Tips to Disconnect and Make the Most of Your Holidays, Before, During and After
11 de July de 2022
11 de July de 2022
When it comes to holidays, we’re all experts. Summer holidays are the ultimate holidays, capital letters, the great break of the working year. As soon as we get to the office, we mark the calendar and start imagining our special plans. There may be other minor holidays and long holidays throughout the year that make it all more bearable but, in most cases, it’s only during the summer holidays that we can take whole weeks off.
However, just like work, holidays require our full dedication. They are not just a right, but a need. Psychologists and HR experts know that a successful disconnection positively affects the performance and mood of workers for the rest of the working calendar.
In this article, we’ll talk about the benefits of enjoying holidays to the fullest and we’ll give you some tips to learn how to disconnect. But before we get started, let’s take a look at the benefits of taking holidays!
-Stress and Wellbeing: The summer break lowers our stress level considerably and provides us with a wellbeing that will help us face the rest of the year. Its effects can be felt on the body, our blood pressure and the quality of our sleep.
-Reflection: Stopping for a while helps us think about our activity and on how to address things when we return. During the maelstrom of the office days, it’s not always possible to find the chance to present ideas for improvements with a clear head.
-Creativity: It’s important we develop our hobbies in order to have a good performance at work. Holidays are the perfect moment to take time for those things we like and we may not have the time in our day to day.
-Prioritise: Be sure to get everything important in order; whatever isn’t a priority can wait until you come back. If you left something that can be solved later, practice detachment. You can deal with it in September.
-Delegate: There are many who are incapable of trusting their collaborators and, if they do, they don’t do it just like that. They need to be the ones in charge and supervise everything. That is not the best idea when it comes to disconnecting. Learn to delegate and to be able to leave with a clear mind after having left the ground ready. It’s an art in which you should become fluent. And it’s the only way in which to really escape work mentally.
-Automate: Everything that can be solved without being present at the office is time and tranquillity that you gain. If your work allows it, automate processes and routines. Sometimes, it’s something as basic as preparing an automated message in your email so that others can respect your break.
-Disconnect: Do it. Don’t let it be just a thing you say. Disconnection must be absolute, the greatest possible depending on your possibilities and line of work. Your mind and body need it and your performance will depend on how good your break goes.
-No Devices: Disconnection must also —and mainly— be digital. We spend our days hooked on our computers, tablets and smartphones. Our work is becoming increasingly dependent on being hyperconnected. Don’t be afraid to leave your devices in the drawers or even turn them off completely.
-Do Something Different: Holidays are the only time of the year in which we have the time to enjoy travelling or more or less elaborate plans (sometimes, just sunbathing will do the trick). That’s why, when holidays come, don’t forget to make the most of them.
-Focus on People: Work takes time, time we could use to see our families and friends. Holidays are the perfect moment to work on those relationships, go out with our loved ones and enjoy personal contact.
-Improve Your Habits: Whether it’s better quality of sleep or starting a new sport, holidays can help us develop new habits that we can keep for the rest of the year.
-Come Back a Few Days Earlier: Get back home, to your routine, a few days earlier, before your holidays are over. In this way, the transition will be less abrupt. You can organise your return to work with more calm.
-Positive Attitude: Yes, it’s all over now, but you knew it would be this way. Going back to work requires a positive mind and some optimism. If you have enjoyed your holidays to the fullest, and if you have truly disconnected, it will be much easier to adapt when you come back.
-Set Achievable Goals: Readaptation has to be gradual. Before you go back to the office, set some short-term goals. Don’t be ambitious and don’t just start working like crazy.