“Vacation is almost not worth it!” I heard a friend exclaim. “I worked so hard to go on vacation and now I’m struggling to get back in the flow of work. My “mojo” is gone.”
Yep, me too. After a wonderful vacation I’m struggling with the same thing. The problem is as an entrepreneur, who is responsible for making the rain for the business, if I’m not working at my best the business isn’t making money. Yikes.
Surely, someone somewhere can tell me how to shake the vacation blues. I started with a google search and found wealth of information. Much of it was too light for my very serious case. My next step was to consult my grad school psychology manuals. Bingo! Come to find out this problem is common. So common there’s applicable research.
What is the advice on getting my “mojo” back?
Step 1 – Make the Break
Examining my re-entry problems I realize that there was a constant comparing of my normal life with the life that I lived on vacation (i.e. “this time last week I was in an art class overlooking the town square”). An everyday life, no matter how wonderful, can’t compare to the leisurely activities of vacation. So it’s best to make a clean break. Stop reliving it; put the vacation behind you.
Step 2 – Get back in your old routine
Do you go to yoga every morning or meet colleagues after work? No matter your routine; get back into them as quickly as possible.
Step 3 – Think about what you missed at home
No matter how wonderful the vacation, identify the things you missed at home. This can be little things like your favorite pillows or perhaps your dogs. I missed drinking water from a faucet!
Step 4 – Don’t kill yourself
Start slow. You don’t have to make up all the work in the first few days back. Working too much will create an even bigger contrast.
Step 5 – Apply what you learned
One of the create treats of going on vacation is what you learn; sometimes about yourself. Did you have a new experience that you can apply to your life? Did you see something that moved you? Whatever the experience think about how it integrates into your life.
Step 6 – Start planning your next vacation
Despite the difficulties of re-adjusting to reality, vacations are important to broadening our minds and making us better at work.
Welcome back!