Latest / DevQuestions with Tim Corey / 185 How Do I Switch From Work Mode to Vacation Mode?

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185 How Do I Switch From Work Mode to Vacation Mode? · DevQuestions with Tim Corey

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Dev Questions Podcast with Tim Corey.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Join us each episode as we tackle the questions you are asking about a career in software development, understanding the industry, and new technology.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you're just starting out or you want to grow stronger as a developer, this is the place to get your questions answered.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here's your host, expert developer and online educator, Tim Corey.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: How do I switch from work mode to vacation mode?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: This is sometimes very hard to do to actually enjoy your vacation away from work, where you're not thinking about work or being bothered by work or having people call you about work and just getting away and decompress.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: Now, this does depend on the region.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: Some regions insist on having that work-life balance.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I think Europe is pretty good at that at saying, no, you cannot contact a person who's on vacation.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: But not everywhere is.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, the US is pretty poor a lot of times in this.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_02: And even if your work is great about it, sometimes it's hard to switch your brain off and really enjoy your vacation.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: So, how do you get better at that?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's the question we're going to tackle in today's episode of DevQuestions.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: Now, this is going to depend on your company and your boss.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: So we're going to start off by talking about a pretty good situation first, and then we'll get into what to do if there are parts of your situation that aren't as ideal.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: So the first thing you want to do is identify what we want to accomplish.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like what are we actually trying to accomplish when we talk about getting away from our vacation and really turning off the work brain?
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the first thing is we want to decompress from work.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: We want to relieve that pressure and that stress and kind of sit back and go, oh.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: And that's really important to do.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's really important to have that time to be able to just kind of step back and relax because that will make you better at work, but it's also going to make you more centered as a human being and be able to be better in life in general.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: And it's really important to have that time.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: So that's one thing is that decompression from work.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: But number two, we also want to enjoy our time away from work.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: We don't want to be thinking about work stuff when we have time off.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: We want to be able to focus on being in the moment and be able to enjoy where we're at and enjoy what we're doing.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: So that's number two.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: Number three, we want to be able to be present with our loved ones.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: Meaning, you know, if if you're out with your family and you're doing something, you don't want to be kind of distracted by by work and not really paying attention to what's happening or engaging with people that you love.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: You want to be able to do that.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: And if if you're being distracted by work, that can be hard to do.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: And it causes a tension in your relationships as well.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: And then number four, when we do return to work, we want to feel refreshed and rejuvenated.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: So that's the goal.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's the goal with vacations and time off and time away from work.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: But how do we get that?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: Because just saying that's what I want isn't really going to cut it.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: You need to actually be intentional about the things that you do, the strategies you employ in order to accomplish these goals.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: So I call this number zero.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know, as developers, we're we're used to base zero counting, but this is really the before you start taking your vacation.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: So number zero is document your work and write understandable code.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: This is something that people often overlook and don't think about until it's too late.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: And the time to do this is not right before you leave.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: This is a continual process.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: One of the things that I talk to people about when we're talking about writing code is that as you progress as a developer, you want to write simpler code and you want to write cleaner code, and you want to write code that is more easy to understand.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: Because my way of expressing that is I want to take a vacation to the beach.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: And what does the two have a relationship?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: What's the relationship there?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the relationship is that if I write complex code and have this spaghetti logic and have this complicated system that's hard to understand, well, who can maintain that code?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's me.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so if anything breaks while I'm away, who gets the call?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's it's gonna be me again, because if it's a production issue, it's pretty important.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: We have to get this done.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: So call Tim and figure it out.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't really love that idea.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: So instead, I want to write code that even the intern can understand.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: Okay?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: And that's not to denigrate interns.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's like we are just starting out, I still want my code to be understandable by you.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: So that when you have or there is a bug, you look at the code and go, I know what's going on, I can fix it.