While sure, the nonstop emails, excessive meetings and fluorescent lighting of your office probably make you feel uber-productive and not insane at all, in some ways, you can be a more valuable employee while sitting on the beach, reading a book. Or while climbing a mountain. Or while snoozing on the couch as your co-workers suffer through those meetings. That’s because to be an excellent worker, you have to actually stop working at some point, at least for a little bit. And preferably somewhere exotic.
Vacations can recharge your brain power, vanquish stress and return you to work happier and more efficient than you were before. But many Americans wave them off. According to a February Oxford Economics survey of 971 employees, four in 10 U.S. workers finished 2013 with unused paid time off — leaving a average of 3.2 days still on the table. For the good of your brain and your employer, scoop those days back off the table, and use them for something fun.
How a vacation can make you a more productive (and probably cheerier) employee:
First, a clarification: Hard work and commitment sit at the top of every employer’s wish list. So you may take pride in slogging through weeks and weeks and months and months of work without taking a vacation. While your heart is in the right place, your performance and productivity may be heading south. Employees “are taught to believe that bravado is the way to go — that more hours is better,” says Joe Robinson, productivity trainer and founder of the website worktolive.info. “But research shows it’s just the opposite.”
Your brain becomes exhausted by continuous working, and every time you take an hour for lunch or spend a weekend at home, you give it a little breather. Go away for a week or two, and it feels better than ever. “Your brain needs recovery time to perform well on the job,” Robinson says. In fact, upon returning to work after taking time off, three-quarters of managers in the Oxford survey reported feeling recharged and refreshed, half said they were more focused and 41 percent said they felt less stressed.
Speaking of stress, nonstop working will create a lot of it. And that’s no good. Too much stress can wreak havoc on your health and zap your productivity. When stressed, “your brain is in an emergency state, so it’s really constricted to the perceived crisis at the moment,” Robinson says. “And you never see the big picture, so you can’t plan.”
Stress overload doesn’t typically do wonders for your social graces, either. As David Reiss, a psychiatrist based in San Diego, sums up: “Vacation time is important for physical health, emotional health, interpersonal clarity and personal comfort — as well as increased efficiency and decreased irritability while working.”
How to take a restorative, stress-busting vacation:
Try something new. “What helps the mind recover is being able to do things that allow it to focus attention somewhere else, somewhere fun,” Robinson says. Taking in the sights of a city you’ve never been to or giving scuba diving a try, for example, “diverts you from the source of stress.”
Have a mastery experience. Robinson explains: “That involves learning, challenging and starting to get the hang of something.” So maybe on your vacation you decide to take up salsa dancing, and you keep up with it enough to actually become better than you were. This kind of experience “helps you replenish your mental resources and your body,” Robinson says.
Sign off. Do. Not. Check. Your. Email. “If you’re checking in, all of a sudden, you don’t have that psychological disconnect anymore,” Robinson says. “So you’ve defeated the purpose of being on vacation.”
How to talk to your boss about taking time off:
Do your homework.
On Careers blogger Hannah Morgan writes that the first step to requesting paid time off is reviewing your company’s policy on it. You may need to make the request months in advance or accrue days over time.
Talk to your boss ASAP. Morgan writes: “The sooner you request time off, the better.” Don’t leave your manager or co-workers covering for you in a jam. In the Oxford survey, four out of 10 employees said they had too much work to take PTO. However, the more notice you give your manager and team, the more time they have to plan for covering your work while you’re gone.
Consider timing. Morgan suggests scanning the company calendar and your project schedules before planning your vacation. You don’t want to be thinking about that monstrous deadline next week while you’re supposed to be enjoying a sunset on the beach.
Don’t feel guilty about asking for time off. Remember: It’s in your employer’s best interest to let you recuperate. An employee who works, works, works is stressed and zombie-esque. One who vacations now and then is rejuvenated and more focused. Which would you rather work with?
Plus, “you can’t feel guilty about taking a vacation that’s already in the company policy,” Robinson says. “It’s up to the organization to come up with ways to make sure everything keeps rolling when you’re not there.”
Besides, should you really need to be convinced to take a break? As Reiss points out, even if you love your job, “inevitably, there are still aspects that are mundane, boring and frustrating.”
Step away from the grating day-to-day and treat yourself. “If you don’t take your vacation, it’s not coming back, ever again,” Robinson says. “It’s your big chance every year to live your life fully and freely.”
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Why You Should Just Take a Vacation Already originally appeared on usnews.com