Every entrepreneur needs a break and a vacation every now and then. But getting back to your business after a vacation with your family or friends can be rough. And that relaxed feeling you had from your vacation can quickly go away.
Here are three things you can do to make returning to running your own business after a vacation a lot easier.
Have a ‘catch-up’ day
When you come back from any vacation give yourself a “catch-up day” on your first day back. Try to not schedule any important meetings on this catch-up day with potential customers or any other business-related meetings.
Instead, use that time to work on things that piled up while you’ve been away. For example, if you use emails, or direct messages on social media, a catch-up day can help you get those messages that have piled up down to a number of messages that’s easier to handle.
A catch-up day on your first day back also helps you clear your mind so you can feel ready to plan out the rest of your week.
Begin slowly – and prioritize
Now, it’s time to have your “first real day” back at your business. If you’re a morning person, get up a little earlier than usual to exercise and/or have a great breakfast.
Don’t try to tackle everything on the first day back – that would result in a lot of stress and that relaxed feeling would evaporate pretty quickly. Instead, make a list of tasks that must be done the first day, the first week, the first month, and whenever you get around to it.
But don’t just ignore those tasks low on the priority list; that creates stress, especially as the reminders start filling your inbox. Instead, respond to everyone and let them know how soon you will get to their task. (If they’re low on the list, you want to be as diplomatic as possible, assuring them that their task is important and you will tackle it as soon as you possibly can.)
BTW, unless you’re the kind of person who can juggle a lot of balls without dropping anything, you might want to create some sort of tracking system for all of your tasks (e.g., put them all in Google calendar with day-ahead reminders.)
Write down what you learned on vacation
While it’s not good to think about your job too much while on vacation, time away always gives you new perspective. Try to take a look at your business with new eyes – e.g., did any experiences give you insights on what customers want or need? Did any conversations give you new ideas about how to approach customers?
Don’t let those insights vanish along with that relaxed feeling you had as you sat on the beach or hiked through the mountains; take some time to write them down. Continue to mull over your new perspectives – sooner or later, those thoughts could lead to new and better ways to run your business.
Takeaways on Getting Back to Work After a Vacation
You don’t want to come back from a fun, relaxing vacation only to end up stressed out during your first day back at your business.
When you’re back from vacation or a break, remember these three tips:
- Have a day to catch up on messages and other business-related things.
- Begin slowly – and prioritize
- Write down what you learned on vacation.
Keeping these three tips in mind will make your vacation worth it and get you energized to keep building your business.
