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Ivan Petkov

Now is the time of year which most people look forward to - the holiday season. Everyone is making plans, seeking the best offer, which promises to provide him a memorable vacation or just an opportunity to get away from the everyday life and relax. But not everything about the holiday period is so pink. The rush to complete all your tasks before going on vacation, teh business calls on the beach and going around with the business laptop, the first few days after coming back to work - all this can sometimes be so difficult that it decreases or even erases the pleasure from your holiday!

In the next few lines I will try to give you some good advices on how to reduce tension and stress in each of the stages before, during and after the holidays, so that you can relax completely and pleasantly without constantly thinking about work, and so that the first days after the holiday are not so difficult and stressful.

 Before you go on vacation

 Do not leave everything to the last minute. Usually holidays are planned at least 1-2 months in advance. Once the time for your long-awaited vacation approaches, start your preparations. The day before the holiday I call the "Black Friday" because then all unexpected things that can happen pile up. It is difficult to avoid the "Black Friday", but you can make it the "Black Thursday" or better yet the "black Wednesday". This will have time to prepare things instead of having a great stress on the last working day before the long awaited holiday. Here's what you can include in your preparation for the holiday and the completion of the workflow in case you listen to me and finish all the important tasks not on a Friday but on Thursday, thus you will have one day available, to arrange everything so as to spend a more relaxed vacation, and not be bothered unnecessarily for work:

• If you work with clients, call them and tell them you are leaving on vacation. Generally, this may seem to be information, that is of no interest to them, but in practice this is an attitude that most of them will appreciate. And this is one more reason to talk to your customers and maybe complete som delayed transaction.
• Call or write an email to all your colleagues (or at least those that your work is directly related to), through which you inform them that you are going on leave. Often, many of your colleagues do not even know that you are on vacation and call you with less urgent matters, and more or less disturb your vacation.
• If somebody particular is replacing you and he still had to complete some important things while you are on leave, prepare all necessary documents and contacts for him, notify the other departments in the company, if any.
• Put an auto-reply on your e-mail, which shall notify everyone who wrote you that you are on vacation and the date on which you can be found again. You can see a visual lesson on how this is done with the mail client Thunderbird.
• If possible, Redirect your office phone.
• Last but not least, if you have planned and carried out everything on time, the last day before your vacation you will have time to make a short plan for everything after your vacation. Thus, when you return, you'll know where to start / continue from.

During the holiday

There is nothing more annoying for you and those around you than being on vacation, but having your phone glued to your ear or constantly looking at your professional laptop. Why did you even go on holiday if you permanently have urgent tasks to complete? Remember: the world will not end without you, nor will the work! Give yourself a break, thus reducing tension and stress and charging yourself with positive emotions and energy so that when you return to work you will be more efficient.

• Do not take your phone on the beach! If you need to make a phone call, do it in the morning in order to have your day free.
• Tell your colleagues that if they need to consult you, they can do so only at certain times, again preferably in the morning (well, after long nights this may be in their lunch time:)))
• Do not take at the beach a laptop, tablet or a smartphone. Even for fun! Why did you go on vacation, if you are going to stare at the same screen of the same gadgets, that you can or you'll have to stare at throughout the rest of the year.

After the vacation

 Recently people talk even about an after-holiday depression. How to avoid fatigue and disorientation after the holidays:

• If possible, come home at least 1 day before the end of your vacation, rather than in the evening before the first day of work. Even leave yourself two days in reserve, during which you can indulge in idleness and take a break from the holiday, but also to mentally prepare yourself to work.
• Surely your official mail will be cluttered with emails. Go to work one hour earlier and work them out. Delete the old or unimportant emails, highlight those that are not urgent and group those that require your response or your intervention. What I always do is to first delete those which are not important, and thus reduce the volume of unread emails at least in half. It’s easiest to spot the important mails, by looking at the author - those sent by customers, colleagues or bosses (especially bosses) have priority.
• Open the plan which you have prepared during your freed "Black Friday", before leaving on vacation and complete it with the newly emerged tasks. Write down how long it will take you each task for at least the next 3 days. In this way you will not have to wonder "where to start form".
• Only now you can pay attention to your colleagues and especially to that someone who has been replacing you. Leave the conversations and stories, pictures and everything else related to how well you spent your holiday, for the lunch time. Delaying the tasks won’t complete them for you, but will only decrease the time to finish them.
• Do not stay too late after work to catch up. There is no point to overwork yourself from the first week after the vacation and for its effect to disappear. Continue with your work schedule.

  I hope the above tips will help you in your preparation for the holiday and the first few days after it. I wish you to spend an unforgettable vacation and after it with new powers to fight for your career!