068: Getting back into the swing of things after vacation?

What if instead of feeling bad about not being productive on your first days back from vacation, you’d take the opportunity to improve how you operate?

In this episode I talk about a couple of things that can make it hard to settle back into work, even if you're generally someone who's ambitious and gets things done. Then I'll share 8 ideas for how you could ease back into work while preparing for the coming months – before you're back in a routine.

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What if instead of feeling bad about not being productive right away on your first days back from vacation, you’d take the opportunity to improve how you operate?

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I’ve got a quick one for you this week, because chances are that if you’re listening to a podcast with this topic, you’d rather not waste a lot of time.

I was talking to someone earlier this week, who has taken a big step back from marketing their business in the past year or so, and on top of it they’ve just had a lot of time off this summer. But now they’re getting back into the swing of things, and we talked about how it can feel quite hard after a break – especially a long one. 

So I got the idea to hop on the mic and chat to you about why it’s hard to get back into work, and then talk a bit about how you could deal with that.

So why it’s hard to get back into work – you know me, it’s hard to pinpoint just one thing because all this stuff is so nuanced. But I’d like to talk about a couple of things that might be at play.

We are wired to basically put in as little effort as possible in order to stay alive. So when you’re taking time away, your brain kinda collects proof that you’re still kept alive even if you’re not working. So it’ll kinda just be like Oh hey, we can just lounge in a sun chair or climb mountains or hang out with friends, and not die.

Getting work done is a form of stress that we put on ourselves, on our bodies and minds – and stress is someting that the body wants to avoid if it’s not necessary. Meaning, it’s only natural that once you in theory want to get back to doing all the things, that our brain and body resist.

But especially if you feel like you’d rather be on vacation, then there’s not much reason for the brain to get convinced, either.

The other thing that can make it hard, is a bit of like, a high-achiever struggle. This is if you’ve kinda wrapped up who you are, your identity, into being an ambitious, get-things-done person. And then you go on vacation, or for some reason take a step back from your business, and you kinda realize that OH, there’s a lot more to life than just running a successful business. So when you get back to your business, there might be that internal tug that’s saying OH HEY, there’s more to life out there – and it can feel a bit tricky reconciling the ambitous you with the person who wants to do things that have nothing to do with your ambitions.

 So when I was on that call a few days ago, we talked about how we can start to worry that if I give into the relaxed vacation-me a bit too much, my business might suffer, and like – who am I even, if I’m not 170% focused on my business goals?

So we talked about how important it is to believe, that just because you’re not putting *all your available time* into the business, it doesn’t mean that you’re not ambitious. You can still work hard, you can still have ambitious goals for your work time – and then step away and do all the cool stuff outside of your business.

So how do we deal with this, how can you make this transition from vacation to work easier?

I’d like to invite you to see that transition time, which maybe is the first few days, as a positive thing. It gives you an opportunity to evaluate things in your business before you’re sucked into the everyday workings of it. Before you’ve gotten back into a routine.

I’m just going to rapid-fire some ideas for what you could do during that transition time:

1. Let yourself ease back into work – I would not schedule any calls, client proejcts and things like that into the first couple of days.

2. Give yourself some time to settle back in into the physical space where you usually work. Maybe you want to do some organizing in your workspace that’ll help you in the long run, or just make some small changes to enjoy your space more. Maybe you wanna give it a good clean to feel like you’re startnig fresh.

3. See what’s coming up that you need to keep in mind over the next few weeks and months, whether they’re work-related things or just life-related things.

4. Get clear on what it is you want to accomplish in the next few weeks or months, which can then help you decide what actions you need to take. (I’m recording another episode right after this one where I talk about a different way to approach goal setting, so keep an eye out for that!)

5. Take stock of what needs to be done first, what are the things that you’d like to work on in the coming days – this way you’re not gonna have to make so many decisions once you actually feel ready to focus on work.

6. Check in on some fellow business owners, maybe set up a chat time with them.

7. Think about what was really great about your vacation, what made you feel happy – and see if you could incorporate some of that into your workweeks permanently in some way. For example, if you really loved sitting out on a patio when you ate breakfast each morning, can you recreate that magic for yourself somehow? Can you sit out on your balcony, or even just sit by a window but actually you know, look out instead of scrolling your phone.

If we experience these little things we enjoy in our everyday lives, we’re not quite as desperate to get another vacation asap. (Now if you’ve been around for a while, you know that I’m of course not saying that this is a trick to help you avoid taking time off – I’m just saying, we all deserve to enjoy ourselves during our workweeks, too. Life is just more fun if it’s not all about getting stuff done, and bypassing our feelings. It’s easier to enjoy our vacations too, if we’re not coming into them after having felt miserable for a long time) 

Idea 8: Make room for those things that make you feel like a fuller person, those things that aren’t just about being an ambitious business person. This is technically like the previous tip, but goes a bit deeper into who you are. What did you notice during your vacation that really matters to you, and how can you lean more into that in your everyday life? Do you want to be more in contact with your friends? Do you want to learn something new that has nothing to do with business, like paint, pottery, or gardening? Did being outside more make you really happy, so now you want to add “I’m an outdoors person” as part of your identity?

I hope that this was helpful to you, actually if it was, could you let me know? Through email or on Instagram would be awesome. Or if you’re feeling super generous, why not write a review for the podcast on apple podcasts?

I’m gonna head off to back to Finland in just a few days on a solo trip, I haven’t been back for 4.5 years, so I’m a bit nervous about the flying but excited to see everyone after such a long break. I’ll be back two weeks later, so soon enough I’ll be having some vacation transition days myself.

Thank you so much for spending your valuable time with me, hope you have a beautiful week. Bye.