It’s 7:45pm, and your friends are waiting for you to leave the house. There is a restaurant reservation for you all at 7:30pm, but the restaurant won’t seat anyone until the whole party is there, and you feel like you can’t leave until you check emails and finish a call from work. This is easy to do, especially if you work remote. What makes matters worse is that you’re in Cape Town, South Africa for your best friend’s birthday dinner.
This is the reality. According to LinkedIn, 60% of people check-in to work while on vacation once a day. We’ve all done it. Logging in to make sure everything is good while we’re away or answering a call knowing that we’re supposed to be completely offline. The whole reason we’re on vacation is to get a break from work. But we tend to work while on vacation, not really giving us time to take a break. It’s an endless cycle that we wonder why we’re tired all year round.
Whether its email or Slack is hard to escape the grind of work when you’re supposed to be logged off. And truthfully, it can take a day or two to really get in the groove and get used to being on vacay. Especially if you’ve been heads down for a while.
Travel hacks to leave work at work
One of the main reasons, we’re not able to disconnect is that we think we’re going to fall behind on the job, perception of someone assuming we’re neglecting our duties by not being available all the time, or the fear that a problem will escalate if we’re not there.
If we don’t take the time to disengage how do we expect to rejuvenate from the actual working days. It’s not really a vacation if you are checking in with the office every day. You need to refresh and give back to yourself.
The key is to plan ahead and give yourself time to transition from work to play mode. Let’s take a look …
1. Go through your Out-of-office checklist
The OOO checklist is a list in order to help you close out tasks and leave work before vacation knowing you’ve covered all your basis. If you haven’t already subscribed to our newsletter we offer a FREE Checklist bundle which includes OOO checklist, 30 day wellness challenge, and an Essentials travel packing list.
2. Turn off email and Slack notifications
Turn off any work communication notifications on your phone. And if you’re really into disengaging, uninstall social media apps on your device. You’ll be surprised at how quiet and refreshed you feel from taking a pause from technology. Note this is the light version vs nuclear version, which is to challenge you to do a digital detox (POV: What?! my phone is my life).
3. Talk to your boss about the best time to take off
Most companies have busy and slow seasons. Communicate with your manager the best times during the seasons to vacation, thus increasing your chances of being left alone and feeling good about leaving work at work.
If there are rarely any downtimes where you work, try bookending the holidays by two or three days. This also works for those given 15-20 vacation days for the year. You’d be surprised at how much you can do and how far you can go with two or three days added to the July 4th holiday, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving breaks.
4. Create a plan for co-workers
Create, document, and communicate a handoff plan to co-workers for any high-priority responsibilities while you’re out. Come up with a list of tasks that need immediate attention and their status so they can be picked up while you’re away. If you’re lucky, all the fires will have been put out by the time you return.
- Project Name – What’s the name
- Project Priority – What’s the current state
- Project Status – ToDo, InProgress,
- Project Description – Summary of the project
- Project Handoff – What’s left to do
5. Just say no
Saying no is hard, especially at work.
Though there is power in saying No.
Your manager ask you for one more thing or a multi-day task with a tight deadline when you’re heading out the door. You want to help but you already have a lot on your plate and you’re supposed to start your PTO tomorrow.
The best thing to do is pause (don’t say exactly what comes first to mind). Say nothing and don’t respond immediately. Pausing is a strategy to always keep in your back pocket for many different scenarios.
Then thank them for thinking of you, and let them know you have XYZ on your to do list right now. Ask them if they would like you to prioritize their ask over XYZ. Put it back on them to make the choice of what can wait and what gets done right away. Let them own the decision and juggle resourcing with the other project while you enjoy your girls’ trip in Portugal.
If you have a healthy relationship with your manager and are confident in your communication, saying no I can’t do this work at this time because there isn’t enough time shouldn’t be a problem. Your manager’s job is to not only care about your output but care for your well-being and burnout state.
6. Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize
Have you seen a hoarder show, like XZE, and they ask the person, what do you want to keep, donate, or volunteer. Every project doesn’t have the same priority. Everything doesn’t need to be done right away. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with everything you have to get done, divide your day into tasks. Make sure that there is an even number of projects in each bucket.
