How come the thought of being out of the office for two weeks can sometimes bring on more stress than if we weren’t going on holiday at all? HARRIETTE LUSCOMBE has some advice to help.
Holidays are an important aspect of our mental and physical wellbeing and a vital way to promote our long term performance, productivity and engagement when we are back at work. We therefore owe it to ourselves to make preparing and taking holiday as stress-free as possible. Here’s some dos and dont’s to smooth the way:
- Don’t try and get everything ‘finished‘. Come holiday time, we decide that we need to get ALL the things off our ‘to do’ lists. Even those bits and bobs that have been rolling over for months. Instead, why not try the Eisenhower method: rate your list against important, not important, urgent and not urgent. Important and urgent get done, Important but not urgent may be able to wait until after you’re back or delegated. Urgent but not important might need a little communication, expectation management or redirection. Not urgent and not important do not need to be on your list: Let those go.
- Be prepared to delegate and handover. Trust your teams and colleagues. Be clear and realistic about what needs to be delivered while you’re away and what would just be a ‘nice to have’. Remember that it is likely that your colleagues will still have their normal workloads too, so don’t expect that everything will get done. And remember you can always repay the favour when they go away.
- Set your boundaries. It’s not always possible to completely switch off and turn off the tech. If you have to be available for an important meeting while you’re away, or if you’ll be keeping one eye on your emails because that will make you feel less stressed while you’re out, that’s not a problem. But set those boundaries. Your colleagues need to know when you’re available and when you’re not. Be clear about the realities with those you are holidaying with. Just try not to fall into bad habits of absentmindedly checking emails or, even worse, jumping in on things you’ve already handed over.
- Don’t be a holiday hero. It’s likely that sorting out work commitments isn’t the only thing you have to organise before going away. There could be carer’s responsibilities, pet care, child organisation along with packing, washing and associated life administration. Try not to be a holiday hero! Son’t feel like you have to get everything done on your own. Use your support networks, ask for help and share responsibilities
- Have fun! Holidays can often be a compromise of competing needs. Whilst compromise is important, remember the things that you need to give yourself the best chance of returning feeling refreshed, and give yourself permission to make it happen.
Photo by Vicko Mozara on Unsplash.
ENDS
