For you is not against others.
For you is better for others.
For you is for them too.
Maddie could barely keep her eyes open. She drove home from work and scarcely noticed if the lights were green, yellow, or red. Her stomach growled, yet she was too tired to stop for food. She left the office late again, feeling sad she would not see her kids before their bedtime.
She still needed to go to the dry cleaners, bank, and pharmacy. The flight for their family vacation left the next morning and there were piles of laundry to wash for packing. At the same time, her mind raced 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.
VACATION PREP PLAN
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 percent 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 callers’ expectations and gives them directions of what to do while you are unavailable.
Maddie 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 their 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?
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Give yourself permission to schedule buffer days before and after your vacation to actually enjoy your time away.
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