We all have that coworker who says, "I'll be on vacation, but you can reach me by email or text."

Now, some of us think, "Oh, thank God. We might need you, man."

Other people, like myself, think, "I'm not going to reach out to you for shit because I don't want you reaching out to me for shit when I'm on vacation."

And that's what I did for the last week and a half.

I was vacationing in a different state.

And what did I do?

Made sure all work-related notifications were turned off.

That means Outlook and Teams notifications were turned off at a system level.

Turned off my work calendar.

To my job, I was dead, and that's how I am when I’m on vacation.

And guess what?

When I logged back on yesterday, nothing was on fire.

Everything was fine.

Sure, there was slightly more stuff than usual because I wasn't there, but nothing drastically different from any other day.

All this is to say: when you go on vacation, go on vacation.

Don't think, "Oh, my job might need me."

Guess what?

If you weren't allowed to take this vacation, they would not have approved your PTO.

(Side note: If you're expected to work during your PTO, that's a different conversation. (You might need to get a different job.))

When others are on vacation, just leave them on vacation.

That way, when you're on vacation, they'll leave you alone for vacation.

And even if they're available, that doesn't mean you have to be.

When you're on vacation, you should be dead to the world in terms of work.

It doesn’t matter if other people say, "I'm available every hour of every day. Just email me. I'll get back to you."

It's fine for them

But don't be like that if you don't want to.

I sure don't.

Next time you go on vacation, not only schedule those days off, but schedule when you turn off your alarms.

▵ Literally, turn off all alarms for Slack, Teams, Outlook, Gmail (for your job's account).

▵ Turn off the work calendar.

▵ Turn off notifications for work events.

I promise you’ll come back more recharged than before instead of draining your brain when you should be relaxing.

I promise you it'll be fine.

And if it's a total shit show when you come back, that's an issue with your job.

What I personally do is make sure there's enough documentation and whatnot so that when I'm gone, everything that should be done can be done.

If that's not the case for you, make sure it's the case next time.

By the way, if you have trouble unplugging, check out the Sane Tech Workers OS course that I have.

It's helped me regain my mental bandwidth at work, even when I'm not on vacation.

Till next time,

Kevin Tejada