How to Change Gear from Holiday Mode to Work Mode by Banking Your Holiday!

It's been the first day the kids have gone back to school after their holidays. You can see them in their classes, with the teachers spending time with the kids to debrief their holidays, knowing that the kids won't be able to concentrate on the tasks at hand until they have put the holidays behind them.

My friend, business developer Leigh Paulden rang me today and told me he'd spent the day listening to business people telling him what a crap day they were having....

He said that it was amazing - they had all forgotten what day it was today - the day after their holidays with their kids had finished.

They'd just spent a significant amount of time doing things with the people they love and appreciate.

....they had returned home, got the kids to bed, woke up the next day, get the kids ready for school, the same old same old pattern of work - get up get ready go to work and just get stuck into not just their work, but what had piled up while they were away.

They were busy having a crap day and they didn't know why - "I mean - I've just had a holiday! Why aren't I feeling great!"

What had they forgotten?

It's absolutely critical to take a holiday every 90 days - it keeps you fresh, on the ball and able to keep up your productive pace at work!

But there's something you need to do at the end of the holiday that many of us forget to do.

People forget to bank their holidays - to bank their experiences, to celebrate the joy of it all and to share what was memorable about their holiday - they never banked it for themselves and tragically - they return to work having never banked it with their family.

They had forgotten to transition themselves back into work mode, gently and respectfully.

They had forgotten to celebrate their holiday with their family...and their friends and workmates.

Forgotten to share how great they felt, how much fun they had, how much time they'd spent with the important people in their lives, what they did, what they learnt etc, etc, etc!

...and they were wondering why they were having such a crap day on their first day back at work!!!!

It's so easy to dismiss what we learnt while we were away and the quality of what we experienced in our rush to get back to work.

After talking it through, one client said he had to rush home because "We need to share the holiday before it's forgotten!"

It's important to review and value our experiences of our holiday before we go back to the cut and thrust of our workplace.

Most of us have forgotten the gentle art of transitioning between different states of being. Celebrating each part of our life before we move to the next part.

Please use the following worksheet to help you debrief your holiday with your family and friends.

Debrief Your Holiday Worksheet:

(To be answered in the company of all the people you went on holiday with, at the end of the holiday.....or....after your first crap day at work when you realised you forgot to bank your holiday!)

• What were the five things you most valued and treasured about your holiday?
• What were you doing when you had the most fun?
• Who did you get to spend special time with and what do you most remember about that?
• What did you learn about yourself on this holiday?
• What did you learn about the people you went on holiday with? List one thing per person.
• What did you do that was the most relaxing thing in your holiday?
• What do you need to communicate with the people you went on holiday with?
• What was the overriding theme of your holiday?
• What do you need to say to be complete with your holiday?
• How do you want your first day @ work to be like?

Having a conversation like this with your family, friends or partner will help you bank your holiday, so you can move resourcefully into your work mode.

Let me know how you go!