After many months or years of hard work, you finally took the well deserved vacation you have always wanted. The few weeks of indulging in your favourite activities, whether it’s skiing at your favourite ski resort or simply curled up by the beach with the book you have always wanted to finish but didn’t have the time to, but now it’s time for you to get back to work again.
If you are like me, the idea of returning to your exploding emails, managing your projects piling on your desk or even the numbers of meetings you have to brief for can be a daunting task after an indulging vacation. Here are some tips to help you ease your way back to work after a vacation.
Give Yourself Time
Between different time zones and just mentally preparing yourself to return to work, I would recommend that you give yourself one or two days after your vacation before you return to work. Giving yourself to ease back to your normal routine will help you to be prepared and refresh when you return to work.
I like to start with setting my alarm again to get use to my working day schedule. I also find it helpful to follow my work schedule but in a more relaxed manner to help ease myself back to work.
Prepare a Task List
While it’s not really pleasant to be thinking about work even before you return but to ease your way back to work, it would be helpful to spend a few minutes thinking about a few things you would like to do when you return. This could be as simple as cleaning out the inbox when you return so that you can focus on emails that needs to be dealt with.
With many tasks waiting for your return, it will be helpful to have a plan of attack before returning so that your day will not feel overwhelmed. With a list of what you want to do on your first day of return, you’ll be able to focus and prioritize your important tasks making your day less stressful.
Get Updates
Are you responding to an email that was already answered by your colleague days ago? Are you unaware the department is having a meeting in an hour? Avoid this and more by getting updates from your colleague to know what have already been done, any changes that happened in your company or department while you are away, or status updates on all the files you have worked on.
The few minutes of chat with your colleagues can save you hours of duplicate and unnecessary work. In addition, with updates from your colleagues, you may find that the project you’ve been stressing about may have already completed while you were away.
Ease Back to Work
It’s your first day back and you have lots to catch up on but working long hours without breaks right after you return may lead to poor work quality and mental fatigue.
The shock your body may experience with the sudden change will make it hard for you to finish projects and tasks that you deal with routinely so taking the time you have been allocated to rest for your breaks and leaving on time after your vacation will help you to be more productive the next day.
Returning back to work after vacation does not have to be daunting. After a long vacation, it can be pleasant to catch up with your colleagues that you haven’t seen in weeks or to get back to your normal routine of life. I hope that the tips will help you to return back to work after a vacation without the stress.
