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Set Time to Take a Break

Many years ago, before I got big into reading and early in my career I read a book entitled “How to Become CEO.” I had a long flight ahead of me, saw this in the book store and thought why not. Well, thanks to the flight time and the relatively short read I finished it pretty quickly. I gave it to someone along the way, who never returned it to me so I do not have all the details, but I always remember the one chapter that said plan your vacation a year in advance, book it and make sure that canceling it would be difficult. This sets you up for success by ensuring that you will most likely take the vacation and no matter what changes at work, this will be your vacation.


Well, as we sit here today, I'm preparing for our yearly October vacation (booked a year in advance every year). As usual, it comes at just the right time of year. As we are working through business planning at work, the family is in the midst of 3 sports this season, plus other commitments, it is time for a break. A nice long weekend, to hang out with family, relax and enjoy some time to disconnect.


Now I’ve given some talks at my company centered around digital detoxification, where I learned some interesting facts about my boss and taught him some new things to think about for his vacation. So I’m going to stray a little bit now and give you some tips to get your vacation started and really enjoy it so that you can come back ready to do.


  1. Book the vacation: If you did not get that message now, do it. If you are sitting there wondering when you are going to take it, take some time out of your day, sit down and plan out your vacation days. Then when you plan it, block your calendar and don’t move it. If possible do something, book something to force you not to move it. Back in March of 2020 my family sold our RV and were in a bit of a rut with all the shut downs and did not quite know where to go. So I figured best to stay in the state, find a place and book it. We rented an RV and went to a place in the middle of nowhere, made some great memories and still goes down as one of our best vacations.

  2. Delegate your responsibilities: No matter where you are in the organization, setup delegates for your responsibilities. These people should be empowered to make decisions and have your trust that they will do what is expected. They should also have a way to contact you if absolutely urgent, but stress to them your support and empowerment so they feel they can make the moves they feel best with your support. In no way should you feel the need to check and keep up on email every day to make sure you are not missing anything. When you return, have a meeting booked to get debriefed on anything you may have missed while you are out. This will avoid the need to spend hours reading through countless emails.

  3. Disconnect!! I cannot say this enough, but fight the urge to check your email in the morning and “clean up.” One person told me they create a folder when they get back called vacation and dump everything in there, except the last 24 hours/work day worth of emails. Then they start there. Anything urgent, will bubble back up in your debriefing session and in emails throughout the day, since people know that you will be back. If you really want to make the most of your vacation you must find a way to fully disconnect. I even go so far as to hide my inbox on my phone, turn off notifications and try to use my phone only for personal use, cameras, personal calendar and the occasional text. If it is really hard to disconnect for you then I recommend finding a vacation in a remote location that forces you to disconnect. You will thank me for it when you get back.

  4. Give yourself time to recover: I’m terrible at this, but I find it best to give yourself a day or 2 back at home after you return home. This will allow you time to unpack, unwind and just gather yourself, rather than flying in late on Sunday and getting right back to work. I took it to the extreme on this vacation a few years ago, I come back on Tuesday afternoon and did not go back to work till the following Monday. That’s right! Which takes me to my next and final point.

  5. Take more than a week, take 2 if you can or even more: Americans are terrible at taking long vacations. Our European colleagues take 3, 4, or 5 weeks off and never even blink an eye. When I went out on medical leave I was forced to take 12 weeks, now it was not vacation, but I can attest I came back to work so refreshed after all that time off. My brain was fresh, I was well rested and I was ready for whatever was to come. Try your best to take a 2 week vacation or more. The extra week enables you to stay true to 3 above. By the time you hit 2 weeks you really are disconnected, the “urgent” calls/emails stop coming in and if you get to 3 you are in total no work mode. So my advice take at least 2 weeks.


I hope you enjoyed some time off this year, use up all that vacation time, do not leave it behind and make it worth it. Do not look back on the year and wonder where your vacations went. Build some memories, take care of you and disconnect from the work. Doing this will help you prepare to be the best you can at work and at home.


Recommendation:


I believe this is the one, as noted I lost my copy. I will say there is nothing earthshaking in this book, but some good words of wisdom throughout, from what I can recall.


 
 
 

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