Welcome to episode 140 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [@NerdJourney]! We’re John White (@vJourneyman) and Nick Korte (@NetworkNerd_), two Pre-Sales Technical Engineers who are hoping to bring you the IT career advice that we wish we’d been given earlier in our careers. In today’s episode we share part 2 of our interview with Eric Brooker, covering topics such as disconnecting, being present, and Eric’s experiences in podcasting.
Original Recording Date: 7-20-2021
Eric Brooker is a veteran in tech sales (experience of over 20 years) and has progressed from individual contributor to sales leader. Check out part 1 of our interview with him in Episode 139.
Topics – Taking Time Away, Disconnect and Focus, Eric’s Podcast, Closing Thoughts
2:02 – Taking Time Away

* Eric is 41 and has been in tech sales for 21 years. He and his wife like to travel, but they have always traveled to visit family.

* They had never taken a vacation just the 9 of them (Eric, his wife, and their 7 children) until recently. They visited Lake of the Ozarks.

* The podcast Eric hosts (Counsel Culture, formerly The New Norm) is all about culture and leadership.

* Every company out there talks about the amazing culture they have, even the really bad ones.
* There are few companies out there that really strive to have a great culture (may not have one but strive for one).
* Eric has been with his current employer for 2 years now. They are great people. They do everything they say they are going to do (a bit of a cultural anomaly in Eric’s industry).

* Eric’s wife helped him realize they had never done a vacation with just their family. So she sold him on the idea of taking a week off for just such an endeavor.

* Eric has 6 bead jars that sit at his desk with a specific number of beads in each, which decreases each week, representing the number of weeks he has left with his kids before they turn 18.

* This trick was taught to Eric by a former Disney executive.
* Every Saturday morning an alarm goes off, reminding Eric to take a bead out of each jar and reflect on the week before (how present he was to the kids). It’s a reminder to him to be present and that there is only so much time left with the kids.

* Eric decided if he’s taking a week off, he should probably NOT work. What does not working mean?

* He was fortunate enough to not have a cellular connection at Lake of the Ozarks (a big reason it was a great vacation). But Eric wanted to do more to make sure he would be present.
* Eric called his boss and said he had made a conscious decision to delete e-mail from his phone.

* During the vacation, Eric was more present with his family than he had ever been, owed no one anything, and really enjoyed it.
* No one needed him for an entire week, and if they did, it was going to have to wait until he got back.
* No one died, nothing catastrophic happened, and the world went on.

* We often think the company will fall apart if we’re away, and that is simply not what happened in Eric’s case.

* Eric was present to his kids. They did so many fun things hanging out with one another that they will remember for many years to come.