LEARNING FROM YOUR VALUABLE TIME AWAYThink about these four things:First, you probably needed that time off. An entire vacation week is the best, since you know it takes you at least three days to stop thinking about work. But even an extended weekend can help. Fridays are an especially nice day to take off for an extended weekend, since you chop off one day from your regular work week and start back when you normally would-- a Monday. (Also, you won't be wondering what day it is all week long.)Second (and this is big) you feel "out of the groove" because you did things a little differently during your vacation time-- especially if you got away from home and traveled somewhere. You probably discovered a few new things you loved doing or had time to do what you DON'T normally do when you are home. This is something I talk about in my time management book PerfectTIMING and something that I see as an executive coach. Although I do want my clients to use systems that help them be efficient, I don't want them to sign up for those systems for life. They should always examine them and see if they are right for what they are facing at this point in their life.Third, learn from both things above. You need to learn how to relax AND you need to think about how you do what you do and whether you should make some changes that will make things run more efficiently or make your life more enjoyable. (You thought you were doing things efficiently and having as much fun as you could already, right? Come on. There may be a BETTER way! You were just in too much of a routine to notice it.)Fourth, don't get STUCK. Many times when I do corporate training, I do an exercise where we try to find out where people are "stuck". They've been wanting to change, but they just can't seem to do it. My advice to them (and you) is to keep changing things up throughout your life to rise to become the person you know you can be-- AWESOME!
