Last week I took a lovely vacation to Alaska. And while it wasn't physically restful at all (we are more of the explorer type than the sit on the beach type) it was truly a restful experience.
So on this #wednesdayswithweppel I will give you my top 10 tips for vacationing from your job.
- Boundaries: Before I left I met with each team member and my manager and set clear expectations of what would happen when I was gone. For example if I would be checking email, what things I wouldn't be checking, and how/when to reach out to me. These boundaries are important so that everyone is clear.
- CC Line: One boundary that makes vacation easier is if someone is emailing you and no action is required to have you on the CC line. This makes it a LOT easier to get through volumes of email upon your return addressing urgent items in the TO line first.
- Instant Nothing: I will be honest, I deleted Teams for the week. Even with it muted I found it intrusive. But as stated in Item 1 I made it clear I would not be checking Teams first. I muted other text strings so it was MY choice to read them.
- Loose Ends: Tie up as many loose ends as you can before you leave. Anything that is left as a loose end be sure to delegate to someone else in your absence. Business will go on and if you want to enjoy your time off then you need to make sure your business can continue in your absence.
- Check Email: This is a controversial one. My husband and I actually differ on this one. He left all work behind on the trip. I woke up 30 minutes early each day and checked email. I archived things that I could read in more detail when I arrived home, delegated things that needed immediate attention, and filed things in a TO DO file to tackle as soon as I got home. When we arrived home I was stress free knowing I only had about 30 actionable emails. My husband was a ball of stress staring at an inbox of 1,000. To each their own.
- Don't Do Work: While I do recommend checking email I do not recommend taking action on any of them. Anything that needs to be done should either be delegated or can wait. The best way to police this tip is to not bring a computer. Anything you might need/want to do while away you can handle on your phone.
- Don't Check Email: After that last half hour I didn't look for the rest of the day. Any email that anyone sends can wait 24 hours for a response. I apply that methodology when I'm not on vacation as well. If it were urgent it would be a call or text. I can set the phone aside (and in Alaska it was easy I almost NEVER had Internet during the day). Anything could wait until morning.
- No Calls Please: There is NO reason to take a business call on vacation. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Again - this is where your colleagues are there to support you as you will return the favor for them.
- Buffer Day: Don't come back the night before it's time to go back to work or book a buffer day for re-entry. I cannot explain how nice it was to boot up the computer Monday morning knowing that I was all unpacked, laundry was clean and put away, and I was ready to get back into real life.
- Frequent: Don't always save your vacation days and use them in one shot. There is a fine art to a four day weekend giving you just enough time to get away without excessive need to prepare or renter upon returning.
Vacation is critical to our health. It makes us better partners, parents (even dog parents), and employees. Simply put it makes us better people. If you go into the wilderness like I did or you simply vacation in your backyard make sure that you set aside some time for you. You will not regret it.
