To address this problem, Radek met with Tereza, the HR business partner of the company, who enjoys guiding internal and external employees. Radek approached her with his question “Hi Tereza, I have a question. If I work more, I will be out of the law, so I am thinking about taking 3 months of vacation this year. What do you think?”
Tereza thought about his question before she responded, “I think the first step you should take for this type of a decision is to understand your reason of being. Do you want to go for it?”
“Sure, that sounds interesting!”
“OK, let’s grab a coffee and start.”
“Great.”
“Tell me about a success you had in your life. Something you are proud of, that made people around you happy. It can be an example from work or from your private life.”
Radek reflected on this for a moment: “I wrote some music together with friends. I liked to practice together, and I felt good about myself when we were working on our music.”
Tereza asked him to elaborate further. She wrote down the following words and read them back to Radek: “Creating, useful, ecstatic, art, make it nicer, sharing, co-create."
After further discussion, Tereza and Radek defined his reason of being: Co-create projects with the aim of being useful for others.
“Wow, that’s me!” Radek exclaimed. “But how can this help me to decide if I will help people in poverty during my free time, as my girlfriend’s mother suggested, or to make more music, play video games or just work more? Should I take 3 months of vacation in 2021?”
Tereza responded, “The first question is, according to your reason of being, co-create projects with the aim of being useful for others, should I take 3 months of vacation in 2021?” She proceeded to explain how to structure the question according to Bernard Bougon and Laurent Falque (1).
| Pros | Cons |
| · It will allow me to train and develop myself for my work (7) · Money is not important to me now (8) · Personal satisfaction (8) | · I will do personal activities not useful for others (1) · It isn’t productive (4) · It will stop my progression in the company hierarchy (4) |
| Total: 23 points | Total: 9 points |
“The second question is, according to your reason of being, co-create projects with the aim of being useful for others, should I NOT take 3 months vacations in 2021?”
| Pros | Cons |
| · I won’t miss any opportunities (4) · I won’t have to start something new from the beginning (3) | · I will lose this opportunity if I do not do it now (8) · I might get bored of my job (6) · The job will be less administrative (4) · I will have less travel between Brno and Prague, less freedom (3) |
| Total: 7 points | Total: 21 points |
In conclusion, Radek’s totals for taking 3 months of vacation in 2021: 23+21= 44.
The total for not taking 3 months of vacation in 2021: 9+7= 16.
“That’s great, Tereza,” said Radek, “My decision is to take 3 months of vacation. I have one more question Tereza, if I may: what do you think could be the best way to use these 3 months? I have the following ideas in mind:”
- Travel
- Professional training
- Musical project
- Sound design
- Spend time with friends and family
After some discussion, Radek summarized, “Travelling is not really possible because of COVID. Also, my girlfriend, Pavlina, will not have enough vacation to travel with me. I will do the 3 ‘personal projects’ about design and music. It will create something I like, and I will be more productive at work. This way I won’t feel guilty. Thanks a lot, Tereza!”
(1) Bougon, B., Falque, L., Apprendre a choisir. 4th ed. Dunod. 2020.