There’s no denying that we all love a holiday, what’s better than spending a couple of weeks sunbathing down the beach or exploring a new city? What we don’t love so much is that nag in the back of your brain that you’ve forgotten to do something important back at work and that you absolutely must check your emails straight away.
These are 5 of my tips on how to wrap up before your holiday to ensure an email-free vacation from the office.
Check your Deadlines
Before you get too stressed out about the 101 projects you might have running at any time, have a sit down with your line manager and agree on what must be done before you leave and what can be left until you get back.
Human not Superhero
Following on from my previous point, remember that you will never get everything done on your to-do list before you go – unless you truly are a superhero! Decide what needs to be done now, what you can come back to when you return and delegate as much as you can.
Your Out of Office Message
Set a clear message so that anybody contacting you will know your return date and that you won’t be available via email. Also make sure to leave an alternative email and phone number so you can be assured if anything urgent does come through by email, they’ll have somebody to contact.
Another tip is to set your return day for one day later than you’ll actually be back, that way you’ll have a day to go through your emails and be assured that nobody will be expecting a response from you just yet.
Set Expectations
To ease your worry that the office is burning to the ground with you gone (you know; we all think it!) set expectations for when your colleagues can contact you whilst you’re away. For example, we can contact some of our Productivity Ninjas to confirm dates for workshops via text if it’s an urgent request.
Schedule your first week back before you go
As you wrap up for your holiday, take some time to go over what will need to be done on your first week back by making a note of any meetings, calls or deadlines so it’s less of a surprise when you get back.
Are you getting ready for a holiday? What are you doing to avoid thinking and doing work while you’re on holiday? Let us know @thinkproductive