Summer provides a natural experiment as hordes of highly connected workers stream out of home offices and coffee shops to take their annual, stress-reducing, fair-weather holiday. But if you were hoping the attractions of sun and sea could keep web workers from their laptops, a recent survey from flexible office space company Regus will make for depressing reading.

Those of you who thought the staycation was a gloomy concept, brace yourselves for the “workation.” Regus is employing the term after polling 5,000 U.S. professionals and determining that, whatever the charms of their vacation destinations, most will be unable to fully get away from work this summer.  The company found:

• 50 percent of Americans admit they will work during their vacation this summer
• 75 percent plan to stay connected to the office in some way while on vacation
• 66 percent will be checking and responding to email during their time off
• 29 percent may have to attend meetings virtually while on vacation

While Regus is using the findings to flog its centers as a better alternative to unreliable hotel Internet connections, the larger question begging to be asked is whether the transformation of the vacation into the workation is healthy, and what consequences, if any, our poolside emailing will have on our productivity (or more fundamentally mental health) down the road?

On the other hand, with research showing that around 66 percent of Americans leave some vacation days on the table, maybe a quick Skype in to your client after a morning or snorkeling beats never leaving home at all for fear of falling behind. Whatever your take on workations, WebWorkerDaily has tips on how to manage your time off and minimize holiday-related stress.

What’s your take on the workation phenomenon — better than not going at all or a sad comment on the workaholism epidemic among web workers?

Photo courtesy Flickr user Giorgio Montersino

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The Future of Workplaces
• The Future of Work Platforms: An Overview

A total of 71 percent of those responding to the survey said that they are OK with being interrupted while on their summer vacations. That percentage included:

• 32 percent who said that email is the best way to reach them,
• 20 percent preferred to be contacted by phone, and
• 18 percent preferred text messages.

Interestingly, of the 29 percent who said it is never appropriate to contact them while on vacation, more than 7 out of 10 are over the age of 45.

Eighty-seven percent of those responding to the survey also preferred email for communicating with coworkers and business contacts while in the office. Of those responding, 31 percent said that voicemail is their least favorite mode of communication, followed by instant messaging (29 percent), and texting (26 percent).

The survey was conducted online from May 12-16, 2011 among 2,398 U.S. adults. Respondents were full- and part-time employed adults in the U.S. who have colleagues.

How accessible will you be on your next vacation?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The Future of Workplaces
• The Future of Work Platforms: An Overview

How can you switch off without appearing to slack off? How do you set boundaries without annoying colleagues (or your kids)? And most importantly how do you overcome your own impulse to check your email just one more time? These questions can be tricky, as blog Personal Dividends recently reported when outlining the downsides of web work:

I can shift some of my assignments around, but I rarely go a day without doing something related to my business. The only exceptions are Sundays and my yearly three-day camping trip. Usually, even when I’m away from home, I’m on the laptop for at least two hours day. Sometimes that means getting up way before everyone else so that I can get my stuff done before the activities of the day.

If you’ve been working remotely for a while you’re probably already aware of the trouble with vacations, so how can you minimize the guilt and stress and maximize the relaxation of your holiday? Here is a roundup of the best tips from around the Internet:

• The obvious: inform clients or co-workers, choose your dates wisely, work ahead and prepare set email responses you can use with minimal effort while away.
• Save the money and time necessary. You save up for a new car and block out enough time for a big job. Isn’t a vacation also worth dedicating resources to? Treat your break like a client and add your holiday to your calendar. Save money and sequester it for the purpose of taking a vacation.
• Keep “remote guilt” in perspective. It’s well-documented that remote workers are often paranoid that they are perceived as lazy and work more hours to compensate. Vacations can be extra stressful because of this worry. There’s no magic cure, but knowing that you’re not at all alone in feeling that guilt can help.
• Imagine your family’s perspective. If you need help finding the right balance between work and play, it might help imagining what you look like to your kids tapping away on your laptop in your Bermuda shorts. You tell yourself about the economic complexities and that you prefer interesting work to a bad detective novel, but can you really justify your decisions to your loved ones? If you’re not sure, maybe you need to re-balance.
• Have a plan to deal with backlog on your return. No matter how well you’ve planned in advance, you will face a mountain of emails and to-do list items when you come home. Mentally brace for it and come up with a strategy to dig out. There are plenty of resources to help.
• Don’t force yourself. Burn-out is a terrible thing, says conventional wisdom, which argues that no vacations equals physical and creative exhaustion. That’s true for many, but for some people blurring the line between life and work is the whole point of the web worker lifestyle. As Gerald M. Weinberg puts it, “By my definition, a vacation is an escape from work you don’t want to do. According to my definition, I’ve been on a real vacation for a long, long time.” If you’re like Weinberg, why waste valuable mental energy fretting about how much time you take off?

