Top Tips on switching off whilst away

All of us need to disconnect from work and from our ‘always on’ work culture.
Business owners should remember these top tips for disconnecting from work when on holiday:

Trust your team
Set your expectations
Leave your phone and laptop behind
Or stop work-related notifications
Plan and embrace activities that you love
Be honest with yourself and others
Ask for help
Block out your time

1. Trust Your Team

There’s nothing more disruptive to time off than anxiety over whether your people are doing their job right. So, a key question here is: do you trust your team? And if you say you do, then your behaviour when you’re away should prove it. If you’re constantly on your emails or texting your team to ensure the business isn’t falling apart, you don’t trust them totally. It might be time to access why that is.  But first, it might be a good idea to check yourself first. Have you set the right expectations?

If your team expects you to be available when you’re off, then they will still rely on you and won’t prepare themselves for it. This not only limits their development but stops you from switching off.

If you’re ready to trust your team, do the following things:

– Agree on how it’s going to work whilst you’re away e.g. ‘do not contact me unless it’s absolutely urgent’ and appoint one of your leaders to take the reins.

– Trial it and see how it goes.

– Evaluate the trial and work with your team on how to refine and perfect the process for when you’re out of action.

2. Be Laptop and Phone-Free

This one depends on your preferences. It might be that you don’t want to completely forget about work while you’re away. Maybe you’re wanting to use it as a time to generate new ideas and strategies, away from the day-to-day workings of the business. If that’s the case, and you feel you can manage it, then, take your devices with you.
However, if you do want to rest completely, try and make yourself as inaccessible as possible.

Start by having a separate work phone to your personal device. This means you can leave it at home, or in the hotel room, or turn off alerts. Another option would be to remove the email app from your phone to avoid the temptation of ‘having a quick look at my emails’.

3. Plan and Embrace Things to Enjoy

What is your favourite pastime? Maybe you enjoy a round of golf or getting into a really good novel. Whatever it is, try and indulge in these activities while you’re away. This will not only distract you from your business but gives you the opportunity to enjoy what you love.

Plus, many of these things involve spending time with others. It’s a chance to spend quality time with your friends and family that you don’t otherwise get. The joy, energy and revitalisation from doing things you enjoy with people you love will be a great help when returning to your business.

4. Be Honest and Ask for Help

Some leaders find it difficult to switch off. Sometimes, it can be so difficult that you need to ask for help. There is no shame in feeling like work is taking over and that you need help to manage it. Be honest with yourself and others. How are you going to manage your rest time? If you’re truly struggling, ask someone to manage your phone for you, for example.

Or as mentioned earlier, make sure to communicate this clearly with your team. “I struggle to take the time to rest, so please only contact me if absolutely necessary.”

You could also create blocks for your time. Prioritise this to what is most important to your life and personal vision. For example, if you’re away but want to stay in work a little, it could look like this:

10% working on KPIs and sales
50% spending time with family
20% exercising
20% relaxing with a book

Planning your days like that, with the help of other people, will manage your own expectations for the day. It also gives you some accountability to rest when you said you would.

Key Questions to Ask Yourself

To finish, here are a few questions to ask yourself around this issue:
“Assuming I’m not prepared to live like this forever, when am I going to start changing my working life?” and “if not now, when?”
Ask whether you are happy with struggling to take time off. Are you wanting to change that? If so, is it time to ask for help or seek further advice? How do others manage?