A recent week in the sun allowed for a period of rest and reflection and it was very much needed to recharge the batteries. Work has been very hectic and I hadn’t planned my holidays last year that well meaning that there had been no break from work for along time. It made me realise the importance of such breaks in relation to productivity and energy levels at work.
I have met a few people recently who haven’t been taking their allotted leave entitlements because of workload and I have had to actively encourage them to devise a plan where this situation can be rectified. If people continue to work long hours for an extended period of time it can cause inefficiency to creep in, leaders can become less effective and teamwork becomes strained.
If you have a customer facing role it is expected that every day you will face the public with enthusiasm and energy. In order to keep these attributes high, regular breaks with a chance to restore your energy levels, are vital.
With technology and ease of availability to work e.g emails , voicemail, in order to take a complete break and recharge you need to be extremely disciplined not to check email and get involved in work related issues while on holiday. Ask someone to read your emails while you are away so that they can edit all the rubbish and only leave those you need to action or actually read. Consciously make an effort to change the daily routine while on holiday. For a week there was no alarm on our recent break…. complete heaven allowing us to wake naturally. There was no schedule of activities we just decided on the day what to do, again a completely different routine. As a consequence of deliberate changes in routine it was a chance to rest, recharge and reflect and energy levels were restored.
OWN IT 