Do you struggle take and enjoy vacations as a web worker?

Image courtesy Flickr user uros velickovic.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The Future of Workplaces
• The Future of Work Platforms: An Overview
• Connected Consumer Q1: The Over-the-Top vs. Pay TV Battle Heats Up

The experience on a long-distance train is very different than that of “corridor” trains like the Acelas in the northeast and the Cascades Talgo trains in the northwest. I enjoyed watching the countryside go by and chatting with my fellow passengers. So much so, in fact, that I didn’t do any of the writing I had planned, or even crack open a book.

The technical planning I wrote about in my earlier post went as I had expected. I was able to check my email and keep up with Twitter, Facebook and RSS feeds on my iPod touch connected to a Sprint Overdrive hotspot. Amtrak does offer Wi-Fi on the Acela trains, and the service has been so popular that it will be expanded to other areas soon.

Connectivity was limited in some of the Great Plains, but I was a bit surprised at the poor connections in parts of New England. A colleague had a similar problem at a major resort in Florida using another carrier, so I can’t blame either Sprint or the specific equipment I was using.

Nevertheless, I was able to download what I needed while the train was stopped in places like Whitefish, Montana, after which I could read and respond to messages offline.

My colleagues have written a lot about how to take vacations, so I’ll just add a couple of suggestions of my own:

• Don’t plan to work any more than you absolutely have to.
• Decide how connected you really want or need to be while you’re away.
• Give yourself some planning time before the vacation, and decompression time afterward.
• Tell your clients in advance that you’ll be away. Most will be understanding.

Have a great summer, and bon voyage!

How will you take time off this year?
Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Are You Empowering Your Mobile Workforce?

As enjoyable as the holiday season can be, it’s also a hectic time filled with demands that can exceed even your busiest days at work. On top of that, it can be hard to let go of work, and there’s often a little nagging voice reminding you of what will be waiting for you on your return. When the first weeks of the new year arrive, it’s easy to feel jet lagged and sleep deprived, wishing that you had time for a vacation from the vacation!

It’s a lot easier to realize the need for downtime and rest during times like these, but it’s just as important to routinely get time away from work and daily stresses well after putting away the Christmas ornaments.

A creative outlet or some form of physical activity can be just the remedy for stress-filled days, so why not take the time to plan for some fun activities away from the office?

Get a Hobby

There are so many ways to blow off steam. It can be as simple as a daily walk, but you might also enjoy:

• Joining an acting, photography or painting class at a local college.
• Baking or cooking something special each day.
• Gardening or visiting nature centers in your area.
• Dancing or taking a dance class.
• Exercising or bike-riding.
• Swimming, rowing or simply being near water.
• Reading or starting/joining a book club.
• Hiking, jogging or preparing for a marathon.
• Sewing, crocheting, pottery-making or painting.
• Spending time outdoors or with your pets.

The options are truly endless, but the important thing is making sure to reserve time for it every single day, so be sure to find something that’s accessible and convenient so that you’ll actually commit to it and make it part of your routine.

Schedule It In

The New Year is here, and it’s the perfect time to set your intentions and make room for those things that are most important to you, and taking time for yourself to unwind and take your mind off work should be at the top of your list. If you’re not taking care of yourself, you’re not operating at your best, which can actually take away from the attention you provide your life and business.

Reserve time now for yourself and activities that will rejuvenate you and help you bring the highest level of energy and clarity to your business.

How do you unwind and decompress from the stresses that can come with running a business?

Image from Flickr by lepiaf.geo

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

The notion may seem anti-social, but in fact I think it has more to do with an evolutionary principle. If I seek out things that I need or run errands when there are less people about, there will be less competition for available resources, and I won’t be nearly as stressed out as I might otherwise be. Obviously, because of work schedules not everyone has the ability to do this, but it’s one of the major advantages of working from home.

While the Cat’s Away, the Mouse Will Work

The holidays are not a great time for doing much of anything. The malls are packed, transit is unbearable, and even the gym gets prohibitively busy for about three or four weeks following Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations. When there’s downtime for most, I spend the least amount of time on personal an leisure activities. Instead, I turn to work.

Work is the one refuge for the beleaguered loner during the holidays, for the very simple reason that almost no one else is doing any. This is especially beneficial if your job in any way involves competing with colleagues for publication space, as it does in my case, but it can also be useful in many other ways to any number different types of remote workers.

Less Distraction

During the holidays, and especially the Christmas season, I’ve noticed a significant decrease in the amount of Internet chatter going on. Twitter is a much less active place, as is Facebook, at least in my personal experience.

