It’s very easy to think that your company or your clients would cease to exist without you. Without your sweat. Without your long hours. Without your passion. Without your intelligence. Without you oiling the machine.

You’re wrong.

Not that you don’t matter. You do (unless you don’t, but that’s another rant altogether). While you’re oiling the machine, though, you can’t lose sight of the fact that it’s a machine. The inner workings of any business never rest on one person. It’s a vast network of knowledge, relationships, and stakeholders. Many people shake hands and hold hands, not just you.

Sure, an account occasionally follows one person. Yes, a client – whether internal or external – may sabotage a larger relationship for the sake of an individual relationship. But it’s the exception, not the rule. Smart clients and managers never lose sight of the machine. Those who dismantle it over the removal of a single cog often find themselves unnecessary in the new machine they’ve created. That’s called irony. Or karma.

This isn’t to say that you’re not special. There’s a good chance you are. It would take a lot of effort to replace you. It would take weeks to bring someone up to speed. Months or years would pass before anyone could have the kinds of relationships you’ve fostered or the knowledge you’ve absorbed. That said, it happens every day.

Advertising and marketing are industries built on Ego. Insecurity often masquerades as Ego. I think a lot of us want to believe that no one can live without us. We don’t want that to be the case. But it is. When you realize that – and then embrace it – you’re actually better for your business. Your work means more, because it becomes about progressing towards goals instead of focusing on the preservation of the individual.

Still think the office would fall apart without you? Take a vacation. A real vacation. Put down the iPhone. Unplug your laptop. Read a book. Walk. Bike. Eat without looking at your watch to see when you need to be back at work. Because you don’t. Just breathe, relax, and forget about the office.

Then…go back. Hey, look. An entire week passed and the place is still standing. The machine is running. It found another groove while you were gone. The irony: once it’s proven that you’re indispensable, the machine always welcomes you back. You’re renewed and refocused. You have new energy. And that’s what makes a machine based on networks, relationships and knowledge thrive.

Last week I took a vacation. Today, I’m ready to work.