Wednesday, May 19, 2010

stay in the loop while you're out and about....

One might argue that the point of going on vacation is to unplug- literally. Unplug from your computers and modems, your phones and tvs and appliances. To completely get away from the rat race of our daily lives, and this is all true. I completely agree… with one little caveat.

We can only unplug for so long before our jobs and lives demand we return, or else. Most of us cannot go away for months on end and expect our jobs to be there waiting for us when we return. So what if by plugging-IN while on vacation, just a little, we could then stay on vacation twice as long??? If by using the convenience of the very technology we are trying to escape, we can do just enough work to keep our lives and jobs moving along, short vacations can become indefinite hiatuses.

I gave this a lot of thought while on vacation in the Abacos a few years ago. Cerulean was a fledgling little business that needed me, I was sure. How could it go on for 10 days while I was away? I found people I relied on and left it in good hands, and I was home before anything disastrous could happen.

But if I had been on email for a certain period of time every day of that vacation, those 10 days could easily have become a month without major affects to my livelihood. Think about the possibilities! While we go on vacation to escape the overload of technology in our lives, the RIGHT use of technology can send us on a semi-permanent vacation! It’s ironic that bringing work on vacation can in essence extend that vacation, but it’s a thrilling concept, none the less.

As someone who’s REAL life’s ambition is to travel, maybe live somewhere exotic one day, this is a thrilling idea. Without completely cutting off my life, my job or my livelihood, I can hit the road! I can be checking emails in a marketplace in Marrakech, or emailing customers about the fit of a particular shoe from a beach in Bora Bora, or talking on the phone with designers about next season’s collection from Costa Rica. Work goes on and I’m not missing a thing, but Im also able to experience great adventures and other cultures at the same time! All of this is now possible with our phones and the widespread availability of wireless internet, which wasn’t possible just a short number of years ago.

Grace Bonney, founder of style and interiors blog Design*Sponge, recently contributed a guest post on a tech blog about this very thing. We have been obsessed with her inspiring blog for ages and her ideas about using technology to allow you to leave the office, not be chained to it, was right in line with my way of thinking. Check out all the different Apps she uses to stay in the loop while she’s out and about.

You can check out her blog, Design*Sponge, by clicking here, and her tech post by clicking here.

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