Even the news cycle seems to lull around Christmas, or maybe I just hear about it less because of the dip in social media activity. TV is totally bereft of any new content, and becomes a veritable wasteland of holiday special repeats and marathons of shows that last for 16 hours and can be pretty tedious, even if you’re a fan to begin with.

Your inbox fills up at a fraction of the pace you’re used to during ordinary working days, too. There was a day just recently when I received only five emails, total, for example. I can’t remember the last time that happened, but I guarantee it was long before I started making my money working online.

Less Competition

I know I already mentioned that there is less competition over the holiday period which can be good news for writers like me, but it also applies to other fields in less obvious ways. For example, holiday cover work is a great opportunity to make some extra money during a time when many people are on vacation. You’re especially well-placed to take advantage of this opportunity if you don’t yet have a family, or are semi-retired and don’t mind the time it takes away from your holiday.

In order to get some extra work over the holidays, make your employer and coworkers aware of your desire to help out long before the Christmas season actually hits. If you have to, make sure you put in some time beforehand training up and asking about how to go about doing the jobs you might be asked to cover when the time comes. If your organization is aware you know how to do the job, it’ll make their decision to use you when needed a lot easier.

A Gift for Yourself

While it can be hard to summon the motivation to go to work when everyone else around you is in the process of unwinding completely and enjoying the season, it an also be very rewarding. Just because the world slows down when the year winds down, doesn’t mean it stops completely. There’s still plenty of gears that need turning, and best of all, you’ll be in a much better position to pick and choose from a relative wealth of work.

Don’t get me wrong, I still crave a break. And a break I shall have, but it’ll be a time-shifted one, designed to take place at a time when everyone else has gone back to work.

Did you work over the holidays?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Inbox Zero

I usually manage to get my inbox under control right before I take a week off during the holidays, but by the time I return to work, it has usually filled right back up with new email. This time, I’m making a real effort to keep it at inbox zero for more than a few hours. I went to inbox zero about a week ago, and I’ve managed to keep it at zero all week by spending a little time each day responding to what I can and moving everything else into areas for response or further reading while creating tasks for to-do items. By keeping up with this process during the holidays while the volume is more manageable, I hope that I’m building up habits that will help me continue to manage my email in 2010. Even if you don’t aspire to implement inbox zero over the long-term, there is something very refreshing about starting the new year with a clean inbox.

Paperwork, Planning and Finances

This is also a great time to get all your paperwork, planning and finances in order. I plan to tackle that pile of paperwork accumulating on my desk that really should be filed, and it’s a great time to get everything ready for your taxes. You should also take some time to set your goals for 2010 and come up with a plan that will help you achieve them.

Relax

Nothing helps me get a fresh start like taking a few days off to relax and recharge. It’s hard to get a great start on the year if you are overworked and exhausted. I took most of last week off to visit family, but the holidays come with their own stresses. I plan to work like mad on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to get the rest of my work done along with some paperwork and other business; however, I’m going to take a nice, long four-day weekend off at home to relax, read and hit the gym to start the new year feeling great.

What are your favorite tips for getting the new year off to a great start?

Photo by Flickr User Daniel Voyager used under Creative Commons.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Most of us also try to take a few days off around the holidays, which can create additional time and budget constraints. For freelancers, no one actually pays you for those days off, and you still need to meet client expectations. Telecommuters and other workers still have about the same amount of work to complete with fewer days to accomplish it. Regardless of your work situation, this still means more stress during the holidays. I have a few suggestions to help you manage your stress and come out of the holidays at least as healthy and happy as you were before the holiday season.

Get Ahead

When I get stressed, my natural instinct is to procrastinate, but that will only make the situation worse. I force myself to do what I can to get ahead on any tasks that can be accomplished early to avoid a mad rush during the holidays.

For one client, I knew that holiday schedules would derail the normal approval process for my weekly writing tasks, so instead of doing a week’s worth of writing, I did a week and a half. This gets me through the first half of the week after the Thanksgiving holiday, and I can pick back up on the writing after everyone gets back from vacation.

I also finished about 90 percent of my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving. My family lives in Ohio, so I took advantage of online shopping to buy almost everything and have it shipped directly to my Mom’s house. This saves me the hassles of last-minute shopping and store crowds, and it also makes travel less stressful, since it reduces the amount of luggage required for the trip home.

Exercise

When we have the least amount of time available, it is too easy to cut out exercise and use the time to do more work, run errands, or complete other tasks. Do not be tempted to skip your workouts during the holiday season. Exercise naturally reduces stress and will help you avoid the increased stress associated with the weight gain that comes out of eating too many holiday cookies.

If you can’t find the time for your regular workouts, make sure you do something physical every day. Here are a couple of suggestions:

• Knead the bread by hand instead of using the bread maker.
• Dance in the kitchen to your favorite holiday tunes while you cook.
• Park in the last row of the shopping mall and walk, or for urban dwellers like me, do your shopping in a neighborhood where you can walk to every store.
• Take a walk with a family member and use the time to talk (also a good way to relieve stress).

