WEBVTT - How to handle work on vacation

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is about how to handle work on vacation. Theoretically,

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<v Speaker 1>this is a straightforward matter. If you're an employee at

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<v Speaker 1>an organization, you are entitled to your paid time off.

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<v Speaker 1>When you take it, you should be off set your

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<v Speaker 1>out of office email and trade off coverage with a

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<v Speaker 1>colleague or two. Especially if you are flirting with burnout,

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<v Speaker 1>it is incredibly important to disconnect for a while and

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<v Speaker 1>experience some days without work stress. Trust me, your work

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<v Speaker 1>stress will still be there waiting for you when you

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<v Speaker 1>get back. So the point of a vacation is to

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<v Speaker 1>get yourself to a place where you are better able

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<v Speaker 1>to deal with it. But for many of us, the

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<v Speaker 1>question of working on vacation is more complicated. For instance,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe you work for yourself, Maybe you run a small business.

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe you're a partner in a firm and share ownership.

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<v Speaker 1>No one is making you work during your time off.

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<v Speaker 1>It's just that there are certain things you are responsible

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<v Speaker 1>for and you want to make sure that they keep happening.

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<v Speaker 1>It's also possible that you really like your job and

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<v Speaker 1>some of the work doesn't actually seem like work, or

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<v Speaker 1>at least the categories are nebulous. I put myself in

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<v Speaker 1>this latter group. My main work consists of writing books,

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<v Speaker 1>giving speeches, and producing my podcasts, but I do various

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<v Speaker 1>other things, such as write blog posts over at Laura

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<v Speaker 1>Vanderkam dot com to keep people interested in my ideas

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<v Speaker 1>and my work. If I'm on vacation, I might write

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<v Speaker 1>a blog post about being on vacation. For me, this

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<v Speaker 1>is work, but I think most people wouldn't consider writing

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<v Speaker 1>a post about their vacation to be a professional activity.

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<v Speaker 1>In any case, For me, being able to do some

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<v Speaker 1>work on vacation means I can take more vacation. In

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<v Speaker 1>twenty eighteen, I spent six weeks traveling somewhere for non

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<v Speaker 1>work related reasons. But during each of those weeks, I

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<v Speaker 1>averaged about five hours of work. If I'd held myself

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<v Speaker 1>to zero hours of work, I would never have taken

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<v Speaker 1>those six weeks off. So if this sounds like you,

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<v Speaker 1>how can you handle work on vacation without feeling like

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<v Speaker 1>you're still well working all the time. For me, it

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<v Speaker 1>works best to designate a time for work. So when

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<v Speaker 1>my family spent a week at the beach. Last summer,

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<v Speaker 1>the kids and I came to an agreement that we

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<v Speaker 1>would go to the beach to gather in the morning

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<v Speaker 1>and come home for lunch. I'd work from about one

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<v Speaker 1>to three pm while they watched movies, read or played

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<v Speaker 1>video games. Then we can go back to the beach

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<v Speaker 1>or go to a playground or whatever else in the

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<v Speaker 1>late afternoon before dinner. This turned out to be a

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<v Speaker 1>good rhythm for giving everyone some downtime. I just used

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<v Speaker 1>my downtime to work. Midday is good if you're staying

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<v Speaker 1>in one place, but if you're traveling around and sight seeing,

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<v Speaker 1>first thing in the morning might be a better option.

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<v Speaker 1>Get up an hour before the rest of your family

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<v Speaker 1>and deal with whatever you need to during this time.

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<v Speaker 1>And then this is key, do not constantly be available

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<v Speaker 1>the rest of the time. By forcing yourself to stick

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<v Speaker 1>with a short window whatever you've determined that to be,

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<v Speaker 1>you prioritize what must happen, even if you do some

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<v Speaker 1>work on vacation. One of the upsides of vacation is

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<v Speaker 1>giving your brain space to just flit around to other things.

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<v Speaker 1>I find that letting it play around often leads me

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<v Speaker 1>to come up with good ideas that I wouldn't have

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<v Speaker 1>come up with if I was on email all day long.

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<v Speaker 1>If you do work on vacation, how do you fit

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<v Speaker 1>it in without driving your fellow vacation or is crazy?

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<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear about it at Before Breakfast podcast

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<v Speaker 1>at iHeart Media dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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<v Speaker 1>our time. M Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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<v Speaker 1>You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

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<v Speaker 1>Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four, then Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>p o D. You can also shoot me an email

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<v Speaker 1>at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For

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