Monday Morning Marketing Tip - September 6, 2010

Rob Eagar's Monday Morning Marketing Tip is written to help authors, publishers, and organizations spread their message like wildfire.

This week's focus:
Since Labor Day is a national holiday, most people typically celebrate by taking time off to enjoy family, traveling, or rest. However, I find that authors, speakers, and business leaders sometimes have extreme difficulty breaking away from their work to relax. We usually push ourselves to constantly create, connect with our audience, or manage all the duties of moving an organization forward. For instance, some of you reading this email are working right now, rather than resting. National holidays are nice, because they give everyone a reason to slow down. But, I'd argue that 10 federal days off per year is nowhere near enough time to keep the soul recharged.

So, this week's marketing tip is about rest. That's because rest directly relates to marketing, since you can't remain creative if you never give your brain a chance to reset. For instance, when you rest, do you give yourself the freedom and priority to fully break away from your all of writing or business responsibilities? Or, are you the type who constantly checks email on vacation, or spends your time off trying to get ahead in the office or get ahead on your manuscript?

Some of my author clients have told me that resting is the most difficult challenge they face. They work like crazy, and over time they feel like their candle is burning at both ends, which saps them mentally, physically, and spiritually. The problem is that it's usually too late when we recognize the real need for rest. The light bulb goes off in our head when a health concern demands that we slow down, or our family complains that we act driven or too distracted.

This week, take a moment to do two things:

1) Set aside at least two hours before next Monday to really rest, such as go on a relaxing walk, play extra with your children, take a mid-day nap, go out to dinner with your spouse, etc. Whatever you do, give yourself the freedom to fully disconnect from work. If resting is difficult for you, start making this activity a weekly priority.

2) Commit to going on a multi-day vacation sometime in the next 3 - 4 months. Go somewhere that helps you recharge. If money is tight, stay in a local hotel, visit a friend, rent a cabin in the woods, go on an outdoor adventure, etc. The point is to prioritize rest and commit to it on your calendar. When you make rest a priority, you help build balance into your life.

Think about it this way: If taking a Sabbath was good enough for God, why can't it be good enough for us?

Chew on this:
"On the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So, God blessed the seventh day and made it holy."

- Genesis 2:2 - 3

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