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: So that you don't have to call me because anyone in the department can fix that code.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't have to be called.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: That's going to improve right away my work-life balance.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: If I am not the only person that understands this, then I am not the only person that can fix it.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: Therefore, when I'm not available, someone else can do it.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: That's why you need to document your code or your work and you need to write understandable code.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: That's really important.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's a kind of before you leave, before you're even leaving for a vacation.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: You want to have done that.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: So then number one is set an out of authorminder that redirects people.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: So when you email a person or you when you slack them or when you send a teens message, hasn't it come back that says not just I'm out of the office and when I'm coming back, but also who to contact if you need more direct or quicker help.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: Let people know, set a standard and expectation to say, I'm not available, I'm not going to read in these emails.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: So therefore, here's what you do in my absence if you don't want to wait.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: Set that expectation.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: That's number one.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: And again, this is ideal because there are organizations that struggle with a lot of these boundaries.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: We'll talk about that in a minute.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: But number two, turn off the laptop.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so you probably have a work laptop, or maybe you do, um, or you have a you know something at home that you that you work on and turn that off.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, turn it off, make a conscious effort not to get on, not to check one thing, not to check in how the product's going.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: Make a conscious effort not to check in.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: And then with that, you need to turn off the email and maybe even voicemail apps on your phone.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: Anything's connected to work, turn that off.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: So turn off the notifications, turn off the, you know, again, Slack notifications or all that stuff, turn it off or delete the apps if you have to while you're on vacation.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: Because what you don't want to do is you don't want to have this pop-up that comes up on your phone when you're maybe you're on TikTok or you're, you know, you're doing something else, you're getting directions to the place you're gonna go, and a message pops up, and you're like, ooh, I know something about the information.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: I can you know respond real quick and just give me the information.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: That that little pop-up just brought you back into work.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: And you don't want that because then if you respond to even one of those things, what's gonna happen?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna teach the people around you, hey, I'm available.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not, I know I say I'm not available, but but if you message me, you you'll probably get a response back.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's gonna start blurring the lines from your side, and that's gonna make it easier for people to blur the lines from the other side, where they start to expect that.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: So draw the very clear line of sand there.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: Number four, and this happens to me a lot.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe you're you're out in nature, you're taking a walk, you're enjoying the sunshine, and you're with your family, and an idea pops in your head.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: An idea that that solves a problem at work.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe you have been struggling with this this you know code at work and you've you've finally figured out what to do.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: It happens a lot when you're not thinking about it.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: So you have this idea that pops in your head.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: Don't try and just fight it and ignore it and you know, try and you know, not think about it.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: Because what you're gonna do actually is you're gonna be thinking, I'm not gonna think about it now, but I'll remember it for later.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: And then your brain has to keep thinking about it in order to keep remembering it so that later, when you have time, you can do it, which means attifacation.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_02: So now your brain's starting to fill up with this cue of data you have to remember so that you get into work, you can you can do those things.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: Don't do that.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: Instead, write the idea or thought down.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: Okay?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: Write it down.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: So record it and then don't remember it because it's written down.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: When you write things down, you can let them go, which means that yes, you're you're doing something kind of for work, but what you're really doing is freeing your brain up so you don't have to think about it anymore.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then number five, try to focus on activities that aren't always close to work activities.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: This is one that um that I learned how to do a little bit later.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: So I love everything about a computer.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so I love building computers, I love you know, tinkering with things on a computer, I love writing code.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: And even in my downtime, some of my fun things I like to do, I like to write code.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I like to play around my computer and configure things and make things better and make things more efficient.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, even when I'm not doing those things, I'm playing games on a computer or watching a movie on my computer.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's really focused around the same kind of things, the same spot where I'm at when I'm at work.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: So what I learned to do was do things not all the time, because I still play games, I still, you know, write code for fun, but I learned to take some time and focus on activities that were as far away from what I do as possible.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I got into woodworking.