Increasing Work Productivity While on Vacation in 5 Easy Steps

Ah, vacations! Do you prefer visiting Europe’s museums, snorkeling in Hawaii, meditating on a spiritual retreat or enjoying some other pastime? Regardless of your pleasure, vacations are supposed to be relaxing. Time to unwind.  Renew.  Refresh. Right?

In the past, have you ever left for vacation in a frantic rush?  Did you continue to worry incessantly about work while you were “relaxing”? Did you find yourself planning your vacation while on vacation because you couldn’t find a second before? And did you return to a huge pile of work or an office that clearly did not function effectively while you were gone?

Rather than asking yourself why you ever left and missing out on the tranquility your vacation was meant for, below is a summary of steps you can take for increasing work productivity while on vacation, reduce the likelihood of crisis while away and plan an awesome vacation so you can truly kick back and relax:

Five Steps to Your Fantastic Vacation

1. Plan your vacation by scheduling blocks of time.
From researching places of interest to booking hotels, car rental and activities, planning a vacation requires a little dedication.  Schedule a few blocks of times in your calendar to ensure that you make reservations and complete preparations long in advance. This will help you relax and also save you dollars!

2. Brainstorm about ideas of what you might do on your vacation ahead of time.
You never know what opportunities will present themselves. I have found the “For Dummies” books to be really helpful in selecting activities, places to visit, and other options that I would not have considered on my own. Also, look through online travel blogs for insider tips.

3. Schedule time to take care of work responsibilities & details.
Yes, another scheduling suggestion but it is part of the proactive planning that will ensure increasing work productivity while you are away so you can relax.

•    For people who need to know you will be gone, send out an e-mail announcement, set up an email auto responder directing inquiries to the designated person and change your voicemail message. Designating someone else to contact with questions in your absence will allow you to unplug while away. Let them know in these communications.
•    A couple weeks in advance, schedule specific blocks of time to complete necessary work projects.
•    If there are things that need to be done while you are gone, arrange someone else to do them. Write a description of how to do the tasks, if needed, to ensure their success and your serenity.
•    Creating a list of all your essential tasks is not only handy for this trip but is reusable for all future vacations.

4. Prepare your home for your absence.
From paying bills to having someone feed the cats, cover all basics. As you did for work, create a reusable list of how to prepare. Set up times to complete the list. Tell the key people in your life that you will be gone and how to reach you in case of an emergency.

5. Block out at least one day at work and one at home after vacation.
Give yourself two days to reintegrate so as to not go into an immediate rush that will undo all the rest and relaxation just achieved. Keep these days free from meetings and other appointments. Remember, if you are like most people, you’ll probably return to 400 to 700 e-mails and piles of snail mail, plus a suitcase to unpack. Before you leave, schedule enough time for each of these items and consider letting people know you are back a day later than you really are.

Using the above advice, you will be increasing work productivity while and vacation as well as before, and after your time off.  Mostly, it will make your vacation experience many times more enjoyable – for you and whoever is on vacation with you.  Now that will make your vacation dollars well spent!

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Todd Benton is a consultant and coach who helps business owners, executives, managers and individual contributors fulfill their potential in buinsess without compromising their well-being, personal goals and aspirations. For the past 15 years, Todd has led a variety of programs and consulting engagements and has coached thousands of people in communication, teamwork and productivity. Todd has delivered programs and consulting to organizations such as Microsoft, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Adobe Systems, Boeing, Wells Fargo and many others. Todd’s business can be found on the web at www.bentoncg.com.

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