Non Voyage

A Namely internal study found that high performers take on average 19 days of PTO a year.

Bob prides himself to be a truly great soldier of industry. He is first to log on and last to wrap up every day (most weekends included) and eats almost every meal at his desk. He completes all his projects on time at all costs. He hasn’t taken a full day off in over a year and really feels he is a lock for promotion this coming year. With all that time spent, how could he not be?

According to U.S. Travel Association, Oxford Economics and Ipsos, Americans allow an average of 768 million vacation days to expire each year. The study also revealed 55 percent of today’s workers leave hard-earned vacation on the table. Here are three reasons why they and Bob are on the right track:

A greater ability to focus: It’s amazing how much choosing work over alternative pastimes simplifies your life. You become a master of your routine, arriving at work having already planned your entire day without having noticed a tree, your cat, or kids. What’s more, as days and months pass and you experience more anger, anxiety, and depression, fewer and fewer people will call on you to be part of their lives. Marriages, friendships, and recreation are pesky intrusions with which you may no longer need to trifle.

A University of North Carolina study shows that marriages among workaholics have a divorce rate twice as high as they otherwise would.

You won’t have as high expectations to live up to: And ironically as the complexities of your life dwindle, and you’re able to spend more time working, you’ll become famous for being disorganized, short-sighted, unable to delegate, sleep deprived, and missing appointments and other obligations. As people demand less and less, you will certainly find the added time and focus you’ll need to perform at a higher level.
You’ll walk around high as a kite, and people will applaud you for it: As you spend more and more time working and your aforementioned propensity to organize your tasks dwindles, your stress levels will increase, giving your brain increasing doses of naturally-produced chemicals. Your body can become as addicted to them as heroine. The more you produce, the more you’ll need, so this will bring you deeper and deeper into your job, certainly fortifying the lock on that promotion.

The United States is the only modern industrialized country that doesn’t require employers give minimum annual time off with pay. That makes the vacation days you get a true gift—one that is precious and essential to your performance in life, both professional and personal.

You think you are essential. Your company can’t live without you. If that’s the case, the best way to ensure that you are there for them for the maximum number of years, as sharp as a tack, is to take every single minute of leave you have coming to you.

So take your vacation, Bob! Choose otherwise at your own risk.

This article originally appeared on Psychology Today Dec 13, 2013

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