(pix taken from huffingtonpost)
I just read on the Huffington Post that there are quite a number of "happy" things that can still stress us. Including going on a vacation.
In reference to Expedia's survey, 53% of working Americans don't come back feeling refreshed and energized. Firstly, thank goodness I'm not an American. Haha. Secondly, there could be some truth to it but it's not something that one cannot "manage" so that one can be on vacation guilt-free. Thirdly, I think that if we know what it takes to take a holiday sans guilt, then there shouldn't be any problem!
Frankly, I LOVE going on vacation and I do not have any problems letting go of the office the moment I pack my bags. But it did take me a while to get to this point of holiday "nirvana." There was indeed a time when I would actually pack my lappie, iPad, iPhone and God knows what else so that I stayed connected to the team. I was on-call most of the time when I was away and I thought it great because I was not abandoning my team and I still get to be halfway across the globe in some place I haven't been and seemingly enjoying the trip. I almost always came back feeling dissatisfied and even more tired than when I started the journey, physically and emotionally. But this kept on going... until I met my dear husband.
Boy, on our first vacation together, he went nuts and at one point, pissed beyond belief at the fact that I attended to text messages and emails from the office. I got an earful from him thereafter and was forced to dump every single connection I had to the office into the hotel safe. Grudgingly, I did. But the reward was the result of my dumping everything into that safe. We enjoyed our trip together. Nowadays, you'd still see me with my gadgets but they're only to upload awesome travel pictures on IG or Twitter or to browse for more places to see when on vacation... and I only blog about my trips after we return home.
So here's what I learnt - in order to manage our obligation to the office, there are some no-brainer things that you'd have to do. These are stuff that I do all the time so that I'd be able to put on my sunnies and deservingly drape myself on the deck chair under the big brolly knowing there are people still doing work back at the office and not feel bad about it :-
Know that it takes an average of 2-3 days for the brain and the body to wind down. So I normally plan my leaves for longer than 4 days to ensure I take full advantage of my "me" time. Trust me, when I started doing this, I do come back feeling much better.
Draw up a reasonable checklist of things I will need to do prior to my trip to ensure that my team can continue doing what they need to do. Obviously, I complete the checklist. It could be various types of resources, approvals, and a series of meetings to get things in good order.
Remind everyone - the team, the boss, and whoever else I am in constant contact with at the office - that I will be going on vacation. I will normally ask if there is any additional work that needs to be attended to and make some agreements upfront.
Assign a co-pilot. Okay, so this may not work if you're a one-man-show but for me, it works because I have managers and executives reporting to me and I can reassign my duties to a #2 to carry through the deliverable. This includes declaring that this lucky person also has the liberty to run the department with full authorization in my absence.
Lastly, TRUST in my team. They are, after all, responsible adults. If they're not, they know enough of the consequences. Fair's fair.
Oh, and one more thing. My friends keep reminding me this - at the end of the day, if I die, the company will not go bankrupt. (Dang, and I thought I was special!) and worse, they can easily replace me. SO, give 100% when I'm at work, but balance it with my 100% when I'm on vacation too!
So there. Toldja it's a no brainer. But it works for me. So I join the other 43% who do return from awesome vacations excited, ready to take on the world and wow people! Can't wait for December!!
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