How to have a successful summer vacation

How to have a successful summer vacationHow to have a successful summer vacationLots of people will take a vacation this summer, but for many of them, their vacations wont be the relaxing, recuperative getaways they were hoping for.Research shows that about40% of people return from their vacations and feel either no better, or even worse, than before they left.This happens because many of us make mistakes that compromise how enjoyable and satisfying ur vacations can be. Below are some simple recommendations that you can implement before, during and after your vacation that will help ensure that your time off this summer is pleasurable, gratifying and fully recharges your batteries.Plan aheadVacations can be stressful. Minimize your stress by planning out key parts of your vacation before you leave.Reserve a flight outside of rush hour so you dont get stuck in traffic. Book your scuba diving adventure a few weeks in advance.Before leaving make sure that you and your travel partners ar e clear on everyones vacation priorities and have a general agreement about how youll spend your time.While you are away you dont want to engage in potentially stressful negotiations about how to fill your days. Even a single negative incident on vacation, like an argument with a spouse, reduces how much your time away improves your health and well-being.Put away the electronicsA necessary ingredient for recharging your batteries on vacation is mentally disengaging from work. Its elend enough to physically leave the office, you have to mentally leave the office.This is called psychological detachment. If youre on the beach constantly looking at your phone to see whats happening back at work, youre notlage psychologically detached. If you check your email three times a day, youre not psychologically detached.If you dont psychologically detach you wont replenish yourself much on your trip. Turn off the electronics and clear your mind. That said, if you get anxious about the mountain o f emails that will be waiting for you when you get back to work, you will also have trouble chilling out. So, engage in email triage.Once every three or four days, check your email and delete anything you can dispense with immediately. Then, reply quickly to anything that can be addressed with a simple, token response, and mark as unread anything that needs some thought and should be tackled when you get back. This cuts the huge mountain of emails down to a small pile, which will put your mind at ease and allow you to unwind.Enjoy yourselfBe a little bit selfish on vacation and ensure that you get to do what floats your boat. Enjoying yourself is a necessary ingredient in making sure your vacation is recuperative.Vacations are supposed to refresh you and alleviate the burnout you suffer at work, and research shows that when you enjoy yourself and are satisfied with your vacation, your level of burnout drops significantly while away,but when you are not satisfied, your level of burno ut barely changes.Similarly, whether or not you enjoy your vacation strongly affectshow refreshed you feel when its over. Take time for yourself and participate in activities you find pleasurable and satisfying. This is your vacation. Youve earned it.Staycations are OKNot everyone has the disposable funds for travel vacations. But thats OK. Staycations can be as effective as exotic getaways if they are done right.The main mistake people make during vacations at home is that they stay in their normal routine. They cook, they clean, they watch TV. In short, they dont vacate their normal lives.If you stay at home on your vacation, shake things up. Visit local tourist attractions. Eat different foods. Take day trips to neighboring communities. Getting out of your normal routine can make a staycation feel as novel and recuperative as an excursion to a foreign land.Come home a little earlyWe usually come back from our travel vacations on Sunday night so we can return to work Monday mornin g. We do this because we think that maximizing our vacation time means making the vacation last as long as possible.But the goal of our vacations shouldnt be to make them as long as possible but to make them as effective as possible. If you return home Sunday night youre likely to run around trying to hurriedly unpack, water your plants, do laundry, pick up some groceries, check your phone messages and various other things you need to do to get back into the swing of things.However, scrambling about is stressful and can quickly undo all the health and well-being gains you made while on vacation. Research shows that people who return from vacations a little bit early report being in a better mood for longer than those who return on a Sunday.Bookend your vacation with as little stress as possible. Come home early enough to leisurely get back into your normal routine, and ease back into work retaining your vacation benefits for as long as you can.People often complain that they need a vacation from their vacation. When we return from our time off feeling just as depleted and tired as before we left it is usually because our vacations didnt allow us to replenish our drained resources, satisfy our needs or adequately disengage from our normal routines.Implementing a few simple tactics before, during, and after your vacation can ensure that your time off this summer fully recharges your batteries and lets you return to work feeling healthy, happy and productive.This article was originally published on TheConversation.com.