Vacations are credited with relieving stress and bringing about good times and happy memories, but how do you ensure your next vacation will lead to positive benefits right away? So many people begin their vacation stressed out and feeling unprepared but with minimal effort, everyone can start their vacation with the right mindset. Take action before your next vacation to quickly turn off your work and life responsibilities and totally embrace a vacation mindset.
What is the Vacation Mindset?
Without a conscious effort to go into vacation mode, some people find it difficult to disconnect from both work and life and fully benefit from your time off. Whether you are embarking on a long vacation or a day or weekend trip away from home, it is essential that you change gears to enter what I call the vacation mindset.
What exactly is a “Vacation Mindset” and how will it help me? Think of it as serving the same purposes as stretching before working out at the gym or engaging in any sort of physical exercise. By following some simple exercises, you can prepare your mind to be totally on vacation the moment your vacation actually starts. There is no reason to waste the first few hours or even days of vacation trying to turn off the ever-present responsibilities of life and work.
Work-Life Balance + Vacation
First I need to quickly define “life” and “work” as the two concepts thrown together into the all too common phrase “work-life balance” but in reality should be broken down into three categories. The third category is (you guessed it) “vacation” which in my opinion should be separated from life’s activities.
Ratio of Work, Life, Vacation Hours Per Year
Of course ”Work” is made up of those hours spent earning a living whether you commute to a place of employment or work from home. Typically life was defined as everything left over, but the VacationCounts philosophy is leverage ways to stay balanced between everyday life stuff (must do’s) and vacation time (want to’s).
Therefore “Vacation” means ANY activity that brings you personal enjoyment or fulfillment regardless of whether it involves travel, costs money, or meets the old fashioned definition of a vacation. Those home and family tasks, the ones you spend countless hours dealing with such as paying the bills, household chores, running errands, visiting the dentist, even sleeping, is what I call “Life.”
Step 1: Create a Plan Before You Leave on Vacation - Why?
- By listing your top vacation goals, you can focus your mind on accomplishing what you desire by taking time off
- To encourage you to research all the trip possibilities and craft your perfect itinerary
- To enable you to share your travel plan with family, friends, and co-workers and build anticipation and excitement
- By putting in so much effort and reminding yourself that vacation is an essential part of life, you will be less likely to cancel at the last minute
- So that you can be open to discovery while on vacation and make quick decisions to go off plan when opportunity arises
Step 2: Disconnect From Work and Life – How?
- Wrap up all loose ends at work by completing tasks, handing over responsibility, and informing your co-workers
- Create and follow a checklist to confidently wrap up all life and home tasks before departing
- Put your computer and cell phone in vacation mode by either not bringing them or using them only for travel purposes (I promise to write a blog post on this subject soon)
- Ask one person to be your eyes and ears back home so that you will only expect to hear from this person if anything comes up that you must deal with while traveling
- Make a promise to yourself that you will not bring work or life on vacation with you (ask the same of your spouse, kids, or traveling partner)
Step 3: Refresh At the Start of Every Vacation - Steps
- Upon arrival both relax and awaken your vacation senses by doing one of the following: take a leisurely stroll, meditate, read, sit at a cafe, or simply head directly to your ideal vacation spot and let go
- Eat out or pack a picnic meal to nourish your stomach during the journey or when you first reach your destination
- Think about the purpose and goals of this trip and remind yourself of the promise to put work and life on hold
- Review your vacation itinerary to fill your mind with the many wonderful experiences you have planned, and push out the nagging work+life stressors
Summary
It is all too easy for the realities of work and life to creep into your vacation day wherever you are, and that isn’t fair to you or your family. This is why I wrote down my guidelines which are designed to lead you into the vacation mindset and ensure your next travel experience begins on the right track. You don’t want to wait until day 2 or 3 to truly feel like you are “on vacation”, so you owe it to yourself to switch into a vacation mindset right before your trip and from the moment you arrive. Only by separating vacation from your normal activities of work and life can each of us have an ideal Work-Life-Vacation balance.
Happy Traveling…
-Scott
