Unplugging for your wellbeing

May is Mental Health Awareness Meek. As my colleague Ryan McNitzky recently wrote in an article, mental health is regularly neglected in sales organizations. The pressures of building pipeline and driving revenue for the business can weigh heavily on sales professionals and in many instances makes it nearly impossible to completely unplug and relax.

For many years as an Account Executive, I feared taking extended PTO. The thought process of "if I'm not building pipeline and closing deals, how do I make money?" always lingered in my head. Even though I had a great manager who would always say "If you are off, you are off. Don't work!", there was never a planned vacation that lasted longer than a day or two that I didn't check emails, hop on Slack, and double-check that my book of business wasn't crumbling in my absence. Unfortunately, I know I am not alone in this way of thinking and most sales professionals I know have a similar thought process.

A little of a year ago I transitioned into sales management and now lead a team of SDRs and BDRs. Even as a manager I kept this same thought process for myself. If I'm not there to support my team, who is? So much happens in a single week, how could I actually completely disconnect from work and not come back to a dumpster fire? Over the years I've carried this mindset through international trips, baby-moons, paternity leave, etc. I simply couldn't bring myself to fully disconnect.

Earlier this year I finally concluded that real time away from work was warranted. Even if we are still in a pandemic with a toddler at home, time away from work was needed and my wife and I decided I would take a week off from work for a staycation. I encourage my team to unplug regularly so I figured it's time to practice what I preach.

Here are the key things I did to prep for this staycation:

1.) Over-communicate: as a manager, I needed to ensure everyone on my team was set up for success in my absence and knew where to go for continued support. In the time leading up to my PTO, I ensured to check with my team to see if there was anything we needed to address together before I logged off. I also set the expectation with my management peers that I would be fully offline and asked for their support in assisting my team if needed. If you are still a front-line seller, this is equally as important that you over-communicate this with your customers and current projects. Make sure they know you will be offline, and more importantly, that they know whom to go to in your absence.

2.) Revise your calendar early: as soon as reasonably possible, I adjusted my calendar to accommodate my PTO. I would look at the meetings and tasks scheduled and would analyze them based on the three D's: delegate, delay, delete.

• What meetings or tasks could my team cover for me while I was gone? Lean on your team leads and senior reps to step up in your absence. Not only does this give you the coverage you need but it is also a great way to stretch those reps as part of their development.
• What meetings or tasks can only I handle? For these, I reschedule them and made sure the colleagues these were with knew about my PTO. Pro tip: always give yourself a buffer day coming from PTO when rescheduling things.
• What meetings or tasks are actually not going to provide the value expected? These are typically few and far between but taking a look at your workload closely could allow you to delete certain things and get some bandwidth back.

3.) Set your OOO and delete the work apps: Make sure to not only set your email OOO but also make sure to customize your Slack (or whatever communication platform your company uses) status so everyone internally knows you are away and not checking Slack until your return. Once this is done do the unthinkable. Delete the work apps from your phone. If you don't delete these apps, you will be tempted to "just see what's going on" and I promise you that has the potential to undo and unplug recharge that you were hoping for. I cannot stress enough the importance of this step.

These three simple things allow me to take my PTO knowing that my team is set up for success and that when I come back I will have things in order as best as possible. Sure, it is inevitable coming back to a crazy inbox and a plethora of missed pings, but I now can firsthand confirm that the pain of returning to that is easily outweighed by the benefits of being offline for an extended amount of time.

So, what were some of these benefits?

1.) Quality time with my family: this alone is worth every missed email and ping. Even in a WFH era getting real quality time as a family can be difficult. By fully eliminating work from the picture we were able to spend real quality time together with minimum distractions and less stress. If you currently live a single life, then this time away could be used to do something special for you. As Alexis Rose would say, "and hopefully, eat, pray, love, a bit for myself" (that one's for you Schitt's Creek fans).

2.) Getting better sleep: it took a couple of days for my brain to switch to vacation mode because I found myself still wanting to "check-in" that first day or two. But once I settled into the fact that I didn't have Slack or email on my phone, I was able to accept to just let it go. Once I did this, it was easier for me to turn my brain off at the end of the day. There was no thinking about tomorrow's meetings or the tasks on my kanban board.

3.) I truly was recharged: when the 8 days away from the office was over, I felt ready to get back to work. I was eager to get back with my team. I wanted to get back on the projects I was working on. I had this newly formed energy that was ready to explode into generating results. This feeling was the evidence for me that I was nearing burnout before. I can admit that those weeks leading up to my time off, I didn't have the energy that I did when I returned. Fast forward two and a half weeks, and I still feel like my battery is running at full capacity.

So as you plan your next PTO, I hope you consider the benefits of truly unplugging. Work will be here when you come back. And if you prepare properly, it won't burn in your absence. You have earned this. You deserve this. So please, be kind to yourself and each other.