Maximize Your Year: Top Things to Do Before December 31st

Americans left 33% of their PTO time unused in 2020. Were you part of that statistic? Because I think I was. And this year I purposely had to take time off. I had to make sure that it was on there. And I used all of it because since the sickness started, we've normalized overworking and not taking our time off. And I'm here today to tell you, hey, you need to take that time off. Everyone needs to take that time off. That's why it's there. That's why it's called time off, because you need to take it. You might not think you need to take it, but once you're on vacation or you're not having to worry about work, you'll definitely agree with yourself that, hey, I needed a refresher. I needed this. And that's why I'm here to tell you that just if one person takes it one extra day, then I fulfilled my commitment to you, the video watcher. I'm just here to let you know, hey, start. It's the end of 2021 and I bet everyone's scrambling to take whatever days of vacation they can while the rest of their co workers are trying to do the same thing. And right now start thinking about 2021 and what days you can start taking because I bet the higher up high bosses already have their days booked. And you know what that made me start thinking? If they already have their days booked, why shouldn't you the. The normal person? And that, that's what I'm doing right now. Look, look, I'm, I'm at a beach right now in Hawaii, not trying to flex. And you know what I'm doing? I'm booking my days for 2022. I'm booking, I'm booking my vacation days, setting my goals. Why? Because I know that if I book my vacation days now and I have them, I don't even know where I'm going. I just have them booked. If I have them booked, then I can't keep pushing them back because that's what most people do. That's what I did when I didn't have them booked, when I didn't have them set on my planner link in the description for this planner, you can set whatever day you want as the first day. Usually it's Sunday. I like to start my Mondays. That's why I got this one. But I digress. That's why you need to have your vacation days booked. So because you don't keep pushing them back. Let's, let's walk Around. Let's give the all of you pardon if it's windy. I hope my mic's doing a good job. Yeah, you need to book your vacation days because if you don't book them, you're gonna keep pushing them off. Because that's what I did. And that's what most people do. They plan a date and then something in work comes up and they end up not taking their vacation time. What you need to do is set it and then if something comes up, oh, sorry, I'm going on vacation. And that's what most people do. Most higher end people do, they lock in their vacation time and if something comes up, they oh, I'm already taking vacation, I already have plans. But if you put that time in already, then you're committing to yourself to take that time off. If you know that a certain month is going to be super busy for you, then hey, take a vacation before the busy season starts. Because by the end of the busy season you're already tired. You don't want to do anything. But if you take your vacation before then, then you're going to come back refreshed and ready to take on whatever you need to take care of yourself. Man. People it's been proven that since the sickness started, people are working an hour more a day. They've normalized, overworking. That work life balance for most people isn't even there anymore. They work from home. First thing they do is check their emails. By checking your emails first thing in the morning, you're not thinking about anything else. You're not thinking about your kids, you're not thinking about what you're going to eat. You're having to fix problems. So step away from that. Just make sure you take time for yourself because nowadays work is getting harder. Everyone's struggling. No one's taking their vacation time. The work life balance there is none. Since most people are having to work from home, which is good, you're getting to spend more time with your kids, but at the same time you're having to have more meetings that aren't productive. People are just having meetings for meetings sake just to see each other. The time for meetings has gone down, but the number of meetings have gone up, which I don't know what people want to talk about in meetings. Maybe they feel that having more meetings is being more productive. But hey, you got to take care of yourself. Set some time for yourself. Make sure you book time just to take a breather because everyone is getting overworked and putting in those extra hours. Yeah, that's good. You might get recognized, but sooner or later you're gonna end up getting burnt out. And that's what I don't want for you and that's what no one wants to see, you get burnt out. So take time for yourself. Start thinking about that right now, before, even before 2022 starts or whatever, whatever time it is, whatever year it is, just take time for yourself. Book it right now, start looking at what trips you want to do, where you want to go, and start putting those $20, $50, whatever it is aside. Let's reside and just commit to yourself to having that time off because no one else is going to tell you that you need to take that time off other than yourself. You know your body and you know when you need to take that time off. Normalize, overworking, yes, but at the same time you need to normalize taking your vacation time and taking those dates. I know some people that have set a goal for themselves to every month have a three day weekend somewhere in that month and every quarter just try and take a longer weekend. And hey, I understand if you can't do that because you don't have all that PTO time. But just look at your calendar, look and see what days are already three day weekends and what Friday you can take off to have a four day weekend or what time of the year is hard for you. And just try and set that time aside now and lock that in. So, so if something comes up you already know, hey, I already have this time for myself and you can look forward to that. I don't want you overworked and neither do you want yourself to be overworked. So that's why I'm here right now, taking some time off, taking a breather, just relaxing, doing nothing. And that's what you should be doing too if you want to go to Hawaii. Hey look, look at flights probably right now, before summer comes. Flights. Flights will be cheaper than summer. Everyone wants to come in summer. But hey, why not just try and come during, not peak season or hey, why not take a shorter trip just in town or right outside of town. I just want you to take care of yourself. I don't want to ramble on. But at the same time start looking and seeing what dates you can take off at the beginning of the year or right before the busy season. Because once the busy season starts for whatever career you have, you're not going to be thinking about vacation. So if you start thinking about it now and have it set in the books, it's more of a likelihood that it's going to happen. Writing it down and putting it in there for yourself. Do it for yourself and for your kids and everyone's going to be happy. No one's going to be burnt out. So that's all I wanted to say. Hopefully I got my $0.02 across. Look at your 2022 calendar. Get yourself a calendar. Put your vacation dates in there and take them. Stop letting those vacation dates go to waste because no one, yes, you might get your money back for it, but that heartache and stress that you had to go through is definitely not worth it. The three day weekend sometimes, hey, that's what you might need to feel refreshed and keep going in your day job. This sickness has definitely stressed all of us out and I'm just here to tell you to take your vacation time, take care of yourself and keep on going. That's all I have to say for now. So peace. Hit that like if you got anything out of it. Take your vacation time, book it now and have a good one. From Hawaii, Luis.