Have you ever taken a much-needed vacation and then got back and couldn’t get back in the flow of work? Yeah…us too! Even after a week or more, you can still struggle to be back in the flow. In today’s episode, we are going to talk about the things you can do to help yourself re-enter normal life and start producing again.

We went on a vacation this summer and decided ahead of time we’d do very little work. There have definitely been trips where we’ve worked along the way, but we wanted a real vacation from our normal life. But, getting back into the routine of things was very hard after being away for a few weeks.

Here are a few tips we have to help you get back into the swing of things:

It may seem like it makes the most sense to come back from your trip just in time to go back to work, but it can actually make you less productive. When you come in from out of town for a few days or weeks, there’s going to be things you have to take care of. If you go straight back to work, you’re going to deal with a lot of distractions at home. This is particularly an issue when you work from home.

Your first, or even second day back to work should be a planning day. Take the time to go through all of the emails that came in while you were away. Reach back out to anyone that was waiting on you to come back so that they can send over project details to you.

Also, this is a good time to re-acquaint yourself with where you left off with any projects. Take the time to look over anything you have outstanding and put it on your schedule for the week.

One of the hardest things about going on vacation is losing all sense of a schedule. That’s why it is important that you make sure that you have an alarm and be disciplined about getting up. Sleeping in or having slow mornings will keep you from getting back on track.

The chances are you were doing a lot of extra work leading up to your vacation so you could take the time off. It’s important to keep that in mind because you won’t likely get back to the same production level as before the vacation. It’s probably not even a sustainable pace to keep in general.

Empowering Productivity is brought to you by R5 Website Management. If you’re looking to take your online presence to the next level, we’re here to help!

Email us at co*****@*****************nt.com to get started today!

Until next week, get out there and start breaking the mental chains that are keeping you from producing!

The post How to Get Back in Gear After a Vacation appeared first on R5 Website Management.

When is the last time you took a real vacation? I’m not talking about going out of town with your computer in tow and working from the hotel room or car in between doing touristy things. What I am talking about is telling your clients you’re going out of town and you won’t be available for the duration of your vacation. In today’s episode, we’ll talk about how taking a real vacation and time away from work can boost your productivity.

I know it may seem counterintuitive that we are saying to take days, if not weeks, off from work and you’ll get more done. But, it’s true! And we’re going to cover some of the reasons you tend to get more done.

Leading up to your vacation, you are giving yourself a hard deadline on your tasks and things you need to accomplish. You’ll be surprised at how much you can accomplish when you have little wiggle room on deadlines. That’s why we say making deadlines is so important with your work anyways.

But, if you know you’re not going to be able to submit work or get things done while you’re out of town, it’s going to make your time much more focused leading up to your trip.

When you have a real vacation to look forward to, you become naturally motivated to get your work caught up. Even when you feel unmotivated or having a day where you are struggling to kick into gear, it can be a lot easier to push yourself because you know there’s a reward on the other side.

Letting your clients know that you are going on a vacation and that you won’t be able to do work for them can actually motivate them to get you things you’re waiting on. Sometimes, your lack of productivity is to no fault of your own. It’s because you are waiting on your clients to submit the information you need to complete the task.

While you are on vacation, you get a real break from work and your normal responsibilities. It gives you the ability to free up mental space and take a real step back from your life. Usually, I find that when I get back from a vacation, I’ve got a lot more ideas on things to implement in the business. And, I tend to feel more focused.

If you have a team or assistants, going on a vacation forces you to delegate the work that you’d normally do. In cases like this, you may find that they are capable of doing more than you realize. In which case, this could lead to you handing off more tasks to them and freeing yourself up to do more in general.

Empowering Productivity is brought to you by R5 Website Management. If you’re looking to take your online presence to the next level, we’re here to help!

Email us at co*****@*****************nt.com to get started today!

Until next week, get out there and start breaking the mental chains that are keeping you from producing!

The post Why Taking a Real Vacation Boosts Your Productivity appeared first on R5 Website Management.

When you are a small business owner or a solo-preneur, you have to wear a lot of hats to keep your business running. Especially in the first few years of your business when you are trying to grow it, you will have to put in a lot of long hours. To successfully grow your business without losing your mind, you need help at home. In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about how you can get family buy-in so you can get more work done.

I started working for myself from home when the kids were 6, 5, and 1. All of a sudden, I had to split my time between managing the home and working. It was not an easy transition for me…my family included. For me to have the time I needed to work, I had to get family buy-in.

Unfortunately, when your family doesn’t support you, it can make it much harder to be successful. And, you also end up dealing with a lot of resentment from your family. It’s really important to help them understand your goals, what you’re trying to accomplish, and how the work you can do is good for everyone around you.

Here are a few ways we recommend that you do this in your family:

Probably the biggest thing you can do to get buy-in from your family is to show them the income results of your job. For example, if you were able to pay for the family to do something extra that they couldn’t do, or you were just able to have a bit more breathing room in the budget, tell them.

You could do this by putting a little bit aside and having a celebration pot you pull from to do something fun. Or you could buy a few requested snacks that you usually can’t afford. If the people in your life see that you are providing them with something they don’t have, it’s much easier for them to connect the dots.

If you love the things you do, when you talk about them you’ll naturally be passionate. It’s important for the people in your family to understand what the work you do means to you. When you get really excited, they’ll see it’s important to you.

When you receive good feedback from one of your clients or customers, show this to your family. Feedback from the people you serve makes the work you do even more important. Now, it’s more than just something you do for yourself and your family, but it is having a positive impact on others.

If there’s a small part of your job that your family can be a part of, let them join. If that’s not possible, then help connect the dots for them when they do extra house chores for you, that it’s allowing you to do this important job that pays the bills and impacts others for good.

Empowering Productivity is brought to you by R5 Website Management. If you’re looking to take your online presence to the next level, we’re here to help!

Email us at co*****@*****************nt.com to get started today!

Until next week, get out there and start breaking the mental chains that are keeping you from producing!

The post How to Get Family Buy in So You Can Get More Work Done appeared first on R5 Website Management.