Of course, many people return from vacation feeling refreshed, and able to bounce back to work with renewed zest and zeal. For the rest of us, the process downright sucks. If you’re in the latter group, then here are some ways to ease the transition back to work, without feeling so bad.
1. Organize Your Desk Before You Leave
Before you leave for vacation, tidy that thing up so it looks perfectly organized when you return.
2. Get To Work Earlier
On your first day back, do your best to arrive at work a bit early. This will give you time to digest the fact you’re no longer on vacation, and it will allow time to catch up on emails. You’ll probably also want some quiet time before coworkers start asking you about the trip.
3. Don’t Schedule Any Meetings
If you can, try not to schedule anything too strenuous — like an out-of-office meeting — for your first few days back. Adding outside meetings will add more stress than it is worth.” I couldn’t agree more.
4. Take It Slow
While you’re at it, don’t take on anything new for the first couple days. Try to refrain from taking on new tasks and projects on your first day back so that you’re not putting too much on your plate.
5. Keep The Traditions Alive
If you’ve been eating delicious lunches for the past week, treat yourself to something similar on your first day back at work. It may just help ease the transition.
6. Don’t Get Overwhelmed By Emails
If you totally unplugged during your trip, then you’ll probably come back to an absolute deluge of emails. One way to tackle them is to ignore the dates, and instead sort by subject or sender. The idea behind this is that you’re more interested in finding out what happened while you were gone, as opposed to when things happened.
7. Schedule Something Fun
Try to give yourself something to look forward to after work. Make one very fun and not a too late engagement for that evening with people who will be glad to see you. It should be just what you need.
8. Make A Prioritized To-Do List
Give this a try on your first day back, and hopefully, everything will seem more manageable.
9. Leave Work On Time
Whatever you do, resist the urge to catch up on a week’s worth of work in one day, as it’s just not possible.
10. Go Home And Sleep
You’re probably going to feel hopelessly tired when you get back from vacation, whether it’s due to jet lag, or having too much fun. Compound that with a busy day catching up at work, and you’ll probably feel downright exhausted. So make sure you get enough sleep. It’ll help you get back on schedule, and make the workday feel that much easier.