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I figured out how to build things with my hands and learn how to use a lathe and a table saw and a chop saw and drills and all these other things to learn how to assemble furniture and create things because there was nothing to do with computers there.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: It was all stuff with my hands.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: And it just allowed me to reset.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I didn't have to do it the whole time.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't have to, you know, just do woodworking and not do anything computer related.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: But sometimes even that the first thing I did might be woodworking because it reset my brain and allowed me to do nothing that was close to work.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm not still in that mindset, but I am kind of like starting over.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, when you when you work with wood, at least for me, maybe not for everybody, but for me, measurements and trying to figure out exactly how things are gonna work with angles and all the rest made me concentrate hard on something different than normal and allowed me to forget everything else.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: They had to focus on where do I put this this hole and how do I line this thing up in order to get the right angles and the right joinery and all that stuff that allowed me to just kind of flush out the other stuff I've been concentrating on.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I concentrated on something new, and that allowed me to kind of reset and refocus.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: So those are like the things that I think that you should do to start in order to start that vacation mode.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: But this does take practice.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's not something that's going to happen the very first time you take a vacation, which is why your vacation time shouldn't be the first time you practice this.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: Because you want to guard that vacation time.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: So when you practice this, well, practice it every night.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: You are paid, hopefully, to work a limited amount of hours at a job.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: Work on that.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: Focus on, I work from this hour to this hour, and then I disconnect.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: Then I focus on other things.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: And doing so will allow you to reset and be more present in the rest of your life and and not allow work to so overlap the rest of your life that your life is your work and your work is your life.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: So that's one thing is practice nightly when you leave work and then practice on the weekends.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_02: So you got two days in a row where you're not in work.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: Well, practice there of, you know, disconnect and allow things to not be looked over for two days, your email to go unread for two days, and your Slack messages to be unread for two days and see what happens.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: Try and disconnect.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: And you know what?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna find that you can't always do that.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: There's some things that come up with their emergencies, and you're like, ooh, I need to address this even though it's a Saturday, or even though it's at night.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: And that happens.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: But learn how to fix that problem for the long run, if at all possible.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: Figure out how to document things so that somebody else can take care of for you, or figure out how to rework those problems so there's not a they're not a problem every month or every two months or every week that it happens.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: So take those opportunities to learn and grow and be better at taking those breaks.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: This is also gonna take some manager buy-in.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: And this is the this is a tough sticking spot with a lot of people in a lot of companies.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: Because, you know, as a manager myself, I understand there's the pressure of the business need to get done.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_02: And you know what?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: I can either do it myself, which takes a lot of time, I don't want to understand everything, or I can just ask you to do it for five minutes.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's just five minutes.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_02: But when you start eroding that barrier, it's just an hour.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's just, it's just a you know, half a day on a Saturday.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's just, it's just, before you know it, your work is your life and your life is your work.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: So you need to talk to your manager and have a conversation about setting boundaries.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: And make sure you frame that conversation correctly.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: If you come into your manager and say, we need to set boundaries, you're taking too much of my time, that starts an adversarial conversation.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: Don't start an adversarial conversation.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: Frame that conversation in terms of productivity.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: Listen, I am most productive when I am rested, when I am refreshed.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_02: And the way I do that is that I am able to get away from work and not be always thinking about work.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: And the way I do that is for me to disconnect when I leave and not reconnect until I come back.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: And there may be times when that's not possible.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: So maybe you have a rotating schedule of who's on call.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: So that, you know, yes, work has to be done 24-7 sometimes, and someone has to be on call.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: That may be true, but it shouldn't be everybody all the time.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: So work through that in terms of productivity.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: A person who is constantly on call and constantly being you know involved in work even on their off hours burns out.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: And that's not productive, that's not efficient.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so you need to be able to have time to rest, relax, and reset.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: And the way to do that is to have that disconnect.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: So have that conversation with your manager about boundaries.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: And finally, it's gonna take time as well.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's not something you're gonna do right the first time.