Just coming back from a 10-day trip to beautiful Hawaii, I am suffering from a thorough vacation hangover. And it's not an overindulgence of Mai-Tais I am experiencing, it's more about the body and mind having come to rest and are not too compliant with coming back up to speed of "normal life".

Expecting this challenge on my last night in Hawaii, sitting on Magic Island with the caress of of the balmy air, watching the waves roll by in the setting sun, my golden nugget was redesigning my "normal life" mindset. My brilliant observation and a tendency I have observed in many of my clients is this: when "normal life" becomes too unbalanced, instead of choosing relaxation or what I call, a vacation set-of-mind, we go into escape mode.

When we think of setting goals and all we can come up with is "I want to retire within 3 years and live of the beach", it points to a painful imbalance in day-to-day life and the need to escape is ever present. If this imbalance creates such a strong quest for not-doing, try creating a vacation state-of-mind throughout every day.

Considering that many of us only enjoy a small number of days per year in the real thing, the trick is to eliminate the mindset of scarcity around relaxation and space. Even in the midst of challenge, just taking a moment to drop into the feeling of Magic Island has great power to return me to balance. Remembering the feeling of the air of my skin, the smell of the ocean, sound of the waves, the posture my body assumes-- just a 3-minute break in my vacation state will help my mission come back into focus.

Are the goals you are setting part of an important mission? When they are, challenges become welcome opportunities, and knowing how to drop into your vacation state whenever you need to, will keep you setting one foot in front of the other.