We go on a vacation because we want to relax and enjoy our time alone or with our loved ones. It’s therefore unreasonable to spend your vacation worrying about the work that’s piling up while you’re away.
One thing that could be constantly nagging at the back of your mind is the idea that your colleagues are burning their brows while you are getting a tan on a Pacific Coast. Believe that you deserve it. Remember that you worked for your vacation hard. The money you’re spending, the vacation leave you accumulated — all of these were earned with your sweat and tears toiling away for months. Don’t feel guilty that you’re finally taking a break.
If you can’t keep worrying about your job, think of your vacation as a way to improve your performance. Maybe because of your workaholic lifestyle, it’s your first time to go on a vacation after sacrificing all your vacation leaves in the past years. Well then, here are some tips that could help you get into the mindset of a vacationer.
Trust people to do their job well.
They were hired to do their jobs and do them well. They aren’t given salaries so that you could do everything by yourself. Unless their hiring had been dubious, believe that they are qualified to do whatever task you have delegated them without you having to check on them every fifteen minutes.
Additionally, if there are important details of your work that you could contract out, do so rather than being anxious that you have to put it off. The transfer of property procedures of a real estate you finally got to sell? Leave it to a competent conveyancing lawyer. The additional guest speakers who were added last minute to the company dinner? Leave it to the event organizers you paid a lot for.
Don’t bring your laptop.
For sure, you couldn’t leave your cellphone, but only open your mail when it’s very important. Resist the temptation to check it while waiting for the waiter to serve your dinner. But don’t ever bring your laptop thinking that there might be an urgent task at work you have to attend to. Before you go on your leave, you have made it clear to everyone at the office that you will be away during those days. They should have finished their concerns with you before you left.
You can look at your colleagues’ or employees’ messages, but reply only when it’s important. You might end up dictating an entire speech over the phone if you still keep on entertaining work-related communications. If you’re a very polite person who must reply to messages immediately, have a standard message ready saying that you’re on vacation and that you’d get back to their concerns when you’re back at the office. That goes without saying that your email should have that automatic message.
Plan the things you’ve always wanted to do.
People do lists. You can do one too. There must be a reason why you chose that place to spend your precious time in. Did you want to sample their food? Were there sites you wanted to see? When you’re enjoying what you’re doing, these positive thoughts would distract you from your worries about your back at your office.
Talk with people to learn more about the place.
Understanding more about the culture and traditions of wherever you’re vacationing hits two birds at the same time. You’re learning and at the same time, you’re keeping your mind occupied with something entirely far from your work. That goes without saying that if your job is in a museum or perhaps some anthropology-related professorship, it’s difficult to get your mind off your work when you’re vacationing among the pyramids of Egypt or the old Inca empire.
Because of the fast-paced lives, we led in the last years, many of us don’t know how to enjoy a vacation anymore. Many had cheated by posting a photo with a beach hat or a swimming trunk, thinking that images are enough to claim that you had gone on a vacation. Don’t forget that the purpose of your vacation is to have a good time, relax, and refresh your mind.
