The mistake we all make after our vacation

The bikinis are back in the bottom drawer, the leftover sunscreen you apply as body lotion (because that won't be good next year) and your first workdays are checked off. Often, within a week, you almost lose that relaxed holiday mode again and find yourself behind the facts, but that doesn't have to be the case at all.

Companies that are among the most valued employers in our country all give the same tip to their employees. One that is often advised by time management experts as well. The secret: keep your out of office on a bit longer than necessary. This way, you have all the time to work through the piled-up emails or to find out if issues have already been resolved, and the phone isn't constantly ringing red hot on the first day you slide back into your desk. It works much more relaxed.

Let me calculate it for you. If you come home on Saturday, September 5, you don't say that you're back to work on Monday, September 7, but on Wednesday, September 9. This way, on day 1, you can spend your time clearing all the messages, on day 2 you have time to catch up with colleagues who missed (and needed) you, and on day 3 you can fully focus on your relationships. Don't make the mistake of saying Tuesday, September 6, because everyone knows that you'll really be back in the office that Monday, while Wednesday the seventh just sounds a bit more like Wednesday the seventh.

“Yeah, but then my colleagues will still get that out of office, while I'm already sitting at the end of the hall.” Nope, because Outlook has a trick for that. You can set an out of office so that only external mailers receive this message. You also won't hear people all day long saying that you're oh-oh-oh still on.

So remember for next year: plan that out of office a bit more generously, these 5 out of offices are so fun that you'll want to keep them on longer anyway.