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I mentioned in my last post that I was going on vacation. I’ve been talking about it for weeks, actually, but this time I finally did it.

It’s kind of silly: I know myself well enough to know that my favorite way of working is to do an insane all-out fiesta of madness for a couple of weeks, then take a week off. I learned in graduate school that the week off part is absolutely essential. I can do insane amounts of work and really kick ass… but I need time off afterward. If I don’t, I just drag along, exhausted and apathetic, and can’t make myself do anything.

I know this. But did I listen to myself? No.

It’s been a wild few months, overcoming fear after fear, culminating in working with Karol and Baker on the Only72 Rock Your Life Sale in June. Not only did that represent the utter obliteration of my fears of people in general, people who are more successful than me, huge ideas, and group projects where you depend on other people to do their part… it also represented tons of work, including two weeks of working 40+ hours on that project, while working against a deadline at my regular job and handling a stressful end-game on selling my house.

When it was over, I definitely needed a vacation. That was crystal clear. But I didn’t have enough vacation time to even take off more than a day or two during the sale, let alone anything after.

Even as the job ended, I had the time but was afraid to step away from my work. I’m on my own now–how could I afford to be off spending money on a cabin in the woods and not getting anything done, when I have 38 items on my to-do list, and some of those are secretly hiding numerous sub-items? (ex. “catch up on email” really meant “reply to backlog of 44 messages in priority inbox”)

Luckily, I have some really good friends who pretty much insisted that I take some time off. I can ignore myself, I can even ignore good advice from one or two people, but when my dad, Jonathan Mead, Lach Cotter, and Jenny Blake all gave me the same message within a few days, I decided I better listen. I got a cabin in the woods and headed out.

It was definitely the right decision. I slept 10 hours a night plus naps, I read five books, I played my cigar box guitar, I contemplated, I walked in the woods, I stared into space. It was exactly what I needed.

If anyone else out there is feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or just plain tired, don’t do like I did and wait until you’re so fried you can’t function. Take a few days off. Do whatever you find most relaxing. No matter how much you love what you’re doing or how important it is, you will need a break from it sometimes.

And above all, listen to yourself! What’s the point of giving yourself great advice if you don’t take it?

My time off restored me. As an added bonus, when I came back from vacation all refreshed and ready to take on the world… I found your overwhelming response to my last post.

Update on my project on overcoming fear

As you know, I wasn’t sure whether to work on this project. I just didn’t know whether there would be enough people interested in overcoming their fears to justify it. I didn’t want to throw myself into building something nobody wanted, so I made an interest list to see. If enough people signed up, I’d make the free guide.

Enough interest? You guys have totally blown me away!

Your comments, your stories, and your dreams have touched my heart. And your stampede to the sign-up list has definitely shown me I need to make this NOW! so we can start changing the world together. This is going to be big.

I can’t wait to see what happens next. I’m going to create the free guide to what’s holding you back. If you’re on the list, you’ll get it on Monday. I’m so psyched!

Last Call

I know not everyone is interested in this topic, so I don’t want to overwhelm those who aren’t with information they don’t want or need.

Starting tomorrow, only people on the interest list will get insider information about overcoming fear, not to mention the free guide.

If you want the guide that’s coming out on Monday, and all the good stuff I’ve got coming your way, I recommend joining the interest list now:

What’s holding you back? Sign up if you want a free guide.

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Thank you for all of your support. This is going to be amazing!