How to enjoy your vacation, without having to worry about work

When I finished working in 2019, I made two vows to myself - I would devote the rest of my life to writing and traveling as much as possible.

In 2019, I traveled a lot. It was also the year I started a blog and a newsletter.

I had a handful of subscribers, and the only way to keep them was to continue posting two articles and a newsletter a week, even when I was on vacation.

The first time I went away for four weeks, I wrote double the number of articles and newsletters and scheduled them to cover for me.

The workload almost killed me.

The second time, I kept writing while on vacation and published several travel stories. They were well-liked, but I was under constant stress. While others enjoyed drinks after a day’s excursion or slept during a bus ride, I was writing.

I decided not to put myself under that kind of stress again.

For the next two years, I didn’t have to worry about it. All travel plans got stranded due to the pandemic.

Now that the world is opening up and I have vacations planned for this year, I am looking at developing a vacation strategy.

A vacation is also a project, and you have to plan if you want to make it successful. One of the things that you have to prepare is what you do before you leave and what you do when you get back.

Here are some of the things you can employ to enjoy your vacation:

1. First, figure out what are the projects and what are the recurrent elements of your work.?For me, the projects are books and courses, and the recurrent elements are - newsletter, Medium articles, and daily LinkedIn posts.
2. Strategize what you are going to do with the projects.?I will not write any books or run any courses while on vacation. So I will make sure I don’t schedule any courses while I am away. But I will be using the?finishing energy ?to edit the book I wrote last month and re-record the ‘Write Your Book Course’ so that I do not have to start afresh on these projects when I come back.
3. For the recurrent elements, make sure you cover them before going on vacation.?Be mindful that if you are going on a 4-week vacation, cover for eight weeks, not just four weeks. Two weeks prior and two weeks after the break. Why? Because chaos invariably knocks at the door before and after the holidays. Your newsletters and articles should be worked out before your leave so that when you come back, you don’t have to sit down straight away and start churning out the articles.
4. Write two articles or newsletters instead of one whenever you are in the flow state and schedule one of them for the holiday period.?Create a bank of articles. You can spread it out over many months and hence don’t feel the pressure just before going on holiday.
5. Leverage the previous material.?All the articles don’t have to be brand new while you are away. It is time to reuse previous articles and even newsletters—no need to feel guilty about reposting. Chances are, many of your new subscribers have not read them. They are brand new for them. Those who have read them before would appreciate the reminder. Sometimes the message doesn’t make the desired impact the first time.
6. Write several drafts.?You can polish them, add some fresh content about your travels, and post those during vacation.
7. Invite other writers to write guest posts in your newsletter.?It is an excellent opportunity for them to showcase their work to your audience.
8. Announce your vacation on newsletters and social media platforms so that your clients know that you are away.?Your clients are not your horrible bosses who don’t want you to have a break. They will even support you or cover for you. And by taking a vacation, you will be setting an example for them so they too will feel encouraged to take time off.

Make sure you have no work lined up at least for two weeks when you get back. You will need that much time to get back into the routine.

Make a list of all the projects you are going to do when you get back because when you get back you would be completely blank, and having a list will enable you to ramp up.

Love your work, but love your vacations too. Vacations are a must for our well-being. Vacations have significant advantages:

- They provide a break from work

- They rejuvenate, re-energize and refresh us.

- They improved our physical health, and sleep and a must for mental wellness.

- Studies show vacations increase brain power, reduce stress, and boost general happiness.

- Vacation help break old patterns, establish new routines, and helps refocus and reframe.

- All in all, they are essential for our survival.

Make sure you take vacations this year.

You deserve them.

And you need them.

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I will be going on a 6-week vacation starting from 23 May to 6 July. So I will be using the strategies mentioned above to plan regular posting of my newsletter and articles. I will love to hear if you have any more suggestions to add to these.

Please share them with all the readers through the comments.

That’s all from me this week.

Neera Mahajan

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