So, summer is here again and hopefully all of us are going to be enjoying some well-deserved time off. I love summer and can’t wait to head off to France to visit family, spend a little time in the countryside and a little time at the beach but I also recognise that for many of us it’s really hard to leave work at the office and switch off completely.

Are you guilty of taking work on holiday with you? Are you constantly checking your smart phone for emails? Do you ever really switch off completely?

Here’s a few tips on how to leave it all behind and unwind:

• Plan ahead- get as much finished as you can before you head off for your hollibobs, delegate what is left and leave a detailed handover for whoever is taking over from you.
• Pre-determine what counts as an emergency and when it’s ok to contact you.
• If you have the same phone for work and personal calls perhaps you could consider an alternative phone, turn off internet or access to emails while you are away.
• Set an out of office so your clients and colleagues know who to contact in your absence
• Plan ahead for your return- often the idea of what we’ll come back to stops us from disconnecting completely.
• Make the most of your free time- plan to do things you enjoy while you’re off so you feel you really disconnect.
• Leave a little time to do nothing- absolutely nothing- just recharge your batteries.
• Catch up on some zzz’s.
• Have fun!

Happy summer everyone!