There have been so many times when I have been tempted to do some level of work on my vacations. Any vacation. From checking my personal email. To taking a quick glance at my blackberry. Even sneaking down to the hotel business center and spending about an hour on the computer. Believe me, I did some of this when I was on vacation last week!

We are so much in the routine of working that we do not often know how to shut that part of our life off. Your employer and your clients expect you to shut off your personal life when you sit in an office or meet face-to-face with them. So why so often do we have a hard time shutting off our professional life when we go away from the office?

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Here are some simple steps to be effective at your vacation while your on vacation.

1. Let your employer and clients know you are going on vacation. This information helps you and everyone else around you prepare for any potential backlog of work. It allows the people you report to and those who report to you prepare for your absence. They can ask and answer any questions that may be pertinent to the time you are away. Your vacation is a part of your benefit so don’t minimize your benefit by allowing work to dip into your time.
2. Don’t tell anyone but close friends and colleagues where you are going. This is sometimes difficult for any of us to keep a secret. You need to inform the important people that you are going on vacation. However, you are not obligated to let anyone at your workplace know where? I have known plenty of people that have been contacted by clients, vendors and work at their location when an emergency hits forcing them to stop what they’re doing. I have even heard of people having to come back from their vacations. Keeping your whereabouts silent is not always prime but sometimes needed!
3. Turn off your phone. With so much technology in the palm of our hands, an innocent check could possibly turn into a few hours of keying, calendar syncs and long calls. Don’t be a victim. You may leave the phone power on for emergencies but keep it off your hip when you shouldn’t be interrupted.
4. When you go out to relax make sure there are no outlets near you. Don’t go into a relapse just because you have the ability to reconnect or power up.
5. Turn off your computer. Repeat what I said for step 3, cross out phone and add in ‘computer.’
6. Better yet, don’t bring your computer or device. If the emergency is that big or you need to get on a connect to simply clear messages and quick spot checks once a day for 30 minutes then just head down to the business center. This will keep you from having easy access in your room. Better yet, the trip down to the business center could be annoying and keep you from being connected all together… YEAH!
7. Add your own… I am sure you have some approaches and best practices to unplug and relax. What are they (comment below)?

You can be connected but will you be so connected that your work begins to disconnect you from your vacation and relaxation?

Do you have anything to add? Please leave a comment and tell me your advice and stories of how your kept from being interrupted or were distracted from your vacation by work?

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