Time was I used to really enjoy bank holidays. when i ws a student i had a summer job with a meat packing firm in East london and had a day off with the marriage of Charles and Di. My Gran, who I lodged with when I did my summer job had her flags out on the bay window and we had a nice day drinking tea and watching the festivities. A nice long week-end.
Wind forward 30 years and I found the whole double bank holiday a complete pain in the backside. Come good Friday my brain was already starting to slow down. The wife told me that we should spend the afternoon relaxing in the garden, "Afterall non one else is working." By the time Tuesday came I'd lost the normal momentum of the working week and struggled to get as much work done as I had intended at the outset. Come Thursday and I was struggling further as another 4 day weekend was coming up. Bottom line was whilst i did get some useful tasks done I failed to get as much done as i normally would. I even went more thana week without updating the content on my website, stryuggled to make one or two key startegic decisions and generally got more and more irritable with everyone around me.
Today I've got plenty doen and , and, most importantly I have been in contact with people. I spoke to one of my most valued and trusted business colleagues for the first time ina fortnight and immediately decied ona course of action that will benefit both of us. I'm writing some more articles, (I know this is not the best i've done but there you go) and doing more marketing.
All my colleagues have siad the same thing. The double-double bank holiday was a pain in the neck, "An extra christmas when you don't need it is what one of my colleagues said to me". I think the slow down was in part a self -fulfilling prohecy. I assumed that eveyone would be in communicado, that business would be slow and reacted accordingly, failing to complete a number of important admisitrative tasks that I had plenty of time to do. I know that I need the buzz of regular contact with collegaues to drive me on and get things done. As a one man band I am more susuceptible than many of my collegaues to this. I get more done when I'm sharing with others, even if it is gossip about football.
A friend of mine, looking over my shoulder has cynically said, "Here he goes again, writing some drivel that is deigned to get us all to believe that networking is a vital part of business and that business networking is a great tool, not only for referrals but also to give that moral support net that we all need. I suppose he's now going to post a link to his business networking now website and tell us that the general sense of malaise over the last two weeks can be alleviated by having a network group to belong to and that working in isolation is bad for business."
That isn't my intention at all.
