Tag: holiday

Why I do what I do

Why I do what I do
I’ve not posted anything on this personal blog for a while and in fact the last time was on just after finishing my MBA (poor show!) as once that was done then my Bolst Global business took over and the focus was more on the business blogging and getting some clients on my books and start growing some revenues.

Italy for Easter

Seven months in now and I’ve come back to Italy for Easter (a place I visit fairly regularly as I have a close friend living here) and I’ve spent the last two days working in the unexpected glorious sunshine  by the lake in a beautiful Northern Italian town in the mountains.  My friend has been working leaving me to my own devices to wander around, sunbathe and get lost in my thoughts. And it’s been so good for me!

Italy photo

Time to think…

Getting up early I’ve handled emails and phone calls in the morning over coffee and breakfast and then left the laptop at home and just taken the trusty iPad, pen and paper along with some healthy nibbles out to the lake for the afternoon so I can work on some important aspects of business proposals, personal goals and the entrepreneurial spark programme that I am currently a part of.  It’s been great because being wifi disconnected and in a new warm environment I’ve felt so productive and reenergised and managed to get through all of my tasks fairly quickly as well as give some thought to things I just haven’t had the headspace to lately.
I know I’m lucky – in so far as I have control of my time and my schedule now and can therefore do this. I am here for six days and have no boss to beg for annual leave! I can work when I want and take the time off when I want (or allow myself to- still need to work on that but that’s a post for another day!) and this is definitely one of the reasons I started Bolst Global in the first place. I’m happy to work every Sunday this year if I can have days and weeks like these at other times!
Carolina

Dreaming of my own balcony

Another big advantage is the ability to be geographically mobile with the kind of work that I do again allowing me to travel and work from anywhere- I have a long term goal of splitting my time between various countries one most likely Spain where I can sit on the balcony with my morning coffee and laptop and work from there!
Here in Italy I see and appreciate how forward thinking the UK and my mindset is when it comes to this flexibility with work and how we perceive workplaces and professional expectations and obligations. My friend has pushed for a some amount of her time to be working from home because essentially her job is tech based and so is fully able to do so. However culturally her italian employer doesn’t accept this so she is having to do twelve hour working days during the week just to get to work, work and the come home again. Leaving her no time for exercise, food shopping (shop shuts in the town at 7.30pm) or just general down time and she is exhausted!

Definitely worth it

So whilst having your own business is a LOT of work and a real rollercoaster (not without its sacrifices either!) I wouldn’t change it for the world – for the experiences it has given me so far and the future opportunities that it will bring too.
Happy Easter everyone- no chocolate eggs for me but off to buy some half price Prosecco from the supermarket before it shuts! 😉
Victoria x

The importance of getting away from it all

The importance of getting away from it all

So this is the first day of my week away in Spain and I’m feeling great (despite overindulging in some delicious Spanish gin last night!)

Coffee, cream (well oil really!) and a commitment

I’ve made a commitment to blog daily whilst I am away so that I can get into the habit of writing more frequently, which actually doesn’t come naturally or easily for me.

So I will get up with my black coffee and sit out in the garden of my friend’s beautiful apartment under the hot Spanish sun to write and reflect on what I’ve been reading, experiencing and thinking.

 MBA madness

At the moment it’s quite stressful with the executive MBA course that I am completing and I have a number of important deadlines over the next couple of weeks to meet. In some ways you could say that taking a holiday right now is the worst possible moment to do so…but actually I’m embracing it and using the days under the sun to do a little bit of Bolst Global business planning but in the most part to focus on the reading and assignment planning that I need to do.

 A learning environment

And being away from home, the office and the working environment is the best way to get on with this as I’m always battling the guilt of not concentrating on one thing over the other (MBA versus business versus other things I commit to) and here I feel like I can allow myself to focus on the MBA work. And actually being a bit of an academic junkie then for me being able to do this on holiday I find enjoyable  (yes, I’m a bit crazy!) and will prevent me from becoming even more stressed when I get back to drizzly England.

 

That’s why a change of environment and getting away from it all for me and everyone is so important. It refreshes you and you  can focus on the often neglected but fundamental stuff that your daily activities prevent you from thinking about or doing.

So if you are about to go away- how can you best use this downtime to obviously relax but also to possibly make some decisions or think about those things you haven’t had enough headspace to address?

 Making ‘sunny’ decisions!

I really enjoy being in the sun and so I’m using this time away from the routine to multitask on getting up to speed on some neglected MBA work whilst topping up the tan and thinking bigger about the future. Last year on holiday I made the decision to start up my own business and to start blogging on business related topics.

I wonder what decisions I will have made by the end of this one?

And which ones may you make too?

Please let me know!!

Thanks for reading and happy holidays!

 

Victoria x