Going back to work after a vacation is often a stressful and demotivating experience, as your head and heart remain on vacation while your physical presence is well and truly required at work. This guide gives you some quick solutions to easing the pain of returning to work after time out enjoying what the rest of the world has to offer.

Steps

1. Accept the importance of being present at work again. Turning up with a holiday mindset can cause problems at work, from lack of concentration on the tasks at hand to forgetting appointments and the names of new clients. None of this is destined to look good in the eyes of fellow colleagues and bosses. Accept that you’ve had a great break and that you’re marvellously refreshed; now it’s time to get on with what you’re good at in a work environment.
2. Plan the next vacation. It can help the transition if you start making plans immediately for the next vacation experience. Call into a travel agent at lunchtime or set up a new travel planning itinerary on your favourite travel website when you get home that evening. It will give you a renewed sense of adventure and will make work seem less onerous; after all, work pays for those plane flights!
3. Tidy up. Nothing is more depressing than a mess. On your return, ease back into work by having an organisation morning or day. Tidy up your desk space, shelves and files. Clean out the in-box and electronic files. Be in great shape for the next months ahead by using your holiday energy to sweep away the cobwebs of the tired, pre-vacation you. Returning to this more efficient and tidy work system and space will make you feel better each day of the rest of the week.
4. Exercise. Everyone tells you exercise is the answer to everything. That’s because it’s true. Going to the gym, to pilates, on a 10k run or simply walking for a half an hour will make you feel a lot better. Your physical well being flows back into our emotional well being and helps you to work better and focus more.
5. Plan the next weekend away. Yes, get out again the weekend following your return. You can wash the clothes and unpack the larger bags during the weeknights. Take a much smaller bag and drive on down to a local beach, forest or desert retreat to unwind and recall those blissful easy days of a week before. Take work with you only if you must. If you find that this works for you, make it a regular arrangement and take the work along if it fits in okay.
6. Reassess. If work is really continuing to get you down on your return, it may be telling you something, like it’s time to move on. Ask yourself some honest and direct questions about whether the job is challenging you enough and is fulfilling your wishes at this time in life. If the answers are no, it’s time to buff up the resumé, butter up the referees and get out and advertise yourself for a new job.

Tips

• It’s an old but worthy trick to return to work on a Tuesday, mid-week or when a long weekend immediately follows work return. The fewer days at work help to create a sense of space and time that you can deal with mentally, rather than having to slog it out over a long week.
• Get updates from a friend at work about the happenings. This will help you to feel more comfortable about where things are at since you left for vacation and also gives the two of you an excuse to catch up for morning coffee. Ideally, catch up for breakfast before you go back to work, to avoid any nasty surprises.

Things You’ll Need

• New plans for the next vacatio
• Exercise gear
• Realistic expectations

Popularity: 3% [?]