Calgon, Take Me Away: Why Every Leader Needs a Vacation Strategy

This article is adapted from Ted's podcast episode 346: Vacation: Take Me Away. (Reflection, Books, and Mindset)

Picture this: a 10-year-old boy riding his bike to the local PDQ grocery store, spending his allowance on a bottle of Calgon bath products because he noticed his mom needed to escape. That little boy was my brother Jon, and his simple act of kindness sparked one of the most profound leadership lessons I've ever learned about the power of intentional rest.

As we dive into summer, I keep hearing that old commercial jingle echoing in my head: "Calgon, take me away!" And friends, that's exactly what I want to talk with you about today—the critical importance of taking a vacation, not just from work, but from all the noise that keeps us from being our best selves as leaders.

The Story That Changed My Perspective

Let me take you back to that moment when Jon wrapped up that bottle of Calgon for our mom. She was a special education teacher, coming home each day carrying the weight of her students' challenges. Jon, in his 10-year-old wisdom, recognized something that many of us adults miss: sometimes the people we care about need permission to step away and recharge.

The commercial showed a busy woman overwhelmed by work and life balance, finding solace in a simple bath filled with Calgon bubbles. While the advertising was selling a product, Jon was delivering something far more valuable—the gift of intentional rest. He understood that even our strongest people need moments to disconnect, reflect, and rejuvenate.

That memory hit me like a lightning bolt during my morning run as I was preparing this message. How many of us are walking around like my mom was—carrying everyone else's burdens, feeling responsible for solving every problem, never giving ourselves permission to say, "Calgon, take me away"?

Redefining What a Vacation Really Means

Here's where I need to challenge your thinking. When I say "take a vacation," I'm not necessarily talking about booking a flight to Hawaii or planning an elaborate getaway. I'm talking about something much more accessible and arguably more important: intentionally putting distance between yourself and the things in life that create significant distractions and throw you off balance.

A vacation, at its core, means stepping away from your regular world—your routine work, responsibilities, and obligations—to rest, recharge, and find joy for yourself. It can involve travel to new places, staying home for a staycation, or simply doing things you love without the pressure of deadlines or expectations.

But here's the game-changer: it can also mean turning off the things in your life that drain your energy and stepping away from it all.

The Four Pillars of Effective Leadership Rest

Think about this framework: your mind is your learning, your body is your physical condition, your spirit is your energy, and your soul is your conscience—that little voice in your head and heart. How you feel in all four realms is critically important, and none of them can be ignored. This is why we need to be intentional about creating space for restoration.

Every effective vacation strategy should include these four essential elements:

1. Rest

Giving your body and mind a genuine break from daily stresses. My family always jokes that we've never been on a "real" vacation with dad because we Neitzkes were born caffeinated—we go, go, go, go, go. But true leadership requires modeling the behavior we want to see, which means actually resting.

2. Recreation

Engaging in enjoyable activities that bring happiness and intentionally redirect your mind. This isn't just leisure; it's strategic mental engagement in something that energizes rather than depletes you.

3. Disconnection

Here's where many leaders struggle—minimizing or eliminating work-related communication to fully unplug. At my organization, we had to have honest conversations about creating true disconnect for people on vacation. You know what drives me crazy? Emails that start with "I know you're on vacation and hope you're not reading this." If you know I'm gone, don't send it!

4. Rejuvenation

Returning to your usual life with more energy, creativity, and fresh perspective. This is the ultimate goal—not just surviving time away, but coming back stronger and more focused.

What You Can Vacation From (Even If You Can't Travel)

Here's where this gets practical and powerful. You don't need to go anywhere to take a meaningful vacation. Consider taking a strategic break from:

• Email overload: Set specific times for checking messages instead of being constantly reactive
• Social media consumption: Step away from the endless scroll that feeds comparison and negativity
• News cycle addiction: Limit exposure to the 24/7 barrage of information you can't control
• Negative people: Yes, you can take a vacation from energy vampires and spirit crushers
• Mental narratives: Those loops in your head that keep you stuck in unproductive thinking patterns

The research is clear on this: we can focus on ourselves for a bit by intentionally separating from the things that create the illusion of control while actually driving us toward anxiety and burnout.

The Four-Step Vacation Strategy Framework

Based on solid research and practical application, here's your roadmap:

Step 1: Set and Protect Boundaries

Establish clear work-life boundaries to avoid burnout. Schedule off hours and stick to them. Model healthy boundaries for your team and enforce what you value. Learn to say no without guilt when protecting your well-being and that of your family.

