Getting Back to Business After the Summer Lull

Summer's almost over, so what do you do after you've returned from your summer vacation? After all, you've got the memories, the temptation of not returning to work, and the grinding reality check when you look at your bank balance to remind yourself why you need to work. There's still that tendency for everyone to catch up and spend a couple of weeks reminiscing about those days on the beach or the walks up the mountain, so how do you persuade yourself and your coworkers that it's time to get back to business?

• Plan ahead: You know you will need to have a day or two after the summer vacation to relax, so don't fly back or travel back the day before you're due to work. This will leave you feeling useless for the next week because you won't be able to catch up on sleep very easily. Instead, plan a two-day buffer after your summer vacation to ensure you're well rested.

• Plan further ahead: You'll need to do tasks at the office when you get back from your summer vacation, so make sure your cover leaves good handover notes. Handover notes are simply lists of what's happened and what needs to be done. This can be in the form of a diary that is filled in each day. Having a list like this makes it easy to work out what's happened in your admin office during your time away.
  
  You can plan even better by organizing a list of priorities for the day you get back. This will let you get into the swing of things efficiently. Of course, something could come up during your summer vacation, but at least the list would be a start.

• Make sure it's actually a break: 61 percent of Americans work when on vacation, and this doesn't do anyone any good. A break should be a break, and it should leave you feeling reenergized.

• Save the chat for breaks: It's tempting to slip back into the summer vacation mode and describe everything that you did, but let's be honest: it's usually best to get back into work and save the vacation chat for breaks. It also means people won't get tired of your summer vacation shenanigans.

• Don't overpromise: You'll need to catch up on what's been going on, so underpromise for the first few days. You're going to experience some summer lull as you ramp up your working schedule, so make sure everything's delivered on realistic timescales. 

• Consider your priorities in life: It could be that you're dreading going back to work, and you may realize that you hate your job. If that's the case, the summer vacation can really hammer this home, so use the vacation to decide what you really want to do.

Summer vacations allow us to relax and recharge, but avoiding the summer lull is crucial. Beat the post-vacation blues by planning ahead and relaxing while on your break. After all, summer comes but once a year.

(Photo courtesy of artur84 / freedigitalphotos.net)