be when your brain is well-rested.
Holidays give your brain a break that it needs. Studies have proven that travel helps to stimulate activity in the brain and strengthen neural connections. This improves your overall health and quality of life and results in more productivity when you return to the office.
Improves Connections
As hard as we all may try, there’s simply no way to completely separate life inside the office from life outside it. If you’re having trouble away from the office, it’s likely to spill over into the office — and vice versa.
Taking holidays allows you to spend quality time with your loved ones — time you may not be able to get consistently when you’re not on holiday. This strengthens your connections to the most important people in your life, ultimately making you happier.
Then, as you return to the office, you’ll likely return happier and in a better mindset than when you left.
New Perspectives
It can be challenging to think differently when all we do is work, work, work. But, as Fahim Imam-Sadeque says, finding a different perspective is key to career advancement — and holidays provide you with the opportunity to get a different perspective.
When you travel, you experience first-hand how people in different locations do things. Something as simple as how they approach having breakfast or doing everyday tasks may spark an idea of how you can improve things in your own life.
These different perspectives you get while travelling can serve you well when you’re back home.
About Fahim Imam-Sadeque
Fahim Imam-Sadeque is a business development professional with proven experience in the asset management industry. He has a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science from the City University of London and is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries. Fahim’s top skills include asset management, hedge funds, investment management, sales, and consultant & client relationship management.
