October 27, 2020

It’s always a task to frisk back to the groove after a frolicking vacation. Yet, there’s no way but to leave behind the sun-kissed days at the beach and crawl back to the reality of the workplace. I say ‘crawl’ and not ‘jump’ because the harder you try to pull your mind out of the vacation zone, the more tasking it would get. The idea is to take your time, be lenient to yourself, gradually train your mood, allow the work reminders sweetly knock at you until you are reloaded to get back into action. Here are 5 simple, yet effective hacks to find your rhythm back to work after vacation.

Do not rush into doing things all at once

Ideally, it’s always a good idea to take a day before going back to work after vacation. Given that time might not be luxuriously available to many, take the day slow, even if you are getting down to business the very next day after the break. Take time to clean and jazz up the desk, order your favourite comfort food, roughly run through the pending plans, and make a few phone calls to reconnect. This way, you will allow the much-needed time for your mind to relax, recuperate, and come to terms with your demanding business schedules.

Take time to plan out the day

You might be someone who prefers going with the flow than planning the day ahead. But to get yourself back to business post a holiday, charting a to-do-list for the day and the next is a wise bet. This helps you revisit the work that needs to be done and prioritize immediate actions.

Start with the pending tasks rather than jumping straight away to the new projects. This will give you a sense of familiarity that shall help you get back to the groove early. Focus on tasks that come easy to you without taking much time. Small successes help boost confidence before setting off to strike big.

Don’t get lost in the mailbox

Expect unread mails piling up in the mailbox while you were vacationing. Do not spend too much time answering the emails you had missed during the break. It will stress you out more and you end up confusing email activities with productive work. Rather use your time strategically and only respond to the emails that are time-sensitive and need your immediate attention for yielding fruitful outcomes.

Drop a greeting to the stakeholders

Utilise the time to reconnect with your team and stakeholders, letting them know that you are back and ready to talk business. Try to stay more informal in your tone, asking them about their whereabouts, and sharing a few anecdotes from your trip. This helps restrike an immediate connection and plaster the lapse in the communication while you were bonding with your friends or family at a holiday destination.

Get back to work with a new perspective

Going back to work after a vacation is likely to trigger immediate stress considering the workload that you had left behind for that much-needed break. Yet, know that the vacation was essential for you to clear the mental impasse and come back with a bang. Sometimes, getting away from the business for a short while becomes important to give a kickstart to the work. Be open to the idea of embracing fresh perspectives post a break and you will be surprised with the gush of new ideas flowing to give your business strategies a fresh standpoint.

Failures are unpredictable. Being an entrepreneur, you must have especially encountered failures like no one else. From Rovio to Microsoft, there are numerous examples of how the startup founders made failure their stepping stones and rose from the ashes like a Phoenix to achieve success. Here are a few simple hacks to deal with failures.