A real vacation this year?
A real vacation, one from which you come back relaxed. A vacation where you can let go of all your worries for a while and relax. That sounds good, no? Such a rest vacation requires preparation. It doesn’t come overnight. There are a number of parameters that must be set correctly. Let’s take a look at some of those parameters.
Transferring responsibility
Have someone take care of urgent cases for you during your leave. So at least you don’t have to worry about that. And if everyone in an organization does this for someone going on leave, then it’s also a fair system. This does not mean that the person filling in for you is simply replacing you. It mainly means that in an emergency, that person will look for the people who can do something. Let it also be clear that you cannot be contacted about this during your absence. It has happened to myself as well. During each furlough, my phone was red hot. When the same thing happened during my summer leave, I intervened. That was the drop in the bucket too much. And lo and behold, with some clear communication, my next leave suddenly became a lot calmer. Know that people who call you during your leave often do so out of insecurity. After all, it’s about your duties. They are not as familiar with that, and so they are very quick to ask questions. By getting the questioner to think of a solution on their own, the problem is often already solved. The phone call is no longer necessary. You cannot have a real vacation if your phone rings several times a week, or even a day, for work-related matters.
Vacation is really being absent
When you go on vacation you can set up in your mail that an automatic message goes to any mail received (out of office, ed.) The content of that automatic reply is very important. You want to indicate in this that you are absent, that you will NOT read the mails received during that period. That people can contact you again AFTER this period to discuss the issue. However, this is already a bridge too far for many people. Not reading the emails that arrived during my leave? I can’t fix that, can I? Well, if you have that clearly stated in your absence message, your contacts already know that. The advantage then is that after your leave you don’t have to wrestle through three days of emails first. If there is one thing that can make your vacation spirit disappear very quickly upon your return, it is being buried in work. Do you dare to delete the emails that arrived during your vacation without reading them?
Plan your return after your vacation
Vacation is a way to restore work-life balance, especially after it has drifted into work during the work year. Special at this time when we are clearly working more from home. The last thing you want is for that balance to tip over completely on the first day of work after your vacation. You want to keep that relaxed feeling for as long as possible. That’s why it’s important to plan your return as well. That means keeping your schedule clear, blocking for yourself and scheduling what you need yourself. You will find that there are things that need your attention. There will also be things that require your attention but do not need it. You want to make that distinction yourself. Therefore, it is important to contact the people you need to address the priorities yourself. The rest will slowly recover. The first week is important to focus on those most important projects. You will need the rest of the time to catch up after your vacation. Thus, the workload remains reasonable and the vacations reverberate for a while.
POST vacation outings
During your vacation, you did things you wouldn’t otherwise do. And I’m pretty sure that among those are things that you would like to do more. That doesn’t mean you have to wait until your next vacation. Why not schedule some over the next few weekends? It’s not a full vacation then, it’s true. But that vacation feeling can go on much longer this way. And if you also do those activities the weekends BEFORE your vacation, suddenly it looks like you’ve had a very long summer. It doesn’t matter what those activities are. Going out on a terrace with friends, going for a walk or bike ride together, going to the coast … There are as many possibilities as there are people probably. Most importantly, your vacation is not just those weeks in the summer. It really is possible to extend that. Often, however, we are taken in by the delusion of the day and it doesn’t get there. That’s when that work-life balance gets completely out of balance again. Real vacation, please, 365 days a year if possible.
What are you doing to enjoy your vacation to the fullest?
This contribution was written by Peter Willekens. Peter is the inspiration and driving force behind SME Booster and author of productivity books such as “Architect of Your Time. Be sure to check out his website peter-willekens.be!
