I know some people like long holidays, but I tend to prefer short ones. Today is one of those breaks for me. I’m coming back from Pensacola and SQL Saturday #132, taking the day off as I spent Sunday and the morning with my daughter.
This was a combination of work on Fri night/Sat for the event, and then a mini-vacation on Fri morning, Sunday, and Monday morning for the two of us. A little Daddy/daughter time that we both enjoy and look forward to.
Remember to get those breaks in when you can, and take advantage of the chance to spend time away from work if you are traveling and can fit it in.
Thanksgiving is always the biggest break from work for me each year. My family goes away for a almost a week of skiing to take a break away from our busy lives. Last week I was gone, taking 6 whole days away from work and I came back this week, with a lot of emails, articles, and various other work here at SQLServerCentral.
This time, however, I tried something completely new. I didn’t check my email from SQLServerCentral, visit the site, or do anything else work related during the time away. That’s a first for me, as the last few years I’ve been pruning emails on my phone during vacation, handling minor items as I had time. It was hard, since my email client would show an ever increasing count of unread messages, but I made a point of not working during the time away.
I was very refreshed when I came back this week, enjoying a couple days over the weekend of catching up on chores around the house. For the first time in a long time I wasn’t anxious to get back to work, and I completely enjoyed the time away. It never felt like checking a few emails was that distracting, but it was, and it made quite a difference for me.
It’s the holiday season, work usually slows down, and many people take some time off around the Christmas and New Years holidays. I’d urge you to avoid email and work completely, even on your smartphone when you have a few minutes. Keep a book around, start a few Words with Friends games, or use some other leisure distraction to give you a complete break from work and see if you come back refreshed.
It’s my first day back at work, other than a few minutes answering a couple posts on Saturday afternoon and a double check of the newsletter on Sunday. I had 6 work days off in a row, probably a record for me going back a decade at least. It’s rare that I’ve taken 5, and even then I’ve often worked through email.
This time I didn’t.
All my email comes to the iPhone, and to my laptop, and I could see the “unread” counter rising throughout the week. I didn’t check, however, trusting that important items would be handled by the rest of the publishing group at Red Gate and that most other things SQLServerCentral related could wait a week. Even on Saturday, I just flipped through a few “fun threads” just to see what was happening and ended up answering a few posts that appeared on the front page and looked interesting. Mostly for fun, and procrastinating the need to dig some holes in the yard.
It was a refreshing week, and while I was happy to come home after 6 days in the mountains, I was also glad to have a few more days off this past weekend, and get a few things done around the house. Nice, refreshing, and a great break.
Now if I can just schedule a few more, shorter, breaks before the end of the year.
One of the things I am trying to be better about is ensuring I take all my time off each year and get away from work. This past year I was close, almost using it all and I thought I’d be better this year, but the travel has messed up my schedule a bit and I’ve been struggling to find some good time off. I’m hoping to rectify things and catch up on my skiing once I get past SQLInspire in November.
The next 60 days are rough, and I’ll be out of town or traveling to/from something for 21 of them. Not the schedule I want to keep.
However 3 of those days are this weekend, where my wife and I will get a break from life at the Austin City Limits music festival. We have always wanted to see Stevie Wonder and this is our chance to see him. Perhaps the last one we will have.
So the kids leave tomorrow for Grandma’s in VA while we head to TX and 3 days of time away from our lives. Fortunately I’ve scheduled Monday off to recover.
If I don’t answer emails, fix QODs, or anything else, you’ll know it’s because I’m away. I’ll get things squared away when I return.