Take Time Off

Take advantage of the times when your clients are on vacation to take a few days off yourself. Seriously. Take some actual time off with no client work. This works best in conjunction with the suggestion about getting ahead. I’ve been working like a mad woman for the past few days, and I plan to take Wednesday through Sunday off. OK, I’m lying a little bit. I plan to take Wednesday, Thursday and Friday completely off, but I’m secretly hoping to have time to work on some neglected non-client personal projects for at least a few hours over the weekend. These are those fun projects that I never quite have time to do, so it won’t feel like work.

Sleep

Make sure that you get plenty of sleep. While sleeping a few less hours every night might seem like a great way to get a few extra hours to finish the activities that are leaving you stressed, it will only make the problem worse. When I’m not getting enough sleep, I’m grouchy and less productive, which only increases my stress levels. Get the sleep that you need to increase the chances that you’ll be productive and accomplish more work in less time.

These are my top four tips for reducing stress during the holidays. How do you reduce holiday stress?

Image by Rick Turoczy used under Creative Commons.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Whatever your plans, there’s a lot for the web worker to prepare before the holiday season hits and business in many parts of the world grinds almost to a halt. Here are some of the steps I’m taking to ensure things don’t go pear-shaped over the next month or two.

1. Work Plan

When time is short, I like to prepare a work plan which outlines what I need to do and how much time I have to do it in. I break those tasks down to a daily to-do-list and endeavor to stick to it. I make note of the date on which I can expect work to return to normal, so that I can ensure I’m prepared to hit the ground running when the wheels of commerce start turning again.

Like many freelancers, I’ll also be looking at my task list from a budget perspective this holiday season: How many billable hours will I need to fit in between now and when things pick up again in the new year? And where can I find work to fill any budget gaps?

2. Holiday Plan

You probably already have an idea of how much time you’d like to take off this holiday season, and how much vacation time you’ll be able to take. Once I’ve got an idea of the amount of work I have to do, I can schedule my break time to take in commitments with family and friends. But my vacation timeframe will also be affected by my colleagues’ and clients’ schedules.

We’ve all been through the frustration of working when everyone else is holidaying: you can’t get the inputs you need, you have trouble accessing information or gaining approvals — it can be a real nightmare, not to mention a complete waste of time.

Of course, depending on the types of jobs you have to do, you may find this “quiet time” while everyone else is vacationing to be a blessing for your productivity.

3. Connectivity Plan

Whether you’ll be Twittering pictures of your Thanksgiving turkey as it’s being devoured, or you’re heading for the hills, to a little place with no phone or web access, it’s fair to say that all web workers need some sort of connectivity plan for the holiday season.

For me, that plan will entail periods without connection. But work commitments will necessitate that I’m not away from my computer for more than a few days at a time. I’ll build this into my schedule as well, and try to stick to it on the basis that the break from the everyday will do me good.

Your connectivity plan may, of course, necessitate a packing list if you’re going away and need to take your gear with you, or even a wishlist of equipment you’d be happy to receive as gifts this season…

4. Goal Plan

Depending on your work and workload, you may choose, as I will, to set a rough goal plan for next year now.

Yes, now. I don’t want to sail into the new year and then start wondering what I’m going to do next. As a remote worker, I find that planning past the holiday season helps my motivation, and lets me maintain momentum through the lazy days ahead.

In some ways, it even helps me to relax over the holiday season: since I know I have things to get on with after the break, I don’t spend the time worrying about what’ll happen when the fun stops.

These are the kinds of plans I make against the ravages of the heady holiday season. How about you?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

How to Start Off Small With a Short Break

If you’re struggling to go on a holiday, start small. Start with a day off, if you have to, and go explore your surroundings. And consider trying the following:

1. Take the trip over a weekend to avoid missing too many work days.
2. Keep the vacation short so the thought of packing and unpacking doesn’t paralyze you.
3. Pick a place that allows you to pack as light as possible.
4. Go someplace within driving distance.

I took a Friday through Sunday vacation with my family to a hotel with an indoor water park about 30 minutes from home. I’d rather travel to a new city or country, but the thought of catching up with my work when I return stresses me. This vacation let me relax without worrying about work.

I didn’t take my computer. OK, I confess: My spouse took his and I did use it briefly while away, but at least it didn’t have my usual applications or tools. During the entire trip, I spent no more than an hour, at most, on the computer to do quick email checks.

Dealing with Your Vacation Fears

The things I feared would happen upon my return didn’t occur. I’m one of those people who cleans up as I work and handles things as they come in, rather than letting them pile up and facing a mountain. So I feared returning to:

• an overloaded inbox.
• too many client requests.
• the general catch-up involved.

