This is a great time of year. Christmas is 5 weeks from today, Thanksgiving is in 2 days, and the New Year starts in 6 weeks. My family is coming tomorrow to spend Thanksgiving here with us. We’ll have 14 people packed into our house, and it will be great! (cross my fingers)

So in the spirit of things, what 3 things are you most thankful for?

I’ll go first.

Family



I have the best family in the world! My wife Amy is so cool she has to live in the freezer or she’ll melt. Kaitlin and Alex are 2 amazing kids, I learn something from them everyday. Something that has surprised me is that a lot of what I learn from them is directly related to entrepreneurship and business. Their support is the key to me doing what I do, and doing what I do makes me very happy. And my extended family is great too. My Dad and Mom really helped turn me into what I am today–guess that might be a negative as much as a positive. I am truly lucky to have such an amazing family.

1. Friends



I have some of the best friends in the world. Friends that will come out adventuring with me. Friends that give me advice. Friends that are just plain awesome. Friends that I don’t tell near enough how thankful I am to be blessed with their friendship and relationship.

2. Entrepreneurship



I love entrepreneurship. It’s who I am to my core. Entrepreneurship can change the world. Not only do entrepreneurs solve problems and make the world a better place, but the very act of entrepreneurship changes those that participate in it and makes them better people. I really feel grateful that I am now in a position to start helping other people chase their entrepreneurship dreams–whether they’re kids selling Sno-cones at Doba, college or high school students, or first-time entrepreneurs.

These might be the ‘book answers’ for this question, but they really are what I am most thankful for. What 3 things are you most thankful for? Comment away. I’m shooting for a new record on comments: 20 from this post. So share thankfulness freely!

When you know a month or so in advance that you’ll be taking a week’s vacation, does the knowledge of your impending break from work cause you to work more, or do you plot along at your normal pace regardless of the time you know you’ll be spending away from the business? My guess is that if you asked 100 entrepreneurs that very same question, at least 90 of them would say that an impending vacation or weeklong business trip would indeed cause them to work extra hours, if not holidays and weekends too.

My point? Well, I’m heading to one of the dark spots on the map tomorrow, and if the weather cooperates, I’ll be gone for the better part of the next week; and while I’ll only be gone for five or six days, I’ve easily logged an additional three weeks worth of work in anticipation of the trip.

Like so many of my colleagues at Doba, I’ve been working a lot of extra hours since the beginning of August. Nights, weekends, and even the Labor Day holiday… it hasn’t really mattered… planning my work so I could work my plan has become one vicious circle. As is usually the case when I determine weeks in advance that a serious break from work is called for, I’ll get to a point where I can’t sleep. In pre-break mode, I’ll wake up at 3:00 in the morning because my mind is racing with a million ideas and things that need to get done. By 4:00 AM I’m at the office, and because I know I’ll be gone in just a few weeks, I’ll stay late—or go home for dinner with the family, and then head back to the office for just a few more hours of work (sound familiar to any of the entrepreneurs out there?).

So here I am, just hours removed from removing myself from my office, co-workers, family, cell phone, and business advisors, and I find myself asking the following questions:

• Does my trip—a backpacking expedition with three co-workers and two non-work-related friends into Wyoming’s Wind River Range–really solve anything, or does the trip itself cause the very thing that I’m seeking solace from?
• Does the backcountry trip actually cause the balance to tip too much towards the work side of the equation, and then tip back to the center once I return, or does it provide the break I so desperately need, which in turn allows me to gain valuable perspective and insight?
• And finally, if I didn’t take any time away from work, would I just get into a zone of work/life balance and go forever, or would the pressure ratchet up to the point where I’d become so burned out that I wouldn’t be of use to anyone?

These are the questions I’ll attempt to answer over the next week (I find that I need at least three-plus days in order to detach myself from the mind-consuming business-related thoughts that keep me awake at all hours of the night). Here’s to taking time to clear your mind and to using your alloted time away from work to make sense of things.

In an effort to get to know the people who are reading my blog, once a month or so I’m going to pose four entrepreneurial-related questions for everyone–myself included–to answer. To get us started, here are four basic questions:

1. What type of business are you in, and what is your role within the company?
2. When you find that you’re getting burned out at work, what do you do to recharge?
3. Who do you consider a role model and why?
4. When was the last time you updated your resume?

In case you’re wondering how I’d answer these questions myself, click on the ‘comment’ link below. After reading my response, please leave one of your own.