For many of us the summer vacation has already become a memory. We’re back from the beach, the mountains or wherever else, we have been spending time taking a much deserved break and getting some distance to work.
Personally, I have been back for a few days after spending 3 weeks vacationing with my family, and I feel both recharged and focused going back for what’s promising to be both an exciting and challenging – in the most positive way – second half of 2022.
Notice that there are two distinct states in what I mentioned: Being recharged and being focused. And while recharging during vacation should be a very familiar concept to everybody, I wanted to take a few moments to address the other part – the focus.
What I often find lacking with a busy work schedule is the opportunity to properly reflect and set a focus for my immediate future. With everything that is going on, it’s just so super easy to get so caught up in the fire fighting of things that those important moments, where you look a bit beyond the horizon and figure out what your plan is going to be, gets pushed to the side and never really revisited.
Getting a fighting chance to address these things and reflect about what you want to do and how you want to prioritize going forward requires some distance to your day-to-day work. And what better time to get that than while you’re on vacation.
Be sure that I am not suggesting you take work with you on vacation or that you spend your vacation thinking about tasks at work. What I am suggesting however is that you find those pockets of time when you’re on your own to reflect a bit of what you just got a break from, how it’s been and what you would ideally like to change going forward.
Changing your forward path may mean a lot of things. Obviously, for some it will mean looking to do something entirely different. But for most of us it will mean making some adjustments into what we want to focus on as being the most important both to the work that we do and how we help others achieve success but also to your own professional and personal development.
For my own part, while I have been out running for myself I have spent a bit of time reflecting on how I could best focus and structure what I would love to focus on and how I would like to go about it in order to also move myself forward, and I now have a pretty simple but good idea about the kind of work, I am going to focus on and how it (hopefully) helps put my employer and my team colleagues fast forward but also helps guide me in the direction, I personally have a big interest in going.
It hasn’t required a ton of thought. More the breathing space to allow little, existing pieces of the puzzle to try and find their places to give a sense of how it could all look and come to fruition. A perfect little personal project fitting in nicely with those leisurely activities, you can enjoy while being on a break, and where you’re not being torn apart from others trying to get your attention or wanting you to do certain things.
I highly recommend, you try it too. It is a super healthy exercise, and it helps you not only to get back fully charged but also with a clear view of where you want to go both professionally and personally in the months to come. But remember that whether you’re going to be able to stick to your plan is an entirely different matter.
(Photo by Lili Kovac on Unsplash)