How to prepare for vacation without feeling overwhelmed? 🧘🏼♀️

With the summer period fast approaching here in Europe, it should feel like a time to relax and unwind. However, for many, the thought of leaving work behind can be overwhelming. The fear of unfinished tasks and the anxiety of jumping back into a busy schedule can sometimes overshadow the joy of a well-deserved break.

So, how can we ensure we genuinely disconnect and make the most of the time off? I saw a colleague asking for advise about this last week on LinkedIn. Planning and optimizing my own work is, as many of you know, one of my favorite topics 🤓 so I gave her my best tips and thought it would be fun (yes I am a nerd here) to elaborate a bit on this topic and share some practical tips on what I do to prepare for a longer vacation to make it easier to recharge.

Also, my social media guru Mona Jiang has challenged me to make longer posts into an article instead. 😁 So, here goes.

Make a list (or two)

1️⃣ Pre-vacation to-do list:

• Write it down: Instead of letting tasks swirl around in your head, get them down on paper. This simple action can significantly reduce stress. I try to keep as little as possible in my head and instead in my todo-list (+ I forget otherwise...).
• Prioritize: Identify what is most critical to get done before vacation and tackle those items first. Focus on high-impact tasks to ensure nothing critical is left unfinished.
• Work through the list: Just do it. Don't be afraid to delegate where possible, but otherwise, just focus and get things done. These are the tasks you don't want to leave hanging, so just do it.
• Everything else: just leave it. Even if you want to empty your todo-list, there might not be enough time so focus on the most important things, and leave the rest. Some is probably not important anyway, some can wait until you are back. Prioritize.

2️⃣ Post-vacation priorities:

• Plan ahead: Before you leave for vacation, make a list of the most important tasks to tackle when you get back. Write it down. This will help clear your mind and provide a sense of control. Keep a list at home and add any tasks that come to mind during your vacation, without letting them weigh you down.
• Block the first day back: I always try to block the first day after vacation to avoid too many meetings on that day. This gives me a chance to catch-up on what happened during my vacation, organize my email, go through my tasks and prioritize, read up on the intranet, get stuff done and just get prepared and organized. Imagine the difference from starting with back-to-back meetings the first day, you get behind directly. This can make a significant difference in starting off smoothly.
• Give yourself a buffer: Sometimes I even plan my vacation so that my official start date is eg Monday, but my true start date is Thursday or Friday before, and I can work under-cover for a few days, totally alone and able to focus fully 🕵🏼

By doing this, I have a better overview of what I need to get done and I get a chance to start off in a good way once back. It gives me piece of mind, a good starting-point for being able to relax during a vacation.

Remember, the goal is to fully recharge, so you return more productive and efficient. 😎

What are your best tips to unwind or restart? If you made it this far in the text, you might as well share a few tips in the comments below 👇🏼

Wishing everyone a great summer! ☀️