Taking time off has been the most productive thing I’ve done all year
This past weekend, my parents and I traveled to San Diego to visit my older cousin Teresa, her husband Gordon, my aunt, and my niece Estella.
Teresa and Gordon are two of the wisest and most caring people I know. Teresa has been like a big sister to me ever since I was little. Every time we meet, I always walk away happy that we got to spend some quality time together.
This time, on the last night of my stay in SD, Teresa, Gordon, and I had a long, heart-to-heart about Sunright. They both gave me great advice. Even more importantly, they provided a medium (beyond my own internal monologue) to have a back-and-forth conversation on the challenges of operating a family-owned company.
A lot of friends have asked me how things are going, but it was different coming from Teresa and Gordon. They’re familiar with business concepts like many people, but they also happened to have personal experience struggling to build their own company, know my parents and me really well, and have this strong desire to dig deep and help.
When I first planned the trip to San Diego with my parents, I thought of it as sacrificing some time from work to celebrate my culture and values. It turns out, spending time with Teresa and Gordon was the most productive thing I could have done to gain clarity on my priorities.
This Chinese New Year, I realized three things:
- “Sacrificing” work and taking time-off is important
- There’s more to time-off than just recharging the batteries. Time-off can also provide new inspiration and direction for my most challenging problems
- Next time I take time-off, I will try to plan it so that it can inspire me in some way
Thank you Teresa and Gordon for being such wonderful cousins.
#2018–6
