Vacation Mind Set

As we draw towards the end of the month of May, many a thought is given to the summer vacation plans. I doubt you will talk to many people who couldn’t provide you quite a bit of detail about where they are taking their vacation this year and how they will spend their time and money. Vacations mean a great deal too many folks and are highly thought of…..they are often looked forward to with great anticipation and excitement. Yet, this vacation season, many are concerned about the price of gas and how that will impact their travel plans. Many are forced to readjust their plans…..

Two thoughts come to my mind: 1) wouldn’t it be neat if we could get that excited about our work? and, 2) MDC as an Organization is no different in terms of being affected by everyday economics, including higher fuel prices.

While I do believe there are folks working for us that are excited about their work and actively engaged, it’s not very often that I see it to the same level as a personal vacation. Yet, we spend more of our lifetime in the work place than most other places, so why not make every effort to make it a pleasurable place to be? If we would give as much thought and preparation to our work detail as we do to planning our vacation, I think you would find many improvements in the work place. While vacationing, we maximize every minute of our time to ensure we get the things done we had planned. We also budget our money to ensure we can accomplish all of the things we want to do while vacationing. We are tenacious about ensuring vacation success.
Give some thought as to what makes vacation time fun and think about ways to bring that level of excitement to the work place….. Can you imagine how much different work would be? I would offer that in some case it would be a marked improvement. Not only would those around you sense your excitement but eventually they too would begin to “catch the fever” and perhaps you could change their work perspective too. Productivity would increase, efficiencies would be realized and our excitement would be obvious.

I believe that vacation is similar to your first day on the job. Remember that first day of work?....the “excited nervousness” you felt…recall how you wanted to make a positive impression….you arrived early and stayed late….you were focused, committed, driven. Not unlike many are for their vacations……

The other relationship to this year’s vacation is financial. It seems everything is going up in price, not just gas prices. Those same rising costs to you and your family are also hitting our Agency hard. The goods and services we purchase to perform Conservation work is more expensive also. The fact is that income/revenue has tightened; we must be better planners….quite similar to getting the most out of our dollar while on vacation. Look for opportunities to get costing advantages, stretch our dollar so we can do more with less. Why should Agency money be any different than your money? Be smart with it, find the best prices, evaluate whether the item is a must have or a desired one….use the same thought process that you do with your personal bank account…and in most cases, the decision will be a good one.

As we go our separate ways for our vacations this year, please be safe, enjoy the time you have with the ones you care most about.... and if you have the opportunity give some thought as to what makes your vacation fun and see if there isn’t a way to bring that energy and good decision making back to the work place upon your return.