How to go on vacation to those who can’t “just take it and quit everything”

Rest is needed for effective work

If you constantly or often refuse full leave for the sake of business, you should know that this sacrifice can do much more harm than your absence for a couple of weeks.

The head of the marketing agency hedgehog Natalia Yuldasheva the eternal rush is familiar firsthand. But she is sure that this is not a reason for pride. A year ago, a master class broke out at the agency, because a 30-year-old cook came down with a stroke. This event so impressed her that since then the agency respected the balance between work and personal life. “Once I started to get enough sleep and quickly realized that a resting brain can do more, and the notorious effectiveness is measured not by the number of hours, but by the efficiency of these hours. Efficiency will inevitably be higher if you learn to "refuel your engine." You won’t go far by car when there’s gasoline in the tank at the bottom? ”Natalya says.

Psychologists confirm: if you work too much, most likely, efficiency leaves much to be desired. According to the psychologist and career counselor, founder of the Who Am Psychology Center, Ludmila Saloid, the more a person goes to work and the longer he does not rest, the more vulnerable and unproductive he becomes.

Paradoxically, the development of technology, artificial intelligence and other digital solutions, which should have made our lives easier, on the contrary made its rhythm more intense. People spend more and more time on gadgets, sacrifice sleep, solve work issues in their personal time. Increased workloads lead to burnout and reduced productivity, not to mention health problems.

From overloads close to neurosis and depression. And in industrious Japan there is the term “karoshi”, which means death from overwork at work.

To maintain health, the ability to think and create, you need at least three weeks of annual leave, researchers at Ohio State University found out. Scientists, doctors and psychologists agree: breathing space is needed to work productively, find innovative solutions, and communicate effectively with colleagues and clients.

How to set yourself up for a vacation
Anyone who is afraid of vacation will have to try to develop a mood for him.

Stage 1 - “turn off the head”
Psychologists warn: the very person who does not let you go on vacation is most likely you yourself, and not at all the boss or stupid colleagues who cannot be entrusted with anything.

Workaholics are advised to reconsider their attitude to rest. “As a rule, the reason“ there is no one to leave work for ”is just a convenient excuse not to go on vacation. The real reasons are subjective attitudes, behavioral patterns, the way of thinking and psychological characteristics of a person. Some reasons are rooted in childhood or are the result of a neurosis, ”explains Anna Zhuravleva, a game practitioner, psychologist and consultant.

According to psychologist Olga Valle, work takes too much time in our lives when we ourselves allow it. Employment allows many to feel significant. “When we prefer to negotiate instead of taking time for ourselves, relaxation, or family, this is an escape from real life that can bring you joy. We need to understand why you are running away from joy, ”the expert concludes.

To set herself up for a vacation, Anna Zhuravleva advises using the method of associations, visualization and resource memories. Write down or draw, at least in an abstract form, pleasant associations and memories associated with a vacation. Find your favorite souvenirs from previous vacations. These items can be picked up, examined and listened to the pleasant sensations that arise from contact with them.

Remember three stories from your holidays - the brightest, funniest and most romantic, close your eyes and mentally transport yourself to some place from one story, then from another, third.

Hang over the table an attractive photograph of the place where you would like to relax - it can be a landscape or a view of the hotel, even a photograph of a local national dish or something of local color.

You can watch films and programs about travel, listen to stories and read articles on this topic.

Stage 2 - Prepare Well
Now that you have allowed yourself a vacation, it’s worth remembering the principles of time management, so that on the eve of your departure you will avoid overloads and not be distracted by work matters on a trip.

Make a plan. Write down your upcoming projects and tasks: a list before your eyes will reduce your fear of forgetting something, and help you plan your workload.

Set priorities. Highlight those tasks and projects that really depend only on you, and no one else can cope with them. Maximum free for them a week before and the first days after vacation. See what tasks are uncritical to move in terms of time, agree on this in advance. Specify the priorities for the last week especially carefully, do not try to do everything. It’s better not to plan meetings and big tasks on the last day before the holidays - most likely, you will finish something in a hurry.

Seek help. Learn to delegate. Believe me, at first it is difficult for everyone, but this is an inevitable process for any leader. If you have people subordinate, do not be afraid to appoint those responsible: your employees need to grow, let them prove themselves and manage on their own.

If you are a line employee, discuss your absence with the manager in advance, tell him about those areas where you may need the help of colleagues, discuss who will insure you, put the shift officer in the know, and write him a memo on the most important tasks.

Minimize communication
On vacation, try to relax as much as possible to restore strength and productivity. If it is impossible to leave without a laptop or access to mail, arrange with colleagues what hours and days you will be in touch. You will be surprised, but most of the supposedly urgent issues that have arisen in the morning, which seem to be impossible to resolve without your urgent intervention, lose urgency by evening. Or is there a way to solve them without you. Therefore, if you are always available, you will be pulled for any reason, and if you turn off instant messengers and will be available only at the agreed time, there will be much less urgent questions.

Leave one communication channel (messenger or mail) so as not to drown in messages. On vacation, adhere to arrangements and respond only to the agreed periods.

On the last business day, turn off alerts in work chats to avoid the temptation to constantly check it. And write a friendly auto reply for business email. For example, this: “Hello, dear colleague! I am on vacation from July 1-14. For urgent matters, you can contact Marina, she replaces me. If it’s impossible without me, you can write in such a messenger, but I will only check messages from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., and the rest of the time I will have a holy rest :) I'll be back with delicious things! ”

You can decide on a desperately bold act: to declare to everyone that you are leaving for a place where there will be no connection at all. And really turn it off. One very decisive boss did just that, and when he returned ... he did not regret anything. No force majeure happened, the employees did just fine without him. There are jokes in jokes, but there are really many such stories about the first full-time vacation in a long time. It is enough to try once to understand: if everything is organized correctly, then your weekly or even two-week absence cannot become critical for the business you are doing.

How to return from vacation
The first days after a vacation are no less stressful than the eve of departure. Do not try to redo all the accumulated things at once, even if you feel a surge of strength or horror at how much has accumulated. To begin, ask to bring you up to date - what happened during your absence. Then make a list of tasks, set priorities and gradually return to working mode.

Yes, and do not forget about coffee breaks with colleagues to share pleasant impressions and refreshments from the trip!