Between the BlackBerry and laptop, I focused on keeping my inbox manageable without spending much time doing so. Most of us don’t get much email over the weekend, so a short break over a weekend means helps in that respect.

Preparing for the Next Vacation

After seeing see how well a short, in-town vacation can work, next you can travel a greater distance. Plenty of places offer great short getaways. Places like Las Vegas, campgrounds and resorts make great short vacations. If you plan one over a weekend, it’ll cut your worries of returning to an overwhelming inbox.

After conquering a few long weekend vacations, go the next step and take a week-long trip. If this makes you cower, compromise again. Pick three or four days out of the week to do work while spending the other days doing the vacation thing. Thursday offers tips for setting up an office away from home. Consider shortening your work hours by quitting earlier in the day or starting in the afternoon.

Another option is to attend a conference. Many conferences occur in cities where people tend to go on vacation. Start your vacation after the conference ends. You could have your vacation beforehand, but it might be harder to enjoy your time there knowing the conference lies ahead.

How do you ensure you get a well-deserved vacation without worrying about work?

Photo credit: Chris27

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The Future of Work Platforms: An Overview
• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce

It’s an anachronism, but a welcome one for a web worker looking for a true vacation. Not that I didn’t work. Because I love (some) work, so it doesn’t feel like an imposition when I bring it with me on vacation from time to time. And what better setting for getting some web work done than at a remote location surrounded by nature and devoid of any Internet access?

Honestly, I did some of my best work while completely disconnected from the world I work in. It’s true that for a lot of what I do, maintaining currency is key. I’d say about 80 percent of my work is focused on current events, and as such, I could only focus on the remaining 20 percent while disconnected. But concentrating on that generally neglected sub-category meant that I was that much more efficient and attentive when dealing with it.

Tools and Methods

Oddly, my tools of choice for getting things done in such a rustic setting were ones normally associated with the web. First, there was my recently acquired 12-inch PowerBook, perfectly suited for the task because it wouldn’t suffer much from exposure to the elements, and because its screen is so much more appropriate for outdoor work than the glare-factory that is my 13-inch MacBook Pro’s optical glass screen.

Since writing was what I wanted to get done on this trip, I also employed Google Docs. But wait, Google Docs without an Internet connection? Yes, courtesy of Gears and a Fluid site-specific browser (SSB) instance, I can use Docs wherever and whenever I want as a fully functional standalone application. Web apps without the web are a beautiful thing.

As for methods, I just planned on waking up earlier than I normally would during a vacation and using the time during which the rest of the family was fast asleep to knock out some work, free of distractions. I ended up doing that. Owing to almost continuous rain, I also used big chunks of the afternoon on work, too. The setting and the absence of a sense of urgency made it seem like I wasn’t working at all, though.

True Focus

Being unplugged, for me, was the closest I’ve come to achieving true singletasking. The reason being, there’s far less to distract you from the task at hand once you don’t have Twitter trying to steal focus every two minutes (or however often your client happens to refresh), or the omnipresent temptation of Facebook, YouTube and countless other sites, lurking just a new tab away.

At first, I was understandably edgy, since it was such an abrupt switch from being completely, utterly connected 24 hours a day to not even being able to check my email without driving 20 minutes to the nearest town. But once I got over the initial shock, the benefits were immediately apparent. I finished a 1,200-word article in only two hours, total, a process which would’ve taken me well over four under normal circumstances.

Takeaways

Perhaps the only way to cure our great Internet addiction is to go completely off-grid. But not everyone has the opportunity to escape civilization and, by extension, the long tendrils of the Internet. However, everyone can learn a lesson or two about how to simplify their work habits from my experience, both about how to work and what to work with.

For example, one of the key lessons I took away from my experience is to use the right tool for the job. If I can do something without undue inconvenience on a simple PowerBook and Fluid instance setup, then there’s absolutely no reason for me to break out three screens, a surround sound speaker set up, a Wacom tablet, etc. Work with what you have, obviously, but if you don’t need it, don’t use it.

Last but not least, I learned that the Internet, surprisingly, is not the key ingredient in successful web work. Working remotely means just that, a freedom from the traditional ties between workplace and employee. I was looking for that freedom when I chose a career that allowed me to work from home, but eventually I became so dependent on connectivity that I may as well have been going to an office every day. From now on, an occasional forced exile from the web is going to be a vital part of how I do my job.

Do you ever disconnect completely? If so, do you notice productivity gains from doing so?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

The entire process of essentially working double-time before and after my time off is so exhausting and stressful that most of the time, it completely offsets any benefit I might get from the time off itself.

