How to get back on track after your vacation
Yes, we know. Sitting back in front of the computer after your summer vacation only to find out a bunch of email and a full agenda can be overwhelming. You enjoyed your holidays and hopefully got to relax and disconnect, but how do you get back to work in a smooth and productive way?
Today we bring you our best advice (that worked for us) to get back on track and embrace this “back to school” season.
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Make sure to save some time after your vacation before you go back to work.
Yes, vacation is the best, but sometimes you might feel like you need a vacation from your vacation. Sometimes is jetlag from a destination vacation, or just simply getting back on track with your home routine before you actually get back to the office. Whatever your summer break was like, save a couple days to get back with a routine before you head to work again.
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Ease your way back to work.
This essentially means: Take it easy. Vacations are meant to re-energize you and give you the strength and inspiration you need to give your best afterwards. Therefore, the best thing you can do for yourself, and your job is to not get burnt within the first few days.
A good idea is to sit the day before a take some time to make a list of things you need to do, anything that needed to be completed before you left the office (if anything) and go from there. Be realistic and also add to the list something you are excited to do once you get back to the office. Crossing off those things of your list after your first day back will give you a sense of fulfillment and productivity that will give you a boost of energy just as big as your actual vacations.
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Clean up your desk once you get to the office.
Even if you left it pristine before your vacation, chances are that you will still find old post its, reports or documents that were left on your desk while you were out. Make sure to take some time to go through all of those before you actually start your day. Also, of course check your inbox and make sure to delete and organize all the mail you got during your vacation.
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Prioritize your tasks and mail.
Even though you will have your to do list with you, chances are that you will bump to emails, and new work things to do once you get to the office.
Make sure to go through everything first before you start tackling down any tasks. It is important to prioritize your mail, see what needs to be done as soon as possible, what can wait and until when and what can be delegated and doesn’t need your first hand supervision.
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Take breaks through the day.
As we said before, it is important not to get burnt, so allow yourself to take a couple breaks here and there through out the day to take a minute to clear your mind and breath before you jump back to continue working. This will help you feel less overwhelmed, and also will support your productivity levels.
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Check yourself out.
After the first day of work or your first week is over, take a minute to go through how you dealt with your back to work routine and how much you accomplished. Identify what you feel was most helpful and make it part of your daily routine, as well as find out those things that you know where not working for you and your work flow before your summer break and that you might repeated now that you are back in the office and focus to remove those from your work routine.
Like we said, take it easy and make sure that your summer vacation had a great impact not only on your professional performance at work, but also on you as a professional. Try to let it help you grow and mature to make sure you hit new levels of productivity for you and your company this new “school year”.
