The crescendo of rushing air and spinning turbines rises as the jet engines wind up. Faster. Louder. The plane seems to tense a little, almost brace itself like a sprinter before launching, for the release of thrust and its short land-bound journey before it would leap skyward. I settle a little further in my seat, so wide and comfortable, awaiting the moment the pilots release the brakes and the plane leaps forward. I like that feeling, being thrust backwards in the seat; Speed always hits the spot with me.
I can hear others talking in the cabin, not loudly, but incessantly...Businessmen, vacationers and the like, just a low murmur of unintelligible words. A glance forward affords me a glimpse of one of the cabin-crew, strapped in her seat for take-off; A rather attractive girl who could be 45 or 25...You know the type. Ageless and very attractive. She has the most lovely eyes, clear blue ones, sort of Nordic, and I find myself a little lost in them. She smiles at me and I offer what I hope is a return-smile that makes her heart flutter [just a little bit]...But in actuality is probably just an idiot-looking grin. I can't help it, I am what I am. [Sigh] src
Somehow I manage to look away from the blue-eyed cabin-crew-hottie and realise I missed half of the take-off...Damn that woman and her perfect eyes! I look over to another hottie sitting beside me, my wife, and smile...idiot-grin again, pleased to see one of those smiles that touches her eyes in return...I call it her pirate-smile. All most thoughts of the cabin-crew-hottie fade away and I think to myself about how blessed I am to have such a lovely wife and the ability to wing-away on vacations with her. Hell knows how I snagged her but thankfully I did.
The A380 ascends into the wild-blue and as it does my cares fall away - "For every action there is an equal and opposite re-action" - A smart dude said that once, one Isaac Newton I believe. It's true. Going on vacation releases all stress, concern and worry, for me at least, and as we topped out above the clouds I was well-and-truly on vacation.
Full disclosure: None of this happened, yet, at least. It's only Tuesday and we don't fly until Sunday however I think you get my point - Going on vacation is a great stress-reliever for Faith and I and we really need this vacation.
My work-week leading up to a vacation is always quite hectic. I'm not sure if this is the same for everyone but certainly for me there's plenty to do, arrangements to be made, clients to speak with and my role to hand over. I make my income by salary, a set annual income, augmented by bonus, or commissions, based on performance so not being at work for a few weeks can have an impact on my end-of-year result, and earnings. This makes the decisions I make prior to leaving for a period of time quite important.
I'll be honest, I'm pretty organised so I have everything well in-hand so far; A fact, not a boast. But I still feel some apprehension in leaving my business to someone else. I've engaged the services of one of the other managers who, whilst he does not do what I do, has more of an idea than anyone else. We've briefed and I feel confident that he will rock it...But yeah, letting go can be difficult.
I'm better at it now, letting my business pass to another, as I've removed the pursuit of perfection ethos I have been plagued with in years past. It was a little confronting, coming to the understanding that that ethos was holding me back, but these days it's gone; I seek only to be the best version of myself that I can be, as often as possible. It allows for mistakes and failures - And I make plenty. That's why I'm so successful.
I take my job seriously, after all it's the vehicle that provides for my lifestyle and will ultimately furnish it when I decide to stop working altogether. I wouldn't say I live for it because I don't - I live for life and if I could never work again there's about 37 billion gazillion trillion things I would rather be doing than work...But whilst I work I seek to be the best version of myself; It's an ethos I try to instil in those around me, my team, friends and people I mentor. I believe it to be the path to greatness, personal greatness, which is something I wrote about in my last post.
So, I've got three more days of this working week, plus the rest of today, and have a to-do-list of about a dozen things which all have sub-items to take care of. The thing is that I've got it all strategised and whilst no plan ever survives contact with the enemy I'll deploy it and by 5pm 2pm Friday afternoon when I put my auto-out-of-office email reply on and divert my phone to the poor sucker champ who is baby-sitting my role I'll be on easy-street. That's the plan.
Now...About that cabin-crew-hottie with the blue eyes...
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default