Word-Of-the-Week #677: Escape

July 27, 2017 by · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #677: Escape 

Escape – break free and get away!

Are you tired of your (lady, man, job, etc) because you’ve been together to long, like a worn our recording of a favorite song? Do you like Pina Colada’s and getting caught in the rain? Sorry but I just couldn’t resist! Rupert Holmes song just kept popping into my head when I was writing this.

This is part 2 of Minda Zetlin’s Chicago Tribune article, Take Your Vacation and Everyone Benefits.  We left off with her saying, “You’ll be better off if you just take all your vacation time, and so will everyone who works or lives with you. Here are some ways to make vacations work:

  • Don’t give in to vacation shaming

Nearly half of Americans in the Alamo Rent A Car annual vacation survey said they had experienced “vacation shaming” in which colleagues make them feel guilty for taking a vacation and leaving others to pick up the slack.

If this goes on in your workplace, don’t give in to the pressure.

Tell those who complains that you’re more than happy to help them out when they take their own vacation. If they proudly proclaim that they’re too busy to go on vacation, let them know that their productivity is likely suffering.

  • Plan well in advance

A well-planned vacation is a vacation that actually happens. Plus, research shows the benefits of going on vacation begin before the vacation itself.

You can get eight weeks of increased happiness simply from planning and looking forward to your vacation.

  • Plan to avoid checking in while away

Another big advantage to planning well in advance is that it can save you from checking in, or worse, actually working while you’re on vacation. Do you want to be the person who conks out early in the evening in some exotic locale because you were up a couple of hours before your family or friends checking email and dealing with office matters?

Because you’re planning well in advance, you have time to bring other team members up to speed on the matters they might have to handle while you’re away. You can make sure all your important contacts, both inside and outside your company, know when you’re leaving and when you’ll be back. Also, let them know you won’t be able to check email to reinforce that you’re truly away.

  • Make sure the people who work for you take their vacation time as well

It’s especially important to take all your vacation time if you have people reporting to you. Your employees will take their cue from you, and if you never take vacation time, they may not either. That’s bad for your workplace.

If you truly don’t want to go away, take a staycation or consider finding a weeklong project that you can work on at home.

Don’t engage in vacation shaming. No one in your company should be indispensable and it should be feasible for every employee to take a week or two off during the summer without having to check in.

If that doesn’t sound like your workplace, it’s time to institute some changes for everyone’s benefit.”

This week is all about planning your escape. Where would that be? Are you game for my vacation challenge? How would it feel to plan your next vacation to a brand new place so you can experience the joy of surprise in the unexpected?

My personal recipe for a great vacation – mix equal parts of uncertainty with non routine, then add a generous sprinkling of the unfamiliar topped with loads of curiosity!

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