Today is the “big day” my kids have been waiting for…THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!
Do you remember the last day of school? Do you remember the feeling? The freedom. The excitement. The fun you knew summer would bring.
When we get into the “real world,” though, for most of us summer is just like any other time of the year. There is no “last day of work” each year to look forward to. There’s no climax point that we look forward to - except for a vacation maybe.
But, maybe the “out of school” mindset can offer some benefits to your business and your life at any time during the year.
- Shoes Off - One of the best things about getting out of school was not having to follow any rules about what to wear - especially shoes! Both of my boys must be warm-blooded. If they could, they’d wear flip flops EVERY DAY, ALL YEAR! Summer gives them that option. There’s something about the freedom of being shoeless. What is it in your life or work that’s restricting you today? Big or small. Do something about it - take the “shoes off” (at least for a little while)!
- Explore - Our neighborhood backs up to some woods and a creek. Starting tomorrow, if we ever need to find our boys, we know exactly where to start…it’ll likely be within 10 feet of that creek! They will spend hours upon hours every single day down there: building forts, searching for frogs, fishing, discovering all kinds of new things! We should do the same - try a new activity, visit a place (near or far away) you’ve never been, dig deeper into something you’re interested in. “Exploring” ought to be something we do as often as possible! You can’t grow if you never do anything new.
- Get Dirty - I’ll pull the analogy of our boys a little further…picture what those two look like after spending a barefooted day at the creek! They are NASTY! Dirty, smelly, poison ivy-infected little monsters! But, they loved every minute of it. Time slips by without any idea because they are having so much fun. “Getting dirty” allows you the freedom of not worrying about the mess. Sometimes we just have to DO and not be afraid of the dirt - it’ll be a lot more fun!
(As a side note, there’s also the high school “out of school” mentality - which may or may not be a good idea for you…sleep all day and do nothing! That’s what our teenage daughter will be doing! Maybe you need a little of that, too! That’s okay; we all to relax sometimes.)