Thanksgiving is always the biggest break from work for me each year. My family goes away for a almost a week of skiing to take a break away from our busy lives. Last week I was gone, taking 6 whole days away from work and I came back this week, with a lot of emails, articles, and various other work here at SQLServerCentral.
This time, however, I tried something completely new. I didn't check my email from SQLServerCentral, visit the site, or do anything else work related during the time away. That's a first for me, as the last few years I've been pruning emails on my phone during vacation, handling minor items as I had time. It was hard, since my email client would show an ever increasing count of unread messages, but I made a point of not working during the time away.
I was very refreshed when I came back this week, enjoying a couple days over the weekend of catching up on chores around the house. For the first time in a long time I wasn't anxious to get back to work, and I completely enjoyed the time away. It never felt like checking a few emails was that distracting, but it was, and it made quite a difference for me.
It's the holiday season, work usually slows down, and many people take some time off around the Christmas and New Years holidays. I'd urge you to avoid email and work completely, even on your smartphone when you have a few minutes. Keep a book around, start a few Words with Friends games, or use some other leisure distraction to give you a complete break from work and see if you come back refreshed.
Steve Jones
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