Strands of Genius: Free Strategy Tools, Why You Need A Vacation, Ambiverts Are Better Leaders

plus our thoughts on: vacations, soul sabbaticals and taking time off

Apr 27, 2021

WORKING ON | NADA (this is a pre-scheduled email coming to you while we’re on holiday!)

LOOKING AHEAD
Feb 21-April 26: Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
April 26-May 9: Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic
May 9-May 31: Nashville, TN (vaccine trip!)
May 11 @ 12p ET / 4p GMT | Ebiquity Webinar: The Challenge of Attention moderated by Rosie (RSVP)

:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::

By the time this is being fired into your inbox, we’ll have turned on an email auto responder and be exploring the city of Santo Domingo. I’m calling it a Soul Sabbatical. I think I’ll forever be calling vacations that, after my coach Rachel Coady turned me onto the language. (More on that, below! But also, let me use this opportunity to say that I rave about Rachel at least once a week. If you’re considering working with a coach, please email me so I can tell you all about my experience with her. And/or just reach out to her directly.) I’m not being compensated to write that, I just feel so incredibly thankful for her guidance that I want to spread the joy to others.

This week, we’re especially thankful for:

all of the joys that came from our first international trip since the start of the pandemic, the Las Terrenas Brain Trust (Tobin, Anna Marie, Megan, Bogie, Jared, Beals, Lillian, Jason, Lach, Marty, Sean, Leah, the OGs, B&C, Julio), the kitties that we’ll have to say good bye to (this is gonna be hard, y’all), homemade granola bars, Al Pasito, Leffe Blonde, vacation planning, Trip Advisor, and you.

EBIQUITY WEBINAR: The Challenge of Attention

On 11th May 2021, Ebiquity along with research partners Lumen and TVision are publishing a new paper – The Challenge of Attention – in which they set out details of a pioneering new currency of advertising attention: cost per thousand seconds of attention, or aCPM.

The paper will be presented during a webinar session moderated by Rosie. You can register to attend the session below:

The Challenge of Attention – USA launch event 11 May 12:00 PM EDT/ 05:00 PM BST

:: THE LINKS ::

WHY AMBIVERTS ARE BETTER LEADERS

“Some say the internet has a "love affair" with introverts, and that being an introvert is, at long last, cool, particularly during the pandemic. That's likely a reaction to a culture that has long seemed to celebrate and reward extroverts, especially in many Western countries and particularly in the workforce, where they're able to use their natural people skills. Complicating things further, some research has shown that introverts can outshine extroverts as leaders, despite the fact that the confident demeanour of an extrovert fits many people's image of a typical CEO. … So, which is it? Who has more of an edge, and who's more successful at work: bubbly, outgoing workers; or reserved, restrained ones? The answer, it turns out, is those who can be both: the chameleon-like ambivert,” writes Bryan Lefkin for the BBC. Some really great thinking here! (BBC)

**YOU REALLY DO NEED A VACATION**

Vacations help with improved mental health and physical health. Taking a vacation actually lessens heart disease/heart attacks. Your reaction times improve after a vacation, and productivity increases — so it’s a win-win, for employees and employers. Plus, the planning alone can boost happiness. According to Psychology Today, even four nights is enough: “Once upon a time, folks counted down the days to Fridays at 5 when they could spend the next two days enjoying the things in life that were not work-related in the least. How many 2-day weekends free from work-related tasks, thoughts, or worries are you taking these days? If you are on-call or have a Smartphone or tablet or other noose of communication, you probably don’t have “time” to stop the work-related time clock even when you’re off the clock officially. If you can give yourself a full 4-day holiday from work, you’re going to do a fairly good job getting work out of your system.” (Psychology Today)

FREE STRATEGY TOOLS

Our friend Julian Cole who runs Planning Dirty collaborated with folks to put together a long list of free strategy tools. There are more than 50 resources in this long list, and it’s absolutely worth saving, whether you’ve got a big company backing you, or are working on your own. (Julian Cole)

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:: WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT: VACATIONS ::

When we first arrived in the Dominican Republic, I felt overwhelmed. I wanted to spend time on the beach, and in the pool, reading my Kindle, going for beach walks, cooking, and talking to Faris — about something other than work. But it felt like there was just too much to do.

