Five Steps to a Work-Free Vacation

Vacations are wonderful. You look forward to them for weeks, months, even years. So why, when the time to get away actually comes, do we have such trouble leaving work behind? Following the below steps will help you disconnect from the office while still allowing you the break you deserve.

1. Choose the Right Time

If summer is your busiest season, then you should save your vacation for early fall. You should aim to go on vacation when work is at its slowest. You will be less frazzled since you will not be worrying about upcoming deadlines or meetings that you could be missing. I love going on vacation after “the crazy” is over. Doing so makes the time away even more special and well deserved.

2. Trust Your Colleagues

Your colleagues are pretty great people. They work with you and around you all day long, and they have a fairly good grasp on the projects that you do. Allow them to step up when you step out. But don’t forget to bring them back something nice as a thank you!

3. Plan for the Potential Problems

Before you leave, take time to evaluate what situations could arise. Then come up with a plan for your colleagues to follow in case these situations do happen. Remember, most work crisis can be easily solved even if you are not there to oversee.

4. “Let Go, and Let God!”

Sometimes things do happen. If you are able to accept that things will happen while you are gone that you cannot control, and if you have proper procedures in place, everything will be fine.

5. Set Your Mind, and Put Down the Smart Phone

After you changed your voicemail, put up an out of office, and walked out the door, the only thing left to do is put down your cell phone. I recommend temporarily turning off your work email (easy three step guide to temporarily disable email on your iPhone). This will stop emails from appearing on your phone. If you do not see the emails coming in, you will be countless times less worried about not responding. When your vacation is over, all you need to do is swipe to re-enable the function.

If you are able to follow these five points of advice, I guarantee a much more enjoyable vacation and a much more relaxed version of you when you return to the office.

Bon Voyage!