Celebrate Your Daily Wins: How to Take a Vacation Every Day

There are ten official holidays celebrated in the United States every year.   Some countries have as many as 12 (maybe I should move).  Why do we have holidays?  They are a celebration.  Everyone loves a good party, right?

Sometimes we just need a break from the daily grind.  Most would agree that time off from work is a healthy thing.  If you are looking for commentary on loving what you do, see You Do You: How to Spend Time Doing What You Love.  This is not about enjoying your work.  Even enjoyable work should be suspended at a certain point.  It gives the brain and body time to refresh.  

Just like getting an adequate amount of sleep is important for the body to  function at its best, an adequate amount of time away from your work will enable your mind to function at its best when actually doing said work.  

With technology these days (in many cases forced by COVID-19) we are able to be productive without being in an office setting.  This is great.  I have spoken with many people who have been able to travel (hopefully safely) during this time more than they normally do.  I also know professionals who travel the world while working hard.  This freedom enables us to be “on holiday” even during a normal work week.  

I fear that even with some new found freedom, “workaholicism” will still be an issue for many (especially entrepreneurs).  But, there is good evidence of "Why you (and your manager) shouldn’t be afraid of remote work".  I don’t know about you, but sifting through e-mails at a beautiful Caribbean beach is better than sifting through e-mails in the office.  Yet, if I’m at the beach, I’d much rather be in the water or spending time with friends and family.

It’s likely that as “working from anywhere” becomes more common, we will still need good time off.  A web conference in your pajamas, from your bedroom, does not replace vacation.  In fact, for some it may be distracting and make you less productive (which leads to less time for vacation).   

Instead of replacing off-time with working from home, consider another concept that will enable you to recharge more frequently; even daily.  Bruce Lee once said (He said a lot), “Celebrate your daily wins”.  I think this an amazing tool.  It’s so simple!  And that is part of the reason why it is amazing. 

If you think about some of the greatest inventions and practices in our world, you’ll realize that they are designed to make things simple.  The effort to production ratio says a lot about something.  The more you can get accomplished with less work, the better.

I can’t imagine having to handwrite this article, or even have it printed and distributed.  All I have to do is reach into deep pit of knowledge (actually, many would argue it’s rather shallow, which would make it even easier, right!?) and type (or recite…even easier) out my thoughts.  Then, I make a few clicks and send out to the world.  It’s kind of dangerous, actually.  

The point is that so much can get done without much extra effort.  I can spend the most time and concentrating on the message I desire to share and not ancillary tasks.

Bruce really made it easy for us to recharge and have “mini-vacations” for our brain.  If you think about it, you have time-off every day.  No one works for 24 hours a day (average hours employed people spent working on days worked by day of week) and most are not working every moment they are awake, and as mentioned before, that is not the most efficient way to operate.  

Schedule a time during your day to celebrate your wins.  Take the time to acknowledge what was accomplished.  You have ideas, thoughts, passions, and responsibilities.  You have a role.  Somewhere in your day, you completed something.  Chances are, you did a lot of things.  You’re just in a routine that makes some things seem like just that, “routine”.  When in actuality, they are just routine to you, but most would not be able to do them like you.  

For example, have you ever had an electrician come to your house?  I am very open about my lack of handy skills.  When my wife and I were moving into our first home, we needed an electrician.  We had moved into a townhome that needed some work.  And by some, I mean a major renovation was required.  

The electrician was needed because we had two dishwashers.  You might think this means we had the fanciest townhome you’ve ever seen with two kitchens.  This was certainly not the case.  We had two dishwashers because the sellers had broken their old dishwasher (from the 70s) and the new one they had could not be plugged in to the type of outlet that was there.  Can we just have one outlet for everything?

We had spent some time cleaning up the kitchen and organizing things how we liked before switching out the dishwashers (the new one was conveniently left on the front porch and honestly, it looked like it should also have been thrown out.  

