Hi! I'm Marie
You have gifts to share with the world and my job is to help you get them out there.
Read MoreHeading
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Button TextNote from Marie: Thank you for your overwhelming support of our new Unplugged series. I’m resurfacing this episode as we head into our annual company summer holiday.
I read an eye-opening article in Time. It was about the disappearing American vacation and how, as a nation, we’re taking less time off and feeling more exhausted and stressed than ever.
The piece talked about the devastating impact chronic overwork has on productivity, health and happiness. Some research links overwork to depression, heavy drinking and cardiovascular problems. No surprise there, right?
But it can also be deadly for your bottom line. When you’re chronically exhausted, you make poor judgment calls and are far more likely to make mistakes.
No matter where you live in the world, many of us can relate to feeling overstretched. It’s as though we’re busting at the seams with the non-stop demands of modern life.
This is the last MarieTV post you’ll get from me until September 5th. We’re closing down our company for our annual summer holiday so that everyone on Team Forleo can have meaningful time with those they love.
Because a healthy, happy team makes for a healthy, happy company. We’ve done this close-down-the-whole-shop-for-two-weeks thing and it’s always a game changer. Everyone on our team (myself included) comes back refreshed and bursting with energy and inspiration.
From a health perspective, the research agrees. A yearly holiday can reduce the risk of heart attack by 30% in men and a whopping 50% in women.
Yes, I’m fully aware that taking any time off is an incredible luxury given the economic challenges millions face. It’s something I do not take lightly or take for granted.
But if we want anything to change — within our lives, our businesses or our culture — we must take action and lead the way.
listen to this episode on the marie forleo podcast
Subscribe to The Marie Forleo Podcast
View Transcript
Oh, it's about to get bigger.
Oh my lord.
This is my, I'm passionate look. So passionate about MarieTV. I can feel it in my hair.
Hey, it's Marie Forleo, and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business and life you love. Last year, I had a life-changing carb craving. Specifically, I wanted a croissant, and my first thought, I should walk around the corner to that cute little French bakery that I've been always meaning to try. It's one of those places that you probably have in your neighborhood, where you walk by a million times, but for whatever reason, you never go in. So I walk over, and as I'm getting up to the door, I notice this little white piece of paper on the glass door, and it says this: "Closed due to vacation." Now, typically when I go to a store and it's closed, I'm usually like, wah, wah, but this time, I was actually like, "OMG, closed due to vacation? It's a revelation. This is a party!"
There was no disappointment. In fact, it was super inspiring to me that someone could close down their entire business for an extended period of time just for vacation. So nobody died, they weren't going out of business, it wasn't a renovation. Nope. They just wanted to take time off. So I got so excited by this idea that I forgot I even wanted a croissant. I ran home, called up my team and I told them, "We are closing down at the end of the year for two whole weeks." And we did it then, and guess what? We're doing it again right now, we're closing down for the next two weeks.
Now you got to get, this was a pretty big move for me. Doing stuff nonstop is pretty much in my DNA. I mean, I've been working consistently since I was 10 years old. Yes, I've taken vacations, but this idea of completely closing down your entire company for an extended period of time, that was pretty radical, at least for me. I mean, I know they do that kind of stuff in Europe, but I've never really seen it done here.
And in this digital age, and since I run a digital company, I feel like there's this ever-growing pressure to always be on, and always be responding, and always be engaging, and always be creating something new. But the truth is, from my point of view, this always on, always pushing, always going, it's really a sickness, and over time, it can destroy you. It can destroy your health, and your creativity, and your relationships, and everything. And I mean, when it comes to your team, it can burn them out and take them completely out. And the more experience I have in this world, the more I see that personally, my soul craves downtime, it craves play time, it craves time completely just off the grid.
Now, if you're like me and you're super passionate about what you do, even just the thought of taking significant time off can feel scary. I mean, after all, let's say you take yourself off the grid and all of a sudden, everybody forgets about you, or you miss out on some huge opportunity, or goodness gracious, your competitors get ahead! No! But here's what I learned when we shut our whole company down for two weeks last year. It was the best thing we've ever done. Everybody, including myself, came back so refreshed and rejuvenated, and the entire team came back with new ideas to take the company to the next level.
And I came back with a piñata, and this really handsome sombrero.
Which we are totally making a product around. I mean, create a sombrero and a piñata you love.
I'm telling you all of this, because I want you to remember two important things: first up, great things happen when you unplug from technology and you plug into your real life. Now, as much as I love technology and I really do love it, I have learned it is vital to take time to just let yourself be. Because if you're constantly listening to the noise of the world, it's impossible to hear the whispers of your soul. What's that? My soul just told me that's a tweetable.
Now, if you're thinking to yourself, "This sounds great, Marie, but I can't take two weeks off right now, or I can't take a whole week off," that's completely fine. But ask yourself, can you take 48 hours off, or maybe just one day? And number two, the whole point of this episode is this: you get to write the rules in your business and your life. Question everything that you think you have to do, really challenge those assumptions. Do you have to be on Twitter, especially if you don't like it? Do you have to work on Mondays? Do you even have to wear underwear?
Do you have to wear pants?
That's it, [inaudible 00:04:58]. Olé!
But seriously, do not undercut your ability to craft a business and a life that you truly love. So now, I would love to hear from you. What's one thing you wish you can do in your business that you think you can't do, and what would happen if you truly challenge that assumption? As always, the best discussions happen after the episode, over at marieforleo.com, so go there and leave a comment now.
Did you like this video? One of my favorites. If you liked it, please subscribe to our channel, and of course, we would be appreciative if you shared this with your friends. And if you want even more awesome resources to create a business and life that you love, plus some personal insights from me that I only talk about in email, come on over to marieforleo.com, and sign up for email updates.
Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams ,because the world needs that special gift that only you have. Thank you so much for watching, and I'll catch you next time on MarieTV.
Ready to find your voice and sell with heart? We'll show you how. Get started now with our free writing class at thecopycure.com.
Side effects include enlarged profits.
It is a spirit that's coming through me. It just wants to be expressed. [inaudible 00:06:17] I can't really move my arms. I can't move much, but I will party with my face.
Bacon.
As promised, here’s the the Harvard Business Review article about the power of making time off predictable — and required.
Consistently challenging your own assumptions is vital if you want to do your best work and enjoy life along the way. Truthfully, most of us are so busy doing what we think we have to do that we rarely stop and ask, “Is this really what I want to do?”
This week, I’d love to know:
What’s one thing you wish you could do (or stop doing) that you don’t think is possible? What would happen if you challenged that assumption and allowed yourself to re-write your own rules?
Do your best to share as much detail as you can because thousands of incredible souls come here each week for insight and inspiration. Your story may be just what someone else needs to have a breakthrough.
Important: please share your thoughts and ideas directly in the comments. Links to other posts, videos, etc. may be deleted as they can come across as spammy.
Thank you so much for watching, commenting and continuing to make this community a powerful source of positivity and kindness.
One last thing: our next new episode of MarieTV will air September 5th.
If you’d like to stay in touch in the meantime, follow me on Instagram — I really enjoy posting personal photos, Insta stories and videos there.
With all my love,
XO
View Comments