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_02: So having longer periods of time away also is gonna help.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: So, first, figure out how this flow works, figure out how to make it work for a night, how to make it work for a weekend, how to make it work for a long weekend, and kind of build up.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: But then the other part of this is that your brain is still gonna struggle sometimes with uh getting away.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so even if you have a week vacation, sometimes you're gonna feel like, oh man, I didn't really start vacation mode until day five, and then it's right back to work and it's you know, it's frustrating.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I had I worked with a coworker once to have the rule that he would only ever take vacations in two-week uh blocks.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: So when he was gonna take a true vacation, not just we're going to visit Aunt Sally, but we're gonna take a family vacation, we're gonna spend some time away, he would take it in two-week blocks.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, that only happened once a year, but he would take the first week and just stay home.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: And he would spend time at home and start that decompressed process because for him, he felt like he was in vacation mode around day three, day four, day five.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: Then the second week is when he'd actually take a week away with the family and do something.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: Because then he's in true vacation mode for the entire time.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: And that was his process.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, it's great if you can have that opportunity and if you have more opportunity, even better.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, being able to have a larger chunk can be helpful.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: But if you've practiced this, it also makes it easier to get in vacation mode earlier.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: Now, what do you do if your boss isn't helpful?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: If your boss is like, nope, I just need you all the time.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: So, number one, work to reduce the need for people to contact you.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: Again, it comes back to document what you do well, make sure that you write code that's understandable.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, ideally, write code no bugs, but you know how that works.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, work on things that you can control.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_02: And then next up, negotiate.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: Because what your boss is asking you to do is work outside normal hours.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_02: So, first of all, that should mean your contract.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_02: And second of all, you should be compensated for that.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_02: If your boss wants to have you on call all the time, well, then you should be paid as if you're on call all the time.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: Now your boss isn't gonna want to do that.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: So you have to have a conversation about listen, this is not equitable.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: This is what we need, this is what I would expect if I were to do this.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: The way to do that sometimes is to flip the script and say, okay, um, what if I decided to come in 15 minutes late once in a while?
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_02: What if I decided to leave half an hour early once in a while?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, just you know, out of the blue.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: And not necessarily on a planned schedule, but just whenever I felt like, hey, you know what?
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna take off now.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_02: And your boss is probably gonna say, no, no, you can't do that.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_02: I'm paying you to be here.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: And you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: If you're paying me to be here, then, and I can't just leave whenever I want, then why could you interrupt me whenever you want with more work?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: Because you're not paying for that.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, if you're paying for my time from nine to five, then that's what I'm actually putting in is nine to five, not nine to five plus sometime at six o'clock, plus sometime at eight o'clock, plus a couple hours in the weekend.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: So kind of flip the script a little bit and talk about well, if I can't take away from my work time, why can you take away from my off time?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_02: So that can help sometimes.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_02: Not everyone's logical, not everyone sees things that way.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: Some bosses just will not move on this.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: And the last option is find another job.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: And you know what?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: You can keep in your job and keep working, you know, as well as you can in that position, keep your relationship good with your current boss while looking for new jobs.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: That way you don't miss time and miss you know, opportunity to continue a career, but look to improve your position somewhere else and make that part of the negotiation process.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: That listen, you know, I work hard when I'm there, but I don't I don't intend to be always available to this job.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: Is that okay?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: And have that conversation up front.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: So that's my suggestions for how to switch from work mode to vacation mode.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: It can be difficult, but through practice and through being intentional about how you go about this process, it can be hugely beneficial to your life and to the lives of those you care about.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: So it's important to do well.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: All right, thanks for listening.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: And as always, I am Tim Corey.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining us for this episode of Deaf Questions.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: Tim is committed to making it easier for you to become a developer.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: If you would like to help make more content like this possible, please like, subscribe, rate, and share Dev Questions.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: You can also send your questions to questions at IamTimcore.com.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, remember, you are too smart and your time too valuable to waste it making all the mistakes Tim did.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: When you're ready to learn to think and code like a professional developer, head over to imtimcore.com and enroll in a course.