So you’ve seen how to stay focused before the break begins without loads of coffee, now let’s see what you can do to make your holiday vacation restful, and productive. Doing so will allow your transition back into “work mode” a bit easier.

Staving off “the coma effect.”

Coming back to work from a long off period can be both good and bad. It’s common for employees to find themselves a little lost, while others come back refreshed and ready for action. It’s important to find a happy medium when you’re away from work so long, and practicing good habits while away allows you to get back in the groove with little lag. The “coma effect” is when you’ve been mentally asleep, that is, not thinking about work at all. Imagine trying to do long division after only watching Dancing With the Stars and the terrible Chicago Bears for 2 weeks. Imagine trying to lead a board meeting after spending half the month in bed, or on the beach. You need time to adjust to your routine again, and your job might not give you the day you need to acclimate yourself. There could be a outage to deal with and an after action report needed the same day you return from said beach!

Be this guy…

Not this guy…

Here are some suggestions:

1. Peek at work related stuff in short bursts everyday

It’s understandable that you will not always be in a position to remote in, and check things out if you’re buried in holiday activities with family. But take an hour or less out of you day to look at a couple things from work. It’s really not that much time, but it’ll keep your muscles warm. For example, going for a bench press max after two weeks of doing no kind of exercise may not yield the results you were hoping for. You could be sore, and that weight could feel much heavier now.

2. Keep a small and manageable to-do list

I’ll just use an example from my position.

• Check emails every other day
• Watch 5-10 hours of project management training
• Look over CA queue for 10 minutes everyday for urgent tickets
• Read CIO.com and other technology articles in free time

See? That isn’t daunting at all. And the point of doing this keeps the important things from work fresh in your mind, and also prevents you from forgetting the key points you’ll need to know once you return. Keep your list short, and timely- that is, put a restraint on it as not to wear yourself out, or forget to check-in entirely.

3. Exercise

In keeping with the theme from part 1, don’t get stagnant. A quick workout to start your day gets the blood pumping and will lead you in the right direction.

4. Set goals for your comeback

Understandably, you have performance review goals and such set in place already. However, this is your own reflection time. Think about this past year for a little while, and see how far you’ve come. Then without reviewing the goals you’ve surely forgotten by now, think up one more personal goal for yourself that you’d like to reach. the new year is right around the corner- so consider this your new year’s work resolution. There has got to be at least one thing you want to get soon; whether it’s a certification you’ve been studying for, reaching to a project benchmark, or planning to hold more positive conversations with co-workers, write it on a little sticky note, and let that remind you of whom you’re going back to work for… yourself. This is not about reaching the quota or getting the boss off your back, this is all for you.

It’s almost time for “the big break.” You know what that means? Time to be lazy. Time to endure family visits and school/church performances of “The Nativity Story.” Time to eat like a pig, or any other farm animal you identify with. Time navigate stores for gifts at the last minute, because we all know you forgot… again.

It’s also time to prepare for the inevitable drop-off in productivity, both before and after vacation. In my own personal experiences in the workforce, I’ve noticed that this happens a lot. We’ve all been there- it is so very close to a long awaited week that focus on that instead of the assignment at our desks. It reminds me a lot of college; finals are approaching, but that family trip to Miami is also approaching. Ahh, let’s get distracted for little while planning all the snowless activities right around the corner. We’ve worked so hard, and the impending rest is much more appealing than the 2 o’clock board meeting.

This is bad.

How does one combat this problem. Well, the first step is admitting there is a problem. Fatigue sets in and sometimes catches us off guard. Over the course of a project, or a long span of days without a break, your body tells you cool off. And the result could be that you’re dosing off during the day, becoming forgetful throughout the day, and perhaps even losing motivation to do anything work related in general. Dealing with fatigue involves a lot of different things. Below is a short list of changes you can make to get over the hump:

1. Take vitamins – Many studies say that the “winter slump” can be attributed to a lack of sunlight during these months, which provides much needed vitamin D to your system. I’m actually very vitamin D deficient, so I have to take 5000 units per day, even in the summer. I’d say start with a basic multivitamin tablet like Centrum to help with this- your energy levels and ability to concentrate will improve. http://www.today.com/video/today/46025130#46025130

2. Exercise – Don’t allow yourself to become stagnant. Performing a short 10 minute workout in the morning can wake up your body and mind better, and give you the energy you need to sustain your day. This can be a short series of squats, pushups, jumping jacks, sit ups, lunges, etc. Your endorphins will release and BOOM, you’re feeling fine.

3. Make short lists – Don’t overwhelm yourself with tons of tasks. Focus on getting through a few things a day or for a say number of hours. In general, it’s easy to lose motivation when you see a huge list of unfinished items to do, so break them up into smaller, more manageable assignments. With this tip, you’ll feel relief from crossing things off a sticky note, and it’s actually quite therapeutic. Don’t let the things you need to get done next wee cross over things you need to get done today. Divide and conquer.

I have more tips, however, I’ll save those for PART 2 of the holiday productivity suite. You’ll learn how to keep busy DURING the break, as not to come to work suffering from “the coma effect” (I made that up). Find out what that means next time.