Janica can barely keep her eyes open. She drives home from work and scarcely notices if the lights are green, yellow or red. Her stomach growls yet she is too tired to stop for food. She left the office late again, feeling sad she will not see her kids before their bed time.
She stills needs to go to the dry cleaners, bank, and pharmacy. Her flight for their family vacation leaves the next morning and there are piles of laundry to wash for packing. At the same time her mind races back to work, wondering if she left anything unfinished or in limbo.
A vacation may seem like it’s not worth the hassle of the time to prepare. Change your approach and you can enter and exit vacations with less grind, stress, and strain.
When you schedule your vacation add one buffer day before and one buffer day after your vacation. These are days out of the office that give you time to run errands, pack, and open mail when you return home.
Delegate 25% more than you think you can. Determine who monitors your emails, voicemails, and social media accounts. You will be less likely to monitor work activity if someone else is.
Change your voicemail. This manages the caller’s expectations and gives them directions of what to do while you are unavailable.
Janica applied the buffer time to her next family vacation. She experienced less anxiety, barely yelled at her kids or husband, and didn’t collapse in bed for several hours when she arrived at her destination.
If the average length of most Americans vacations is only four days (Glassdoor Employee Satisfaction Survey), then what gets in the way of you adding two more days to experience a smoother wrap up and reentry experience?
Give yourself permission to schedule buffer days before and after your vacation to actually enjoy your time away.
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