A stress-free vacation for Jordan at ACME Corporation…plus a MollyMoh update!
Jordan used to have the “Sunday Scaries” before coming back from vacation.
“I’m not looking forward to all these emails I’ll have to go through,” Jordan told their spouse as they were getting ready for bed.
Jordan and their family of four just returned from a relaxing weeklong vacation at the beach. This was Jordan’s first vacation since joining ACME Corporation earlier this year.
Jordan was used to their boundaries constantly being broken at previous jobs. “I need you on call,” and “I can’t believe you’re leaving me to do all your work,” are examples of messages Jordan heard from managers at past companies.
On their first vacation at ACME, Jordan was a little surprised they didn’t receive any texts or phone calls. By Day Four, Jordan was a little concerned.
“Did they forget about me?” Jordan asked themselves.
On Monday morning, Jordan poured a little extra coffee into their mug, took a deep breath, and logged on. Jordan’s heartbeat was racing over the inbox unknown. What did they miss? What did they have to address? It was at that moment Jordan received a text message from their manager, Chris:
Jordan was shocked. While the number of “unread emails” was in the hundreds, did their manager tell them to review just one email this morning?
Sure enough, Chris blocked out two hours on Jordan’s calendar simply to review the “While you were out” email at the top of their inbox.
The email included everything that went on while Jordan was out. Project status and changes, updates from the team, top priorities, and other things Jordan should be aware of as they ramp back up from vacation.
Jordan could not believe their team put this much time and effort into one email.
Later that day, Jordan gave positive feedback to Chris.
“That meant a lot to me,” Jordan shared.
“I had the same issues you did earlier in my career,” Chris responded. “We don’t text or call people unless it’s an absolute emergency. Now, you have the opportunity to do the same for me and the rest of the team when we’re on vacation!”
“That’s great,” Jordan responded. “I have a couple of other ideas to make vacations less stressful,” Jordan shared.
They spent the next few minutes discussing new ideas, including:
Creating a proactive system to ensure you’re using your time off.
In my career, I used a 6-3-1 approach. I would take a week off every six months, every three months I’d take a long weekend, and every month I’d take a half day or full day. Setting this in my calendar gave me the confidence to use my time off and set boundaries with my colleagues, managers, and clients.
Design a system that works for you.
Setting yourself up for a stress-free time off.
At least one to two weeks before your vacation, create a pre-vacation priorities plan. The process is as simple as getting out a piece of paper and sorting your priorities into four categories:
Pre-vacation priorities: what must be done before you leave, and how are you making time for these priorities?
Delegate: what project(s) will continue while you’re away, who is your proxy, and do they know what they need to execute?
Post-vacation priorities: what are your work priorities when you return, and when will you work on those priorities?
Delete: what is NOT a valuable use of your time or anyone else’s time?
And now for your MollyMoh update! Now that’s gotten a little cooler, Molly loves the early morning walks outside!