But we do all need mental breaks to recharge. I can’t just not take breaks because taking them is too much work. So to cope with this challenge I’ve developed a system of being able to partially dial back my level of work activity. This gives me some of the mental feeling of taking time off without the break itself causing a stressful workload.

There are essentially two partial activity levels I can use to manage my workload while giving myself a mini mental break:

Light Day Mode. I still work on content but only on “fast and easy” items that are low effort. These are typically light reads, so this is a good mode to keep me in touch with my readers after a heavy news cycle, without wearing them out, too. I also manage feeds and emails, but leave routine site maintenance tasks for full work days.

Avalanche Prevention Mode. This is the mode I use on weekends (or any other day that I take a complete break from maintenance and producing content) to keep from having a massively full inbox awaiting me on my return to work. Essentially, it consists of just staying on top of incoming feed and email items. This work can be done from either my computer or my iPhone, making it easy to keep up with no matter where I am or what I am doing.

These modes aren’t just helpful when I need time off for rest and relaxation. They are also useful when I am working but not on my usual schedule, such as when I am away from my home office traveling for a trade show. Some days at trade shows I am working full speed and producing content. But on days like in-transit travel days, I adjust to one of my partial activity levels to try to avoid returning from an exhausting business trip to a mess of built-up work in my office.

Breaks are necessary, but if preparing for them and recovering from them causes more stress than they alleviate, it pretty much becomes a self-defeating exercise. I find that instead of long, complete breaks from work that are hard to prepare for and recover from, that mini mental breaks work better for me.

Do you have a way of taking a partial break? How do you sneak a mental break?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

The key to a successful working holiday? Good time management and prioritization skills. Having fun and distracting things, settings and activities all around you has a way of throwing what needs doing and what can be put off into sharp relief. The result, for me at least, is a kind of highly motivated tunnel vision that has me blowing through high-priority tasks in half the time I would normally take.

Since you’re not actually always on vacation, how do you replicate the effect in order to trigger task triage? The solution is to bring back the motivation, if not the exotic locales.

Fill Your Day With Extra-Curricular Activities

When planning out your work week, add in as many fun, after-work activities as you can manage. This might mean some personal blogging, joining a book club that meets regularly, participating in regular Twitter chat groups, or playing recreational league sports (I’ve just signed up for dodgeball, which should be interesting).

Not only will crowding weekdays with fun, social or active events and activities cut down on artificial work task exaggeration (you know that it shouldn’t take you three hours to finish that weekly status report, for instance), it’ll help you stay happy and healthy, too.

Knock Off Early

Take your usual workday end-time, and subtract two hours from that. No matter what the status of your work at that time (emergency priority stuff obviously excluded), you’re forbidden from doing anything else, professionally speaking. If all goes well, the perception of being under a time crunch will result in faster, more efficient work habits, and you’ll have no choice but to leave the less important stuff for another day.

Plan Day Trips

If an imaginary time crunch alone isn’t doing it for you, try peppering your week with mini-vacations. These could be things as simple as a shopping trip, or as complicated as a late afternoon jaunt to the zoo with the kids.

My own personal favorite mini-vacation is a trip to the Royal Ontario Museum here in Toronto, where the best time to visit is early in the morning to midday on weekdays, since you get to avoid the tourist crowd. I’m only halfway through the ancient Greek pottery exhibit, so it’s sure to motivate me to stay focused on the essential in order to give myself some extra leisure time.

Welcome (and Plan for) Personal Life Interruptions

If you have a home office, this might be something that’s unavoidable anyway, but blocking off a good chunk of floating time for unscheduled interruptions from your family and friends is not only a wise work/life balance move, but could help quiet professional distractions.

By giving domestic concerns a higher priority on your to-do list, you’ll have to create room by bumping low-priority work tasks, which will hopefully result in having less to think about during those hours when you are in dedicated work mode.

Working should never feel like a chore, even when you’re not treating it like a vacation, but these tips might help stave off the inevitable creep of bad habits, procrastination, boredom and, worst of all, unmanageable multitasking, which we sometimes fall into just for the sake of feeling busy. Filling your schedule with leisure activities gives you the benefit of feeling busy without having to generate extra work for yourself. It also helps give you an excuse to ignore low-priority distractions and keep a sharp focus on the important things. Plus, who doesn’t love a working vacation?

Share your singletasking tips in the comments.

Image by flickr user m o d e

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Stay with other family. The first week is going well as my younger two kids take turns visiting Grandma who lives an hour away. Having one kid at home and one at Grandma’s takes away any chances of them fighting. One gets all of Grandma’s attention and the other enjoys a calmer mom who doesn’t have to play referee.

Enroll in camps and activities. Many parents, like Mary Shaw, enroll their kids in day and sleep-away camps. Some of those with babies and toddlers keep their children in daycare, just like during the school year.

