Listen on Spotify.
It’s essential to take time off for your own well-being and to make sure you can rest, recharge, and come back fighting. There’s no doubt it can be tricky to get back into the swing of things. Wishing you had another holiday or break planned is common, but this can quickly drain your energy and zap your motivation.
Do you find it hard to get back in the groove after you’ve had a break from work? We’ll give you some tips on how to get back on track after a work break, fast. That way, you can maximise your productivity.
There are numerous ways you can gear up to take control of your life after a break. Here are some of the best ones we could think of.
Tip 1: Do More of What You Love
To keep yourself motivated, inject a little joy into your daily routine. You could:
- Grab a coffee from your favourite café once a week.
- Set aside 10 minutes of your morning to devote to meditation.
- Wake up half an hour earlier so you can read a chapter of your favourite novel before you begin your day.
Whatever you choose to do, doing something you enjoy and building healthy habits can help you be more productive. You can even trick your brain by picking a reward you want to enjoy after you’ve worked for a set period. This reward can be something as simple as watching a 4-minute music video or chatting with a co-worker for 5 minutes.
Read more about this in our post on ‘How to Form Habits That Stick’.
If you have trouble building habits, try using the app Habit List or Loop Habit Tracker to help. Habit List aims to help you become more organised and develop useful personal and work-related habits, while Loop Habit Tracker suggests how you might build better habits into your routine and reminds you of your daily goals.
Tip 2: Don’t Schedule Too Much for Your First Few Days Back
It can be tempting to dive right back into work without pausing for breath when you return from a holiday. However, the transition from not working at all to working flat out can be jarring, and being truly productive without a smooth transition can be tricky. That’s why you shouldn’t pack the first few days back at work so full you have to keep going at full speed all day to get everything done.
To make the transition smoother and give yourself the best possible chance of being productive, you should:
- Avoid scheduling back-to-back meetings and stuffing your to-do list with a never-ending run of tasks.
- Complete any tasks you left unfinished before you went on a break before you take on new ones, as doing this could be less stressful.
- Use time management apps and the Eisenhower matrix to prioritise your most important tasks, and make the best, most productive use of your time.
- Try using Google Keep to store notes, put them into groups, and keep them together in one place. It will even convert your notes into Google Docs if you wish. Think about what that could do for your productivity?
Check our post on the best time management apps for some helpful suggestions.
Tip 3: Prioritise Sleep
Getting enough good quality sleep is vital if you be happy and healthy in body and mind. Never underestimate the power of a good night’s sleep. Aim to get between 7 and 9 hours each night if you want to feel well-rested, ready to tackle the day, and have the best chance at working as effectively as can.
Struggle to fall asleep? Try using an app like Pillow. Pillow is a sleep tracker that can give you insights into your sleep cycles and the quality and duration of that sleep so you can adjust things to optimise your sleep schedule. If drifting off is the issue, try using a free mindfulness app to help you meditate and relax.
Tip 4: Plan Something Fun
If you find you’ve just got back from your holiday, trip, or special treat, and can’t stop thinking of the next wonderful thing you’re going to do, why not plan it straight away?
You don’t need to even plan a trip, just plan something you’ve been wanting to do for a while. It could be planning to devote some time to that hobby you wanted to pursue for years.
Planning something fun might just be what spurs you on to work harder towards your goals, shake off the post-holiday blues, and become more productive than ever. After all, you’ll know there’s a fab reward waiting for you after all your hard work and effort.
Use Soon App to start planning loads of fun stuff activities right now — from going to the cinema or the theatre or enjoying a trip to a museum.
Tip 5: Cut Down on Junk Food by Planning Meals Ahead of Time
This one might not be obvious when you’ve just returned from a break, but if you do take the time to plan meals ahead of time can benefit you in two key ways.
- You can save time and money each week.
- You will eat less junk food so you can be at your happiest, healthiest, and most productive.
Don’t have time to find recipes? Never fear. There’s an app for that. Mealime lets you enter your food preferences. The app will then suggest several recipes based on the information you provide. All of the recipes given should take around 30 minutes to prepare, the app will even create a shopping list for you to minimise hassle.
The BigOven app is an alternative if you don’t fancy using Mealime.
Tip 6: Avoid Setting Yourself Tight Deadlines
Just because you feel refreshed and revitalised after a holiday, but that’s no reason to do huge feats of business on your first day back. Ensuring there is a little free time built into your schedule lets you gradually ease back into working and make that all-important smooth transition we mentioned earlier, so you can avoid becoming overwhelmed.
Remember to say no to lower priority, low-value tasks where possible, and don’t hesitate to ask colleagues for help to get up to speed in the first days following your return. It may just make you all a little more productive, and it will help build and strengthen working relationships, too.
Tip 7: Tidy Your Workspace Upon Your Return
You know what is like, right? You left your desk neat and tidy with not an item out of place, but when you come back from your break, you invariably find a stack of reports, unopened mail, and post-it notes cluttering your desk. Take s little time to sort stuff out, label important documents you need to follow up or take action on, and chuck out any that aren’t relevant. Doing this is bound to help you get back into the groove.
Wrapping Up
Now that you know our tips on how to get back on track after a work break, we hope each time you get back into the swing of your workday routine will never be onerous or jarring again, so you can be productive and work effectively from the moment you return.
Remember, if you need extra motivation, there is nothing wrong with planning a reward for yourself to give you that little push you might need to dive back into work.
Need help with planning or organising stuff? See ‘A Simple Guide to Planning Your Day’.
Thanks for reading.
Make Your Biz Fizz 