Step 2: Prioritize Self-Care Routines

Regularly engage in activities that recharge your energy and support your overall wellness. This might mean stepping away from Facebook, stopping the constant news consumption, or creating distance from things that make you feel reactive rather than responsive. Practice mindfulness or meditation. Ask yourself reflective questions. Exercise consistently. Prioritize adequate sleep and nutrition. Find trusted friends you can process with—people who help you seek solutions rather than just venting frustrations.

Step 3: Seek Connection and Support

Maintain meaningful relationships inside and outside your organization, family, and regular activities. Find people with differing opinions and fresh perspectives who can challenge you positively and help you think differently about what's consuming your mental energy.

Step 4: Engage in Reflective Practices

Take time to pause, reflect, and process emotions and experiences. Be intentional about carving out time to stare at some water—not a glass of water, but a river, pond, or lake. Find time to disconnect in nature and create purposeful space for clarity. Journal weekly or conduct monthly self-check-ins. Seek and use feedback for growth, not guilt. These practices, rooted in research from books like "The Fifth Discipline," create sustainable patterns for long-term leadership effectiveness.

The Buffalo Leadership Connection

You might be thinking this sounds like I'm encouraging you to run away from challenges—the opposite of what I usually teach about being buffalo leaders who charge toward storms. But here's the twist: sometimes the storm we need to face is our own inability to rest and recharge.

Running toward balance is exactly what buffalo leadership looks like when the challenge is internal. The storm might be created by our own patterns of overcommitment, constant connectivity, and inability to set healthy boundaries.

Taking intentional vacation time—whether traveling or simply disconnecting—is actually charging toward the problem of burnout and unsustainable leadership practices.

Your Summer Reading and Reflection List

Since I didn't do a separate book episode this season, let me give you four vacation-worthy reads that will help frame your mind, invest in yourself, and provide the mental distraction that leads to clarity:

1. "Careless People" by Sarah Wynne Williams - A cautionary tale about Facebook's senior executives that reminds leaders why putting people and families first isn't just nice—it's essential for sustainable success.
2. "Character" by General Stanley McChrystal - Built around the equation Character = Convictions × Discipline, this book reinforces that character is what we're willing to tolerate and what we absolutely won't accept.
3. "Casting Forward" by Steve Ramirez - A beautifully written story about fly-fishing in West Texas that doubles as a leadership book with insights like: "We are all mayflies who pretend to be constellations...we must align our own stars."
4. "Super Agers" by Eric Topple - An evidence-based approach to longevity that combines stories, metaphors, and medical research to show how we can increase not just our lifespan, but our healthspan.

Your Challenge: Create Your Own Calgon Moment

Here's your Smart Thinking assignment for this week: Describe what you can vacation from; list the alternatives you can fill that time with; finally, identify the specific investments you'll make in yourself during your intentional time away.

Remember, the power of a vacation often isn't realized until you're actually taking one. I can't tell you how many times I've been on day two or three of time away, waking up at my normal rushed pace, working out, going for my run, and then realizing it's only 7:30 AM—and then 10 AM rolls around and I think, "Oh my goodness, it's only 10 o'clock!"

Most of our days are bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. We all need to step out of that rhythm intentionally. You don't have to go anywhere, but take vacations from things that don't make you better. Take a vacation from sitting around—get up and walk. Take a vacation from social media scrolling—go find real people and increase your network.

The Ripple Effect of Rested Leadership

Here's what I've learned: leaders who are intentional about self-care tend to be better for others. A healthy mind, body, spirit, and soul make us genuinely valuable to those we serve. When we model sustainable leadership practices, we give others permission to do the same.

Think about my brother Jon's simple gift to our mom. He wasn't solving her work problems or changing her challenging students' situations. He was giving her permission to take care of herself, recognizing that she needed space to recharge so she could continue showing up as her best self for everyone who depended on her.

That's what we do as leaders when we take vacations—we model that it's not only okay but essential to step away, recharge, and return with renewed energy and perspective.

Your Vacation Starts Now

Don't wait for the perfect time or the ideal circumstances. Start taking mini-vacations from the energy drains in your life today. Create your own bubble bath, metaphorically speaking. Draw your own boundaries. Design your own restoration plan.

The people who sit around waiting for someone else to give them permission or create the perfect conditions? Those are the cows in our leadership metaphor. But you? You're a buffalo. You create the conditions for your success. You bring intentional process to your problems, and you find joy in the journey.

Remember what that 10-year-old boy taught us: sometimes the most powerful thing we can do for someone we care about is help them realize they deserve to step away and recharge. And sometimes that someone is ourselves.

Learn, grow, and go face the storms you're dealing with—including the storm of constant busyness and connection. When you're done tackling your challenges with intention and energy, take that vacation. Because everybody deserves their own Calgon moment, and effective leaders make sure they get it.