Optimizing Your Time Off Work

Everyone loves a good vacation! Time off work is critical to our health and happiness. Studies show people who take vacations have lower stress, less risk of heart disease, a better outlook on life, and more motivation to achieve their goals. Knowing how important they are, lets discuss what we can do to optimize them for maximum effect.

The fear we all have with vacations is we’ll come out the other side feeling the same or worse as we did before. We fear going back to work unrested and unfulfilled with a pile of things a mile high to catch up on. To avoid this outcome let’s ask ourselves the core question – what is the purpose of a vacation?

When I was younger, I thought vacations were about basking in the freedom from all responsibilities and spending every moment I could doing whatever I felt like doing next. My thought process was, “Finally, I'm off the hook! I’ve earned the right to be a lazy blob!” Ironically, even though now I have more responsibilities than ever that’s not the thing I look forward to most. Now I believe vacations are more about rounding out who I am. 

We all need to work to make a living, but our jobs don’t define us. There’s more to who we are than our 9-5. Time off work allows us to spend time and energy on those other activities that make us a whole, well-rounded person.

The following are things I do to create an effective vacation. Four things that round me out and help me launch back to work reenergized to take on the world!

Recovery

It almost goes without saying but spending time resting is key. Disconnect from work by limiting work related activities to half an hour per day. Don’t be “checking-in” throughout the day. Try to spend less time scrolling/browsing as both tire the brain. Take things slower, focus on savoring moments instead of trying to get on to the next one. Nothing wrong with watching a movie, playing video games or checking Instagram but try to limit those to make room for the next three things.

Realignment

In the busyness of life it’s normal to feel pulled in a million directions throughout day. Tasks stack up and it’s easy to forget the important things – who we are, what we value, and what we want to create with our life. 

Spending time on vacation realigning with our true nature and desires closes the gap between who we are and who we want to be. Journal responses to the following questions on your next vacation to achieve higher levels of clarity.

• What am I grateful for in my life?
• What challenges have I overcome? What am I proud of accomplishing?
• What did I learn from overcoming those challenges?
• What qualities or attributes do I value and want to grow in? (e.g. kindness, patience, love.)
• What kind of person do I aspire to be at work, with my family, and otherwise? How can I show up in those situations as my best self?
• What goals that are deeply important to me have I yet to accomplish?
• What is one step I could take towards achieving one of those goals?

Investing an hour or so in reflection on your next vacation could be the highlight of your trip! Few things are as satisfying as realigning with who you are. 

Relationship

Vacations are the perfect time to connect with those we love. Research on people’s moods throughout their vacations shows spending time with close friends and family creates more happiness than almost anything else we do during our time off.

Create space for conversation by keeping healthy margins between activities throughout the day. Let comfortable silences happen. If you can, think of a few things you’d really like to talk about with your loved ones and have those topics in mind before the trip. That way when the opportunity arises you can get to know your close people on a deeper level by moving small talk down to more meaty topics.

Enthusiasm

Did you know that studies show some people feel more happy planning their vacations than actually being on them? Whether you feel more alive during the buildup or the while actually on the trip the point is it’s important to get excited for your vacation. Plan for doing things you know you love to do. I call this my “nerd” time. I love reading books and watching trainings around the topic of personal development. For you it might be something different. The key is to let yourself geek out about it. Even if no one really understands it or it has no practical value. Whether it’s Legos, fashion, nature, robotics, Psychology or crafts just spend some time having fun doing your thing on vacation.

Build in time to do new things as well. Plan ahead a few places you want to visit during your time off that you feel truly enthusiastic about seeing. If you can, save something really special for the last day. This way your whole vacation you have something to look forward to!

Recovery, realignment, relationship, and enthusiasm. Four pieces of a great vacation that round us out. I hope by using this framework your next vacation can be even more meaningful, exciting, and refreshing. Ultimately, we don’t want to be living for our vacations, but we can’t live a good life without them. So let’s be intentional about optimizing them so we can be the people we want to be all year round.

Best,

Joey