When we brought the new dishwasher inside and noticed that it couldn’t be plugged in we made few phone calls to find and electrician.  I had no plans on messing with electric.  

We were able to schedule a time for the next day with a recommended person.  He came over with a big van and the most elaborate tool belt I have ever seen.  Looking back, it was the belt that sold me.  This guy meant business.  I think he could have rewired my whole house without going back out to the van.  

I’m not sure, but I think the way we described our problem to him made it seem like it was nearly insurmountable.  I said something to the effect of, “Hey man, uh, we just moved into our dream home.  We have two dishwashers.  Two plugs.  A big kitchen.  And we need a custom installation for one of our stainless steel units because the proper electrical outlet is not located adjacent to the space where our new state-of-the-art dishwasher should make its home”.  

When scheduling, he suggested we have a four window available.  He probably thought he had a big project on his hands.  

Upon arrival we brought him into the kitchen (which wasn’t big enough for him, me, my wife, and the tool belt all to fit in at once).  I showed him the dishwasher and the outlet and said;

“Can you fix that?”

“Uh, sir, it’s not broken.”

“I want clean dishes.  The process is broken, man.”

“$60.”

“Sold!”

I was so excited.  I figured I had a steal of a deal.  In four hours I could give up hand washing dishes for good!  

So my man got to work…and I went into the living room.  Less than ten minutes later (I didn’t even get a chance to unpack anything), he calls me back to the kitchen.  I was thinking, “oh, great we need flux-capacitor or some other electrical part”.  

He said, “All set”, and showed me the lit up dishwasher (man was it beautiful!).  

I was shocked.  It took ten minutes.  It takes me longer to shower.  In fact, I don’t think my wife even knew he left.  

I paid him and he marched out of our new home like it was just another outlet from the 70’s that he took down with ease.  What a guy!

This was great news for a young couple with a new home.  But wait, there’s plumbing for a dishwasher!?  Story for another time.

I’m sure that our electrician had done hundreds if not thousands of those type of calls.  It was clearly routine.  What a deal!  $60 for ten minutes…that’s $360/hour.  Pretty good deal.  

I wonder, though, if he felt like that was a win (not the money necessarily, but a satisfied customer).  He probably worked on those type of things everyday.  Maybe not in the moment, but he could take time at the end of the day and acknowledge all of the good work that he did.  How many people’s lives did he make better over the years?  

Take some time to think about the tasks that you accomplish everyday that you see as simple.  These are great things.  You should celebrate them.

Bruce Lee had some amazing accomplishments in his life.  He’s definitely on the list of people that has enough major accomplishments that celebrating the small things could seem worthless.  However, for him, this was not the case at all.  He knew that it was healthy to practice this.  Perhaps a more traditional, extended vacation was not as possible at certain times due to his discipline, schedule, and celebrity.  One could argue that people in his position need to celebrate the daily wins the most.

I often find myself piling up new ideas, visions, and ultimately tasks.  If you’re a visionary, you know what I mean.  You can think of ideas all day long.  You could open ten businesses tomorrow.  You could solve ten problems the next day.  In ten years, you’re going to have to look back and count the ways the world is better because of all your ideas.  In reality, you should read Rocket Fuel. 

The more ideas you come up with, the more things that have to get done to make your visions a reality.  I’ve noticed that I don’t actually enjoy many of the tasks (like handwriting this blog).  Is it because I am creative or just bored of the current tasks?  I like to think it’s a combination of both.  But either way, there is a lack of satisfaction from my present actions.  I’m searching for another problem to solve because solving the old problem has gone stale.  This does not have to be the case.

I am committed to celebrating my daily wins.  I will take the time to look back on my days and acknowledge what was accomplished.  My night “envision” reminder (another great tool to discuss at a later date) will now have a partner, “celebration”. 

I know you can find great joy in what you have done.  Your success from one day will compound and make the days ahead successful.  Join me in a daily activity.  

Celebrate your wins.