Q: How can I find time to take a vacation? A: How can you NOT find time?One thing I always did when I worked for past employers was to take all of my vacation time. Since they never paid for the days you didn't use, I figured the days must be there for a reason.
They are. The time is given to you to rest, repair, revitalize end even reinvent yourself. Look at it this way: You wouldn't neglect showing up for work for a few weeks. But you would neglect showing up when your loved ones are counting on you? If you look at it that way, taking your vacation makes sense, doesn’t it?
Have you ever found that it takes about three days to unwind from work? After that point, you start to enjoy yourself and realize that this time off is necessary and can be fun.
Here's an extra bonus...most people find that they end up jotting down creative ideas that they hadn't thought of at work. That's because the right side of your brain (the creative side) takes you to places you would not have gone had it been a typical day at the office.
To fully answer the question of the person above, you may not be looking forward to working extra hard the week before you go on vacation and the week you get back. Ask yourself how you handled that pace? Maybe you could work more efficiently every day. (We’ll discuss that in a future blog.)
ACTION STEPS FOR THIS WEEK
Take time to think about how you should approach your vacation time:
- Determine how many weeks of vacation you have and block them off.
- Figure out where you are going to go in advance and write those places on your calendar.
- Build up your vacation fund so that you always have money for some type of vacation.
- Set as few appointments as possible for the day before and the day after vacation.
