Working while on vacation SUCKS — even when you work for yourself. But, do you know what is worse? Working, while on vacation, with three kids all under the age of six. Oh…you haven’t tried that yet? Well, you can borrow mine and don’t worry, it will be a blast!
What are they like? Well, there is one who is so curious that every conversation with her feels like an interrogation, another who should live in a helmet and doesn’t understand what an “inside voice” is and another who thinks she is ready for American Ninja Warrior and so she practices climbing on everything in her sight, despite the fact that she is only one and a half.
Oh? You changed your mind? You no longer want to try it? Hmm…I don’t understand why?
Okay. Okay. We all know that kids make getting work done so hard, in so many ways. Want specifics? Well, you can read about my daily struggle with that in The Reality Of Working From Home (With Kids). Still, when kids are on vacation, they are even more excitable, energetic, silly, crazy, demanding and whiny — you name it, THEY ARE IT.
Still, I immensely love those Delightfully Difficult, Exhaustingly Entertaining, and Chaotically Charming kiddos. But, I do NEED tips and tools for working around them and their pandemonium, especially when I am trying to be productive during the small amount of work time I have alloted to myself while on vacation. Businesses don’t just run themselves and when the only “man” you are working for is yourself, well, then gosh darn it, there is no real “vacation time”.
So, based on my real-life experiences, here are some tips for you if you still have to manage to get some work done, while on vacation with your children:
- Prepare, prepare, prepare. I cannot emphasize enough that if you plan your work with your vacation in mind, you will be ahead of the game. Do what you can now, beforehand, to ensure that the work, which you will inevitably have to tackle while you are gone, is organized, easily accessible, and already partly completed, if possible.
- Prep your family that you will not be completely “unplugged” on vacation. If you do not do this, you will have one very unhappy spouse, as well as grumpy kids to deal with.
- Be productively pessimistic. What do I mean by this? Before you leave for vacation, I want you to think about what the worst case scenarios could be. What if you forget your power cord and your computer dies? What if you receive an unexpected client call? What if you need to immediately respond to something but your child is mid-tantrum? Do you have a general and logical planned response for each of these scenarios? Well, you need to.
- Wake up early or stay up late. YOU. WILL. NOT. LIKE. THIS. ONE. Especially not on vacation. But, if you choose to wake up early, before your spouse and before the kiddies rise, then you will have some precious and rare, uninterrupted, distraction-free time to complete your tasks. And, by you doing such, you are freeing up your availability for the rest of the day. Don’t want to wake up early? Then be sure to schedule into your day, at least an hour before bed, to tackle what you could not get to in the morning or the rest of the day.
- Let go…a little. This one is hard, I know. But, you have to be flexible and have faith that the world is not going to end because you took a very well-deserved break.
- When you are not working, be fully present. Turn it off. Turn your work dial ALL THE WAY OFF. Give to your family the full attention and presence they so surely deserve.
Jason Pollock, an IT consultant in Brooklyn, who is a member of USA TODAY’s Road Warrior panel, stated in an article on USA Today titled “Do you work on vacation? You’re not alone,” that:
“I’ve found it hard to draw a distinct line between my work life and my personal life…keeping nights, weekends, vacations and holidays sacred has always been a challenge.”
Pollack, sir, you are not alone…
I agree this is such a challenge when you are self employed. Having time off though is so crucial so our own self care and relationship care. A hard balance to strike.
Thanks so much for the comment! You are so very right about necessary breaks being important for our own physical and emotional and just all-around health, as well as that of our relationships. I definitely feel like when you work for yourself, it is a lot of ebbing and flowing…there are months were more time and energy is dedicated to work and other weeks the family gets and needs more attention. I guess though, we have to do a better job of making sure OURSELVES get attention too. Thanks for pointing that out for me! 🙂
I love this! And I need to share it with my husband! Number 6 is so key when attempting this type of vacation. Thanks for sharing mama!
You are so welcome! And I am so very glad you enjoyed!! Thanks for commenting! 🙂
IF you love your work, then working while on vacation is never so bad. But I agree, prep your family ahead of time. I think more people work on vacay now than ever before. We never turn off unless we are working a shift-work type of job or something!
You are right Scarlett. Working while on vacation is not so bad when you like what you do! But, my kids never want to let me work so that is what makes is hard! That and the baby always smacking my keyboard and trying to publish my posts before they are ready! LOL. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Sadly this applies today even when you don’t work for yourself. Many comlsnies expect you to be available 24/7, unless you are on a cruise, everyone gets that one. Cost prohibitive. Great tips for managing!
You are very right, Julie. I am flabbergasted by how so many companies have a total disregard for your “off” time/vacation time/family time. I am glad you enjoyed the tips! I appreciate you commenting!
I used to think that there’s no such thing as a “vacation ” if you’re the boss. I wish I’d had this post back then!! I finally learned from one of my partners that I wasn’t taking vacations, i was working twice as hard from the road! I had to learn to let go, like you recommend. Now I enjoy vacay, and my staff doesn’t dread my time off, lol!!
Thank you so much for your comment, Paula and for sharing your insight and experience. I am still learning to let go…even not just on vacation…but on weekends…it is hard to turn off! I am glad you enjoyed the post. 🙂