Thanks to the digital age, our life goes everywhere with us, and that’s why it’s important to know ways to leave work behind when you go on holiday. It almost makes the point of it not worth going on holiday if you take all your work baggage with you. Summer is now getting into full swing, which means that you probably have a holiday to look forward to over the next couple of months! Don’t you always feel, though, that you spend the whole waiting for your vacation to finally arrive, and then when you get there, you just can’t seem to be able to switch off your brain and stop thinking about work? Work is the last thing you should be considering when you are lounging by a pool or on the beach, but it does take some practice to eradicate all of those thoughts. Here are some ways to leave work behind when you’re on holiday!
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Prepare in Advance
To everything that you can to prepare your work for your impending absence. This includes things like setting up an out of work auto-reply for any emails that you might be sent during this time because that last thing that you want when you are sunning yourself on the beach is to hear a ping and get drawn into a discussion about a PowerPoint presentation! Tell the co-workers that spend the most time with you that you are going to be away, and that will give them a chance to get in all of their questions and requests before you actually go away.
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Turn off Notifications
Find every app and messaging service that you use for your work communications, and turn those notifications off! When you are on vacation, all you need your phone for is taking photos and perhaps a little music to relax to, so you really don’t need to be wasting all of the data on making sure that all of your latest correspondences are pinged straight to your home screen. Out of sight, out of mind!
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Phone Stack
If you are on holiday with a group of people who are going through the same sort of issue, then a good idea is to create a phone pile in the middle of the table when you are out for drinks or for dinner. This means that you won’t be able to check your profiles and apps, and instead will have to make the effort to be present with the people you are on vacation with. Make it a fun game, the first person to cave and touch their phone has to pick up the check!
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Travel Journal
Away from technology-related things, you should consider taking and keeping a travel journal for the days that you are away. Having to write down all of your adventures and fun stories will make you feel much more connected with the here and now, and you will find that you think a lot less about what might be going on at work when you are trying to recall what the funny guy said to you at the beach!
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Check-in Schedule
If your job is such that you really can’t block it out and ignore for an entire holiday, then be clever about it and schedule a couple of check-in points where you can spend half an hour going through your emails and getting everything back on track. Having this defined time to do it means that you won’t be thinking about it at all times!
