8 tips to send the back to work blues packing

Getting back to business after a well-earned break is grim. Bye bye cocktail umbrellas, hello bog-standard umbrella. Farewell boat trips, hi commute. So long al fresco, welcome back microwave. Ho-hum.

Oh it’s not so bad! Here are 8 tips to help you get over the back to work blues quick (or help you avoid them entirely!)…

Tie up any loose ends
Do your best to complete any tasks before your embark on your holiday. If you do leave a project incomplete, leave yourself clear notes for your return as it’s easy to forget important details.

Keep a clean work area
The last thing you’ll want to do on your return is tidy up a cluttered workspace so have a spruce up before you go away. Oh, and make sure you don’t leave any pre-holiday materials lying around – like that boarding pass you decided to reprint in colour – this will just depress you!

Give yourself an extra day… on your OOO
When setting up your out of office, give yourself an extra day on your return to work date. This way you’ve a little more time to catch up on all your emails.

And get cheeky with your OOO
In your out of office auto-responder, you could advise your contacts that emails will be deleted and request that any important emails be resent upon your return. Obviously this won’t work for everyone…

Be healthy
Overindulging on holiday is understandable but in the long run the wrong food and drink will make you feel pretty grotty – and ultimately won’t help you get back into the swing of things. The quicker you return to healthy living the smoother your transition to normal life will be.

Avoid meetings
There’s nothing worse than realising you’ve scheduled in a meeting on your first day back. If at all possible, steer clear of meetings during your first week and concentrate on catching up.

Tackle emails the right way round
Don’t read your emails bottom-up (aka oldest to newest), instead look at the most recent first – being sure to read the entire thread of the email. This way you’ll immediately see the full picture and avoid any unnecessary work.

And finally… book another break
The absolute best way to get over the back to work blues is to give yourself something else to look forward to. Booking another trip is ideal but not always feasible, so on a smaller scale, how about organising drinks with friends for your first week back?

Thanks for reading our top tips for sending the back to work blues packing – we hope they help!

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