How a Professional Office Organizer Prepares for Her Vacation

If you are anything like this NYC Professional Office Organizer, then you probably envision your vacation as a relaxing break away from work enjoying your family and friends. The last thing you want is to spend the last few days leading up to your vacation working until midnight trying to get every single task checked off your to-do list! Starting vacation off exhausted isn’t fun, and it’s made especially problematic when traveling to another time zone or country. Between jet lag and exhaustion from overworking the last few days before you leave for your vacation, you’ll wind of wanting to sleep when you’ve arrived at your destination instead of jumping right in having fun. After starting one too many trips like this, I now make a concerted effort to closely manage my activities and calendar during the last 2-3 weeks prior to my departure and set a goal to have all work-related tasks completed by 6:00pm on the night prior to my departure. I apply the following four tips when I start office organizing before I hit the road for my travels.

1. I assess my work and personal to-do lists at least 2 weeks prior to my vacation. This review has a dual purpose. First to identify those tasks that must be done before I leave… and then to identify those tasks that might have been a good idea but are no longer viable. I either permanently delete them or add them to my future project list if I want to circle back in 3 months to re-assess. During this process, I also delegate tasks that can be done by my VA and postpone tasks that aren’t as deadline sensitive. Lastly, I make sure that all tasks that are rattling around in my head have been added to the appropriate list.
2. I proactively block time on my calendar for all project work and other key tasks so that I can make sure that the work will be done on time. I am very conservative when estimating the amount of time needed. I would rather have an extra block of time that I can re-schedule for another task than not enough time to complete this work.
3. As this pre-vacation time can be intense, I purposely scale back all non-essential activities and schedule them for after vacation. I will more thoroughly enjoy catching up with friends and attending events when I can give them my full attention. This isn’t going to happen when I’m constantly thinking about the piles of work that I’m trying to plow through. The one activity that I try not to cancel is exercising…though working that in can even become a challenge!
4. Typically, there are also personal tasks that need to get done before vacation. I make sure to block time on my calendar for them and try to make them my focus over the weekends. There is nothing worse than realizing that I can’t start packing because the laundry still needs to be done!

Instead of rushing and worrying about all that needs to be done before you leave for vacation, apply these tips to your business and personal life so you can take (and enjoy!) that long-overdue vacation. Want more office organizing tips and strategies from this NYC Professional Office Organizer? Reach out today.