When we get off our desks; over the weekend, go on leave, or go on a vacation, we do this to get away from all the rumbles. The idea is to rest, rejuvenate, refresh and come back to work better prepared to deliver.

Sadly, going away from your desk doesn’t always translate into getting enough rest. For some of us, we even return from a vacation more distorted than we were before embarking on it.

Evidently, we must be deliberate about how we use our time off work to fully benefit from it. It wouldn’t just happen; you have to make it work.

I had a great time away from the office. I have had quite a number of breaks in the past but this was more refreshing than others. I came back so energised I thought to share three simple things I did to truly get away. Here they are;

1. Hand-over Properly

Hand-over is work, but it saves you!

The first thing I did differently was to ensure I put in the work to comprehensively hand over all projects and activities to my team. Honestly, I was craving to get away so much that I felt the handover process was stopping me. Now that I am back, I am happy I put in the work to appropriately hand it over.

To truly get away without worrying about what is happening back at the office, you’ll need to not only finish critical tasks but hand over pending and/or future ones appropriately.

The emphasis here is to hand over all processes completely. For example, new things may come up while you away. If you have configured your “out of office” email with the appropriate contacts, you have nothing to worry about.

2. Stay Away From Your Triggers and Consumers

Whilst on my previous vacation I constantly dropped off into social media (Twitter is my favourite). As expected, I was swamped with all the news, most of which was devasting. The result was a vacation full of anxiety.

This time, I decided to stay away from Twitter. I didn’t completely stay away from social media, but I never visited Twitter.

What are your triggers? What consumes you?

Click here to read our article on – Managing Digital Distractions

You may feel tempted to just do these things for a minute or two. To truly enjoy your break, please avoid them.

3. Embrace The Things That Refresh You

I enjoy playing video games and watching football, so, I made sure to have a lot of them during my break.

And yes, it was refreshing.

If having a family time-out is what refreshes you, then plan it. Make it happen. When it happens, enjoy every moment.

No doubt we are experiencing unprecedented times. More so, when we have the opportunity to disconnect, we must be deliberate about creating our world to rejuvenate our energy to keep going and winning.