When we left the agency world in 2013, we really focused on building a life we loved. For us, that meant more travels, more exploration, more reading/writing/connecting, and yeah, less time on computers/phones/email. It wasn’t easy to de-program our brains, to fully believe that we were allowed to live life like that.

After 3 years in business, we decided we’d focus on fewer jobs, and go for the higher-paying gigs. It meant saying no to a lot more, but it was ultimately rewarding. It helped us carve out a balanced life.

But oh man, how quickly habits can adjust… In 2020, I fell back into that in-front-of-a-computer life. It was the worst of both worlds: I was in front of my computer as if I had an agency job, but I wasn’t getting all the benefits that you have of working at an agency… you know, a salary/regular paycheck, support/resources, etc. Of course, 2020 was a *slower* year on the work front. We spent more time behind machines, in part, because we were building The School of Stolen Genius — and building something is much more time-intensive than maintaining.

But in 2020, we were also coming from a place of scarcity. We were saying yes more than we were saying no. On top of that, or perhaps in part because of that, Faris and I were struggling to build moments to connect outside of the projects we were doing for work. Work was taking up so much time and space, and I felt guilty for wanting to do less. I remember a session in February on the phone with my coach, Rachel Coady, where there were a whole lot of tears. I was overwhelmed. She said to me:

Rosie, you need a soul sabbatical.

That language really resonated with me. With Rachel, I came up with a plan that would allow me to carve out some more time for myself, and time to spend with Faris that wasn’t based on work, or a to-do list. I had to dole out a lot of “No”s in order to carve out time for kindle reading and beach walks. I felt guilty doing so. But I’m working on that. And that was Soul Sabbatical part one: Saying No to unnecessary Zooms and saying No to “just having a chat.” I also stopped planning calls on Mondays and Fridays. I was able to give my soul a sabbatical without fully turning off.

Faris often talks about the “Protestant Work Ethic” that seems to be instilled in most Americans. But: we are more than our work. We deserve breaks, no matter what our job entails. It’s necessary for mental health, and physical health. Whether you work at a table overlooking a beach, or a desk in a living room, or you’re on site in an office, you still need time to turn off your working mind.

Which brings me to vacations. Creating a balanced life requires more than just a few hours thinking about things other than work. It also means taking vacations, or ‘holiday’ as the Brits say.

Many Americans don’t have paid leave, and choose to prioritize wages, while other countries require time off.

“And the guilt factor is real! More than half of U.S. workers ― 54 percent — reported feeling guilty about taking vacation time either sometimes, often or always, according to a survey of more than 2,000 full-time workers in the United States by TurnKey Vacation Rentals.” via Washington Post

And of course, the pandemic didn’t help. It made taking time off that much harder. It was stressful, dangerous, expensive, and in some cases illegal or impossible to travel. We’ve all been living through this long term trauma and it’s hard to carve out time and space to nourish our souls.

Soul Sabbatical part two, for me, is a proper vacation, where we’ll be turning on an email auto-responder, and turning off our working minds — for consecutive days, no less! We’re going to a new city. We’ve managed to find low-COVID-risk activities, like a walking tour, a food truck tour, outdoor restaurants, a trip to visit the caves, a bike tour. And our rooftop has a pool, so there will be plenty of time to read my Kindle in the water ;)

I still occasionally find it hard to say no. I feel guilty asking someone to follow up with me mid-May when we’re back in the USA. But it’s not rude to take time for yourself, no matter what that looks like. I’m telling you, as a reminder to myself.

I hope you’ll plan a Soul Sabbatical, too. And if you’re looking for an amazing woman to guide you through thinking about that work/life balance, I couldn’t recommend Rachel more.

:: AND NOW… AMERICA IS NOT A ‘VACATION NATION’::

Let us know if you’re looking for inspirational talks, remote workshops, or consulting. We’d love to collaborate.

rockON,
faris & rosie & ashley | your friends over at geniussteals.co

@faris is always tweeting
@rosieyakob hangs out on instagram
@ashley also writes for deaf, tattooed & employed

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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

Strands of Genius