Hang with kids while staying connected. Daniel Schutzsmith, director of client happiness with Core Industries, sets a schedule for working. He relies on mobile communications so he can take his kids to the park, the mall or for a stroll. “I’ve realized that it is OK to work from home, and every client I have talked with appreciates it that I’m a father, a husband and a web worker,” says Schutzsmith.

Send the kids outside. Rachell Coe of 4 the Grapes not only deals with kids at home, but also all the neighborhood kids come to her place daily. She only lets the other kids come over at a scheduled time. However, they must go straight to the backyard and play there. It distracts her when kids constantly open and close the front door, so her kids go in and out their bedroom windows in her one-story home. For those with two-story homes, maybe making them use the back door will be less distracting for you.

Take your office outdoors. Who says only the kids should enjoy the fresh air? While kids play around, you can catch up on work. “Just be sure to set up somewhere shady and far enough away from water and dirt to keep your equipment running smoothly,” says Linsey Knerl, Wise Bread senior writer. Also, see the tips in Mike’s post, “How to Use Your Laptop Outside“.

Make a deal with other parents. Unfortunately, many parents are home because they’re out of jobs. Melanie M. Jocson, president of Virtual Partners Group, has out-of-work neighbors with a pool. She plans to work out something with them. Also, parents can take turns having play dates.

Cut work hours. A popular option is to have shorter hours or work fewer days a week. A lucky few can take the entire summer off.

Encourage kids to work off energy. Plenty spend too much time playing video games or fighting with siblings. Pick an earlier time of day to let them go run, ride a bike, and burn up some energy to prevent them from getting too rowdy indoors.

Hire older kids to help. Jennifer Fink has to keep her kids occupied year-round because she homeschools them while freelancing from home. “Consider hiring a preteen to come play with your younger kids while you work; you’re in the house, so you’re available for emergencies, but he or she can keep the kids occupied. Alternately, consider hiring a high school or college kid for a couple hours a week,” says Fink.

Work during quiet times. “Don’t be overly concerned with getting everyone up and at ‘em exactly the same time each day. Let lazy sleepers sleep, early risers rise and try to get the majority of your work done while it is still quiet and everyone is most rested,” says Knerl.

Let them work in the office. Even during the school year, my youngest often joins me in my office at a little desk or on the floor. He colors or writes in his workbook. I love having him near me. When he interrupts too often in needing help with worksheets, I either switch to easier work tasks or ask him to do something else that doesn’t require my help.

I consider myself lucky during times like this. When the kids get too noisy, I can turn off my hearing aids for instant quiet!

How do you survive summer with kids when you work at home?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Just last week I was speaking to a new neighbor who runs an interstate consulting business from his barn. But when I asked if he had any vacations planned, he shook his head. “No,” he said, “when you have your own business, you don’t really get vacations.”

I know plenty of people like this guy. They have the cash for a break, but they just can’t seem to make the time to get away. It’s not surprising: If you don’t get paid leave, taking a vacation involves a number of issues. But if you can get over these hurdles, you’ll be on track to check out and kick back…

1. Deadlines
We all have deadlines to meet, whether we’re working on short-term jobs or months-long contracts. Your clients engaged you to do the job in a certain timeframe, and your timeframes will inevitably depend — at least in part — on their timeframes. If your clients are like mine, they probably expect you to be around to support them throughout the process.

When I’m trying to schedule a vacation, I usually plan it well in advance, when I can see the end of a contract and can give fair warning to any ongoing clients. I don’t usually wrap up a job and get on the bus the next day, though — you, too, might want to allow a few days or a week after you deliver before you leave, just so you can provide any post-contract support (alterations, bug-fixes, etc.) to your client.

2. New work
OK, so you’ve scheduled your break to commence a week after your current contract ends. Great! But wait…When this contract’s over, shouldn’t you already be well and truly looking for the next one?

Most of us start looking for the next job sometime before the current one’s finished. And once you have a fish on the line, it can be hard to try to delay a project’s start date by an extra two weeks so you can take time off. It can cost you the project if a competing contractor is ready to start immediately. And few of us want to pass up on a paying job so we can spend money — even if it is an exciting foreign currency.

To stave off these feelings of income-related panic, I usually save more than I need for my holiday so that I have something to live on when I get back and I’m drumming up the next job. If I get a few irons in the fire before I go, I make sure from the outset that my potential clients know that I’m taking a break and when I’ll get back. That way, we can schedule the job with my break in mind, and avoid disappointment.

What about the client who wants you to work on a job and simply cannot wait until you get back? If this is a past client, I might consider asking a friend who’s in the same line of work if they’ll consider this one project, then speak to the client about using my associate for the job. This gives me some certainty that my client will come back to me for the project after this one.

