A Zen Holiday

The summer is gearing up and we are gearing towards holidays. But few can afford the luxury of simply closing their laptops, turning off their phones and disappearing from the surface of the world. For most of us, there is an agenda that needs to be prepared or handed over to a colleague. Assuming, of course, we don’t want to stress about anything during our much-deserved break.

Taking at least a two-week vacation is recommended not only by holiday resorts but also many experts including coaches, therapists, or work-life balance specialists. But in two weeks, our inbox can explode, the office can catch fire and our colleagues can give into panic and become neurotic. How best to set off towards for temporary freedom? Perhaps our titanic method can help:

Give enough notice.

It is quite easy to spare your colleagues a deadly shock – let them know about your holiday early enough. There is something of an anarchistic allure in just packing up and setting off for your adventure, but it will not exactly make you the employee of the month once you get back. So, unless you want for your lunch to start magically disappearing from the fridge or for your coffee forever tasting like it’s definitely not supposed to, don’t do this.

It’s all about the to-do list.

A to-do list (such as the one which we have created for you and which you can download) can help you with your planning. Put everything you need to get done before setting sail on it. You will be aware of all your obligations, and you will also be able to make a schedule. Travelling can be stressful enough without running around, trying to get everything sorted at the last moment.

I am going on holiday, don’t write to me.

You can tell it a hundred times over and still there will be a colleague asking you when it is you are leaving and when you are getting back. Classic. Your calendar can help you here. Mark the whole period of your holiday in it. Thus, your colleagues will know you are away and if they still try to plan a meeting, the calendar itself will let them know that you are enjoying a vacation. Don’t forget to set up an automatic email containing the dates of your holiday as well. You can set similar status on other communication platforms as well.

It is also good to let the clients, external suppliers and others know that you will be taking a holiday. There is no need to boast about where you are going to them but you can provide them with the contact information of people they can communicate with in your absence.

A timeslot here and there.

If you do not wish to be disturbed on your holiday, it is a good idea to decide when you will be available on the phone or email. Some people wish to keep informed or they cannot cut themselves off from everything. They can then set a particular timeslot when they will be available. For example, ten minutes after eight in the morning or fifteen minutes after ten in the night. If you don’t want to be disturbed at all, however, keep in mind that with every email answered, you are sabotaging yourself.

Now you’re in charge, pal.

Do you have an agenda that your colleagues need to take over while you’re away? In that case, write a detailed hand-over. Not because they were incompetent, but simply to save time. Whoever will then take over your tasks will be able to complete them methodically and work faster. They will not need to ask for information or look for guidelines. Anything you can prepare in advance you should prepare. Be it contracts, invoicing data or social media content. Then you can just put a note about where to look for the materials in the hand-over.

Are you the well of wisdom in your workplace? Unless you wish to return from your holiday into the seventh circle of hell, think ahead. Do you keep reminding your colleagues of something? Do you get asked by more than three people every day where the milk is or how to turn on the copying machine? Write a list of these FAQs and leave it on your desk. After all, you can find it useful yourself when you are in the office.

And just to make sure: let somebody know where you are going and when you will be travelling. Your plane can be delayed, your car can break down. It will be good if your colleagues start missing you after a few days’ absence.

Only joking, of course. We hope you have a great holiday with minimum stress. If you want to start a new digital project after you come back, contact us and also let us know if you want to plunge into a new challenge.