The holiday season is just around the corner and it's a time for you to disconnect from work for a couple of weeks, unwind after a busy first few months of the year and recharge your battery ready for the next few months.
However if you're a busy
professional, small business owner or entrepreneur, the run up to your holiday can be a time of stress and overwhelm. You're having to deal with an increasing to-do list and rapidly decreasing amount of time in which to get it all done.
It's important to strike a balance between your work and your
personal life and make the most of the opportunity to take a well-deserved break. Especially if you want to avoid having to work while you're meant to be 'on holiday'.
When it’s your own business, you inevitably end up wearing multiple hats and have a certain responsibility to keep things ticking over and there
might not have anyone you can delete to.
Here are a few ways to prepare for a stress-free holiday.
Plan Ahead and
Delegate
Start early by planning ahead to give you enough time to deal with any necessary tasks and deadlines without the pressure and stress of a last-minute rush.
- Get clear about what you need to complete before you leave.
- Plan your schedule and timelines in advance across the weeks before you head off on holiday. Be realistic!
- Front load your work by doing as much as you can in advance, leaving a few clear days in your final week. You can use this as a buffer if you need to catch-up or finish things off. It also gives you time to clear the decks before you go and complete any handover.
- Give as much notice as you can to people who need to know, clients, colleagues and let them know any timeframes you need any input from them, so you have enough time to do what you need to do before you leave.
- Create a checklist of what needs to be done, so you can tick things off and you're less likely to miss things.
You'll have a more realistic perspective of how much there is to do and how much time you have available.
Prioritise the Important
Tasks
You may need to get tough with prioritising. Having planned what you need to do, if you're not going to be able to get it all done, take off some of the pressure by re-prioritising.
- Focus on completing the important, time critical projects or tasks that cannot be left until
you get back.
- Renegotiate any deadlines or defer less important tasks until after you get back.
- Are you able to delegate to other team members, colleagues or outsource, being aware of their holiday commitments and workload?
- Reprioritise even more as
you get closer to your holiday date if it becomes obvious there's still too much to do and you can't do it all!
Being able to delegate more to your team on a day-to-day basis, also means you become less critical to the whole business while you're away.
By prioritising your tasks and focusing on what's important, you'll be less likely to have to work late or put in long hours before you go away and you'll be able to go on holiday feeling everything's under control.
Inform and Communicate
Provide clear communication about your expectations and deadlines for your team, both before you go and while you’re away.
- Send out an email or message with the relevant details ahead of time - such as the dates you'll
be away, deadlines for requests, information
- Set up an Out of Office message on email and voicemail, to let key contacts know you're away, when you're back and who to contact in your absence, if necessary.
- If there's going to be a delay or you need to change deadlines or completion dates, let the relevant people know in good time.
Ideally take planned holiday time into account when agreeing timeframes or re-adjust as soon as you know if this changes.
Being more proactive and effective with your communication helps to manage people's expectations and avoids any last minute requests before you leave.
If and only IF you need to be contacted in an emergency, be clear about when and how and what constitutes an emergency! Take into account timezones and access to a mobile network and the internet while you're away. If you have a good team and a good handover process, this won't need to happen.
Make Use of Automation and Technology
Technology can help to automate certain aspects of your business or workload.
- Schedule social media posts in advance
using social media management tools or delegate/outsource this to someone who can keep this going while you're away.
- Scheduling software like Calendly or Acuity, enables people to book time with you when you're back, even though you're away. (Remember to block out your holiday time!)
By automating
routine tasks or using email autoresponders, you can keep certain aspects of your business going while you're away.
Disconnect from Work
Step away from the laptop and smartphone entirely while you're away, at least in a work context. Give yourself permission to disconnect from work completely.
- Switch off notifications and disconnect or temporarily delete work related apps.
- If you're planning to work while you're away, keep this to a
minimum. A brief check-in to keep things ticking over but avoid getting sucked in! Is it absolutely necessary or is it a case of not being able to let go or not trusting the process?
It’s more important you take time to switch off and relax instead of returning from a break, either knowing there are things to be dealt with or not having really switched off at all.
You can enjoy a stress-free holiday and really relax when you know everything is under control.
I'm not going to guarantee you won't have
those holiday travel related incidents but at least you'll know your work or business is one less thing to worry about.
