While on vacation, switch off from your work completely, don’t check your business email and even forget about social media – here is the current definition of proper holidays. Only before that perfect time starts, you have to finish all your tasks for two weeks ahead and then, after coming back, feel all the pain of this world while sorting your overloaded mailbox. I don’t know about you, but I am not happy about this. Why? I don’t consider my work to be a heavy load to bear, my work is a part of my life, the major part of it, I would say, and I am not ready to give it up, even for a vacation.
That doesn’t mean that you have to shut yourself in a hotel room, away from your family and friends, stick to the laptop and refuse to talk to anyone. What is important here is not to run to extremes and maximize your productivity while being on holiday. Reply only to urgent emails and important calls, don’t dive into routine and remember that vacation is an opportunity to find time for issues that you can’t address during your working hours. I mean thinking about your future and your career. Find one hour a day for such issues and leave the rest of the time for new impressions, sleep and connecting with the ones you love. Just 60 minutes a day! What can you spend them on?
Think about your goals, what you really want to achieve
Write down three goals for the coming month, three – for the next quarter and another three – for the rest of the year. If you want to lose weight, write it down. Want a new car, write it down. New job? Put it on the list. Let your goals address all aspects of your life. This exercise looks easy at the first sight but actually, you can spend your whole vacation on it. Having your goals expressed and written down, you are halfway to success.
Your next step is to start sharing your goals with other people. It lets you kill two birds with one stone: first, you have no way back, you have to complete them; second, people around you can help. You can’t achieve anything on your own, you need help and support, and people are ready to provide it. Someone would introduce you to a recruitment specialist from your dream company. Someone would join you for a morning jog, as they also want to get in shape. You’ll be surprised to see: goals are much easier to achieve when you are not alone.
Meet with a career counselor
Even if you have no plans to change your job, talk to a consultant. You don’t have to arrange a personal meeting – meet online. After one Q&A session a career counselor can help create your professional profile, define your strengths and weaknesses, show your current position on the market and career opportunities available for you. Sometimes we consider ourselves super valuable and think that as soon as we leave our current position, a bunch of employers will be seeking for our attention. Leaping from retail to IT looks like a child’s play for us. Reality can damp your feelings but also give you an opportunity to create a workable plan to get the desired results.
After one Q&A session a career counselor can help create your professional profile, define your strengths and weaknesses
Read useful books
You still read on vacations, so make it helpful – choose the reading that will give something to your professional life. No need to focus on your narrow area. For example, if you are a recruiting officer and work for a marketing department – read the latest book about marketing. You will have something to discuss with clients and applicants, you can show your knowledge of the issue. If you are a top manager, you may be interested in psychology or change management.
Start a personal blog
It is a perfect instrument to develop your personal brand. You show your level of expertise. If your blog sparks interest, you become well known in professional circles, journalists ask you for comments, colleagues – for advice, you are invited to business events as a speaker. Not a fast way, but a steady one. I, for example, can’t fit writing into my regular workflow. Too many meetings and presentations. When I am somewhere away, my mind is routine-free, and I can concentrate on texts. I am in Canada now, for instance, visiting my family.
Learn something new
You don’t have to select some fundamental training course. Get a short online training on efficient time management. I assure you, even if you consider yourself a highly structured person, you will get ideas on how to become even more productive. I also recommend any course on personal financial management. We easily operate annual budgets in the office, yet don’t get around personal financial planning. Careful planning of your available resources – time and money – is a way to achieve goals quicker.
Start learning a foreign language
For example, if you plan to spend your vacation in Italy, don’t take individual lessons beforehand. It is not realistic for most people. Download an audio course for beginners or Italian study podcasts to your phone. Also, listen to people on the street, and try to speak yourself.
Connect with people
You have finally broken from the office and your regular social network! Use that time to meet new people. If you dream of moving to another city, go there for a vacation. Visit some local business and networking events, meet right people. It will make relocation and job search easier for you. Connecting with people, you get new ideas that can grow into a new business. On holidays you collect impressions and stories, have something to share in the office, after your return.
Connecting with people, you get new ideas that can grow into a new business
Use your vacation to one hundred percent and don’t forget about your main objective – relax, spend some time with your family and people you love, regain strength for your next career breakthrough.