Vacations That Help Your Career

Rather than just barbecuing yourself on a beach, you might consider a vacation that could abet your career. Examples:

• At the vacation spot of your choice, tackle that big project you've been procrastinating on or distracted from. Just devote a couple hours each morning to it. You'll get more done because other work pressures aren't pulling at you and because you'll know, "Just two hours and I'll have the rest of the day and night to play."
• Visit locales that have work-related entities. For example, if you're a landscape architect and you'd like to vacation in Tahoe, visit landscape architects there. If your company has a manufacturing plant in China, go there. Distribute a brief report when you return.
• Need to make career connections? Vacation where you're hanging out with wealthy people for a few days. For example, attend a few-day golf or sailing school, go on a high-end cruise; the cheapest berth will do.
  
• If you need to press reset on your ethical compass, consider a volunteer vacation, in which you might, for example, help rural medics in Bolivia, help rebuild the Great Wall, or help deaf children in an East Indian orphanage. A clearinghouse for volunteer vacations is Transitions Abroad.