Vacation time is a coveted time for most. Getting your head back into the game can sometimes be a challenge. With that in mind, we offer you a few tips to get back into your routine quickly.

Get a good night’s sleep

You want to come into work feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the world again. Begin that plan with a solid night’s sleep. If you have some unpacking left to finish, resist the urge to spend your winding-down hours on it. Instead, make sure everyone has something laid out for tomorrow and get to sleep. You can promise yourself you’ll get it done by the weekend if that makes you feel better.

Arrive early

Before everyone else on your team arrives and asks about your vacation, take that alone time to review your outstanding voice mails and emails. Keep a list of action items and return calls. One pro-tip is when you have an answer for someone, leave them a voice mail before they arrive to work. This strategy is a way for you to check off your action item, get them your answer, and save yourself from chit-chat that you don’t have time for today. How’s that for efficient?

Work yourself back in easy

If you can resist a day’s worth of meetings, go ahead and take advantage of this. Put yourself on unavailable status at least for the morning while you make a plan for catching everyone up. This status should keep anyone from scheduling you for any impromptu meetings until you feel like you have everything under control.

Hindsight: Start with a good offense

When you’re on vacation, take your head with you. What I mean is to reject the thought to check your email regularly. If you must, pick a time that you will check emails and resist every urge to check in-between. Let your team know your plans, so expectations are understood. Better yet, delegate any inquiries to someone on your team so they can circumvent any urgent needs for you.

One thing I do before vacation is sending an email to my future self, reminding me of all the things I promised my future self to tackle as soon as I returned from vacation. A lot of good things have occurred between that Friday and today. So many good things that my memory could be affected, so this is my insurance policy. I start my email with the subject: “Notes to my future self,” and proceed with things I was following up about, people I need to call and email, and where I left off on the essential projects.

Being organized can get you back on track quickly. Organize your workspace. Iron Age Office workspace storage options have just what you and your team need to keep your workspace organized and comfortable. Have you been keeping up with our latest designs?

Plan for your next vacation

Now that you have all of these great ideas, it’s time to put a plan together to give them all a try!