Working while on vacation

I own my own business, so not working while on vacation is not an option (yet!).  Depending on the type of career you have, your needs may be a little different than mine.

Over this vacation I needed to:

• respond to client emails
• bill clients
• work on client websites
• work on business websites
• write marketing materials
• respond to clients on Twitter and Facebook
• update Twitter and Facebook business pages

If you need to work this guide should help you do it better and with less stress.  My key is getting up earlier than everyone else (yours may be staying up later).  By getting up early no one is around to ask what you are doing, why are you working or ask if they can use your internet connection (we had a single USB card so we had to share).

Stick To a Plan

The key is to plan out tasks that you can complete in the amount of time you have for working.  I work for about 2 hours in the morning and 1 in the afternoon.  Give or take an hour or so.

Night Before

What does this mean -  the night before:

• don’t have that last cocktail
• don’t stay up all night chatting
• drink water before you go to bed, if you are properly hydrated you will feel better in the morning.
• if you are using a portable internet connection make sure it’s somewhere that you can retrieve it without disturbing other people.

Napping

Depending on the type of vacation you are on napping may or may not be an option.  If your on a beach holiday, drop the book for an hour and take a nap or at least rest.  You should not be constantly tired while on vacation.

Make Notes

During the day while your not working.  Write down any ideas you have or make a voice memo.  I have failed to do this many times during this trip and can’t remember the great writing idea that I had.

Allow for downtime

Remember this is a vacation.  Having time away from the stress of work is important.  Don’t leave your phone on, let calls go to voice-mail.  Same with email and texting, check them every couple hours if you must.  Most things don’t need immediate response (and if they do try to have someone else take that responsibility while you are on vacation).

Use downtime wisely

If you catch a rainy day and find yourself doing nothing.  Use a couple of hours to do work.  Put a movie on for the kids and concentrate on getting stuff out of your mind and out of the way.