If it’s a brand-new client, obviously I’d have to weigh the job, projected income and market situation (i.e., how much work is on offer) against how much I want to go on holiday, and how much it would cost to change my plans. If I’ve saved enough to see me through a few weeks when I get back from my trip, I’ll usually pass up on the job and take the break — holidays are too rare to postpone without very good reason!

3. Client service and administration
The burden of ongoing client service, maintenance, or administration tasks like chasing up invoices or managing subcontractors can shackle you to your work if you let it. If there are tasks that need to be done while you’re away, the solution is delegation.

If you have a friend you can trust who’s in the same industry, as I do, they may well be able to help you out by addressing client issues in your absence. If you don’t know anyone personally who could help you out like this, you might consider contracting the work out to an organization that provides the appropriate services in your field.

Finding a reliable stand-in might be challenging — and add some serious time to your trip preparation — but once you’ve found a good service provider, you’ll know you can use them again for future holidays, if you get sick, and so on. It’s worth the effort!

If you have a close team, you might be able to ask your most trusted subcontractor to do the day-to-day team management. If you need someone to chase invoices on your behalf, ask your accountant. (If you don’t have one, now’s the time to get one.) If there are tasks that must continue while you’re away, you need to find someone to do them.

4. Dedication
Don’t underestimate the importance of being dedicated to your vacation. Yes, there are many, many cases in which I’d reschedule my holiday for a particular client or project, depending on my circumstances. But the fact is that, overall, if you don’t prioritize time off alongside your work, you’ll never get away.

Holidays can be a great opportunity to spend time with family, expand your horizons and your perspective on life, and learn about the world. If you ask me, these things are as — if not more — important than the daily grind.

Once I’ve solved these issues, I’m usually all set to head off into the wild blue yonder. What’s your strategy for making sure you get a vacation every so often?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

I love Spring Break… when there’s a trip involved. Alas, I haven’t taken a real vacation since Spring Break 2002. Sure, my family took a road trip from Dallas to San Antonio and Austin last year, but that was no vacation between the drive and a volleyball tournament (the real reason for the trip). If you’re one of the lucky ones taking a vacation, here are some tips for packing.

This year, one kid has driver’s ed classes for the week, another takes a test and some have a few appointments. So this Spring Break gives us an opportunity to catch up and do things that we don’t want to do during the school year. But that doesn’t mean the thought of the younger two staying home all week doesn’t stress me out. The 5-year-old and 10-year-old argue, then come growling or crying into Mom’s office.

So what can you do to manage kids during Spring Break if you stay home?

Take the week off. Some web workers don’t take vacations because many of them don’t get paid while on vacation. Though you might not get away for the break, you can rest your mind by taking the opportunity to spend time with your family now. Too many folks think, “Oh, I’ll spend time with my kids when my business takes off or we get X dollars in our bank account.” Put away the “someday” thinking and “just do it” now. Kids grow up fast. They’re going to be adults far longer than they are kids.

Work early in the morning. Compromise by working early in the morning and (hopefully) let the kids sleep late. Kids tend to take their time waking up on days off. Early morning offers a good time to get a little work done before the interruption comes. It’s a compromise between doing some work and taking the afternoons off. Or you can switch to working late at night after they go to sleep, if you prefer.

Hire a high schooler. A student in high school would appreciate the opportunity to earn a little cash without committing to a job. Children love older kids who aren’t their siblings. Find a high schooler who can drive so s/he takes the kids to the park or the library. This way the kids have fun and get out of the house leaving you with a few hours of quiet work time.

Enroll them in a program or camp. Places like tennis centers, community centers, daycares and religious institutions offer part-time or full-time programs and camp. These stave off the “I’m bored” blues by giving the kids a place to go for a few hours. If your kids are like mine, they’ll complain of boredom when they get home, but at least you’ll free yourself from the whining for a little while.

Set aside family time. Plan two or three activities for the week. See a movie, go to a museum, go out for breakfast, find an indoor pool, ride bikes, or visit family and friends. Tell your kids you’ve scheduled time to do X activities. You could use it as a motivator for them to work through things on their own and use these activities as their reward. Do try to have one activity with no reward tied to it.

Ship them off to Visit relatives. For winter break, my kids took turns to spend a few days with Grandma, who lives an hour away. This way they get all of Grandma’s attention. You still enjoy a quieter home with one child visiting a relative and the rest at home.

Play with friends. Schedule play dates with friends. You may have to invite them to your home, but they might bug you less when they have a friend over. My kids don’t interrupt me as much and they’re happy to play with someone. Win-win!

Spring Break isn’t so bad because it’s only five days (the weekends are always there). Summer — now that’s a different story, and one I’m not looking forward to telling. I’m fretting about that already.

What do you plan to do for Spring Break? How about for the too-long summer break?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks