When I was ready to get back to work after a recent long vacation, I had completely lost my rythm. It took a while to get back to the routine. So I am taking this time to create this post for myself to refer back to, and in addition for readers to benefit out of my learnings.

Get the urgent sorted out first!

While you were away if anything cropped up that needs your urgent attention, get that out of your way first. I had to reset some passwords, respond to urgent messages and set expectations on how soon I can address their requests. Hopefully you had setup your Out-of-Office auto-response and that took care of informing people that you were away and who can be contacted in your absence. Now would be a good time to reach out to those people who backed you up and ask if anything important needs your urgent attention, and also let them know that you are back and catching up!

Write your goals for the week!

If you have received several hundred emails and messages while you were away, it will take you a long time to catch up. It is best to not lose sight of your goals for the week, while you are trying get back into action. I prefer writing goals with a pen on a paper (or a diary), but to each their own.

Set your daily routine, give time to yourself!

My wife likes to wake up early and have "me time" where she enjoys a peaceful cup of chai (tea) while she prepares for her day. I am trying to build a habit of stretching or exercising early in the morning. The idea of giving ourselves time early in the day and preparing our mind and body for the day has been very helpful in grounding us and energizing us to face the challenges ahead of us.

Create a to-do list!

This is my favorite part, as it allows me to remember things I need to do, and prioritize those things based on urgency and impact. There are usually several things in the list that never get done, but that is the point - trying to identify things that need to be done, and get as many done as it makes sense.

Schedule your priority tasks!

This took some time for me to learn. In past I would go just by the to-do list and try to get things done, but during busy days I would lose track of tasks. I have found that it helps if we set aside some time in our calendar and commit to doing some of those priority tasks from our to-do list. Make sure to schedule based on urgency as well as impact of the tasks!

Plan your weekly well-being activities!

Now you are back from vacation and need to remain active, so schedule time for your workouts, yoga classes, meditation, tai chi or whatever well-being activities are on top of your mind. Do not worry about catching up with everything that you have missed at work all at once, rather pace it out and set your routine so as to allow yourself time to cope up with it.

Eat healthy and hydrate!

Your body needs to be taken care of just like your work. Give it healthy intake and it will function smoothly. Drink lots of water!

Practice gratitude

I am thankful to be back and happy to have the opportunities that I have.

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In the series of posts titled "Well-Being", I cover some interesting learnings on this important topic.