If life’s challenges taught us anything here at Accelerating Careers is that you should take time to enjoy life.
One of the ways we know that will help you enjoy life is to get more vacation time allowing you to relax and recharge.
Why This Matters
You work very hard your entire adult life; then what? You get to 62 and then start to “enjoy retirement” when your body has begun to fail you. Or do you work very hard only to come down with a disease caused by a sedentary lifestyle of sitting at a computer or from massive stress?
Hard work is important, but you need to find ways to enjoy life along the way and one of those ways is to have more time away from the office.
Stacking PTO And Holidays
One very simple technique is to stack paid time off with company holidays.
Look at your company holiday schedule and then pair paid time off days around long weekends or national holidays like Thanksgiving, July 4th, Christmas, or New Years Eve.
If you stack vacations around Christmas and New Years Eve you get a few company holidays off and a weekend or two, in most years, multiplying the effects of your paid time off. This is especially helpful if you like to travel internationally where you will need more time to get to and from your destination.
💡 Pro Tip: Don’t use a vacation day the day before a national holiday. In almost every corporate setting everyone has already left the office by noon the day before a holiday or most likely is not even working. You can get the benefit of the vacation day and still “work” by responding to emails. If nothing else, it is a good time to get stuff done since it will be quiet.
Take A Vacation Between Jobs
If you are moving from one company to another use this as an opportunity to take an extended vacation. Give yourself two or three weeks between companies.
Many recruiters and hiring managers are incentivized to get you to come into your next role as soon as possible.
Don’t let them bully you into starting before you want to start.
During the interview process many times someone will ask “when can you start,” but then take weeks to complete the interview process. Make sure you tell them you are willing to start when you have completed your obligations in your current role and that will be determined based on when you get an offer. You’re not lying as long as you remember that you also have an obligation to yourself as part of your current role.
💡 Pro Tip: For those moving roles within the company, if your current manager isn’t too worried about what you are doing before you move to a new role in your current company then you can use the last few days in your current role as a mini off the books vacation. Keep responding to emails, but your old team will know you are moving on and your new team knows you don’t start until the official start date. Just don’t tell anyone what you are doing.
The main point here is to be creative about how to find time between roles to take care of yourself. You will come into the new role fresh and recharged as you will surely be working overtime to get up to speed quickly.
The Mini-Retirement
While many people do not have the financial flexibility to simply leave a job without another job, the mini-retirement is one of our favorite ways to take care of yourself.
First, you should always be saving your money for a rainy day.
Second, the money that you spend on a mini-retirement can be used to spend time doing amazing things from traveling to possibly even starting a side hustle.
Finally, you will be the envy of your friends, and we know that is valuable too.
💡 Pro Tip: If you are considering a mini-retirement, then go to your current manager and ask if they will give you a package to leave your role or offer you a sabbatical. Many times companies are looking to cut expenses at the end of the fiscal year to meet their targets and will gladly offer you a little money to pay for your next vacation.
If you are good at what you do there will always be work. Have confidence in yourself but also have a game plan for how you will get back into the workforce through networking or using headhunters.
Conclusion
Don’t be one of those people who dies at your desk or as you drive into work.
Find ways to enjoy life while you are younger and capable of doing slightly dangerous but fun activities.
Comments