- Keep – Will take on personally and prioritize even further later
- Donate – Delegate to someone else that has bandwidth or the skills to do right away
- Throw Away – Put the work in the backlog; can be done another day (or year)
7. Timebox your work
Timeboxing is a time management technique of breaking your projects up into incremental blocks. It helps to give each project dedicated time to complete and once the time is up a decision need to be made. For example, if you have 3 projects, Project A, B, and C. You choose to dedicate 45 minutes to each project, here’s an example of calendar day …
Similar to the Pomodora technique
• Work on a task for 25 minutes (and only that task, no emails or messages).
• Take a 5-minute break. (No skipping! The breaks are a crucial and restorative aspect of the process.)
• Repeat until the task is complete.
If you have meetings throughout the day, schedule your 45 minute timeboxed projects around the meetings. Be certain to schedule lunch and focus time on your calendar indefinitely for years out to make sure you’re able to have time to eat without working and focus without distractions.
Plan your day strategically, incorporating restorative breaks and focused work sessions.
Breaks should be sprinkled throughout the day to give you time for yourself. Also, they help to clear your mind and get your creative juices flowing. This is extremely important when you’re stuck on a problem, looking for a solution.
Quick Tip 1 – If you find that a lot of people reach out to you often for help, setup office hours, which is dedicated time on your calendar that anyone can engage with you, two-three times a week. Communicate to everyone that these office hours are the opportunity to get help from you.
Quick Tip 2 – If you’re a manager and you have meetings everyday all day, try to schedule each block for 25 min which gives you 5 min after each meeting. They maybe smaller increments but they will make a big difference for you mind and energy by the end of day.
8. Set boundaries between family and work time
Especially for remote workers, when you can work anywhere. It can be difficult to set hard boundaries between professional and personal life, especially when working from home. There isn’t a long commute or empty office to indicate the change in time or mode. Here are some ideas to help you logoff and set parameters around your time …
- Calendar Blocking – Blocking off and hour of focus time or DNS (Do not schedule) on your calendar at the beginning and end of the day; make sure its clear to everyone how you will be spending your time to get things done; thus no one should schedule a meeting or expect a response within those times; helping the transition to fade-in in the morning and fade-out in the afternoon
- Time Tracking Apps – Clockwise
- Support System – Get people around you to hold you accountable
- Treat family dinner as a sacred ritual
9. Prioritize self-care and relaxation
Self-care is easier said than done, especially when you have a lot on your plate. Though it’s important to start somewhere, even if it’s only for 15 minutes. Similar for when you make list to manage time at work, the same should be done personally. Remember to prioritize yourself by putting yourself on your own to-do list.
You may not be able to put off a leak in the house or the kids but you don’t have to fix Instagram-ready meals every night either. You can order healthy and convenient meals like CookUnity for the days you’re too busy to be in the kitchen long. There isn’t a manual saying that you have to do everything and perfectly. Get help where you can.
Work will always be there, though it’s important to nurture your health, family, and relationships. Ultimately, you are the most important factor in the equation, so make sure to take time for yourself and engage in activities that bring you joy. Stay present in your life and remain focused on your goals with diligence and discipline.
10. Leave space and time
Pause. Another tip is to leave a day in between your travels and return date from work so you can recoup. If all else fails and you have to work up until the last hour, ensure that you are gaining back time for yourself.
For example – If you are traveling from Friday – Sunday, also take off Monday to just be still and do nothing. Do nothing. Having time between travel and work, before jumping back in the swing of things is crucial. It’s a mental health day.
In Conclusion
As a career woman finding time for oneself and relaxing amidst the stresses of work, adulting, and life responsibilities can be challenging. These hurdles require us to challenge the beliefs surrounding work-life balance, prioritizing self-care, setting clear boundaries, communicating effectively with colleagues about availability expectations, and cultivating a supportive work culture that values employee well-being.
No one will ever value you if you don’t value yourself first.
What are some techniques that you’ve tried to balance your work and personal life?
If you would like to see more exclusives of our work smart, self-care habits, and travel hacks, subscribe to our newsletter.
