Why you shouldn’t work so hard before vacations

I woke up to see a cascade of new emails from my boss, “Hey! Have you followed up on Project Riviera?” She was supposed to be on her honeymoon in Paris, but the emails kept coming. Some were to our department, some to me, and none were important.

I was so sad seeing her compelled to rapid-fire these emails from a coffee shop rather than enjoy the scenery and food in the City of Light. But this was a fundamental culture problem we all faced. Taking time off was almost taboo at this company, and we all swam in the deep end.

Over the years, we’d been scared straight by infamous stories of employee terminations. Perhaps the worst was the story of a coworker, Jose, who had just returned from his own honeymoon. He brought his wife into the office for a tour of the facility (which was a fairly common practice). After he walked her to the car, he came back inside and they fired him. I suspect he wouldn’t have taken her on that tour if he thought his job was on the line.

Why did we all put up with it? Because the money was fantastic. You couldn’t make comparable salaries anywhere in the region. Yet I knew well that our story was a common one.

Corporate America’s workers have a fraught relationship with leisure time. There is often an unspoken assumption that one should still be checking their email every day, if not putting in a few hours while traveling. I was once reprimanded for taking two days to respond to an email while I was on vacation.

And as many of you prepare for, or are already in the midst of this pre-trip rush, it’s worth reminding you to stay rational. Laura Giurge, professor of behavioral science at London’s School of Economics, said, “Some things we think we need to finish before the holidays but then we ask, ‘When does it actually need to be finished?’ It turns out, probably two months from now.”

Dr. Giurge posits that our workaholic culture causes people to think, “I must earn my right to have leisure time.” And quite often, people just don’t use their leisure time at all. In 2018, a record 768 million vacation days were left unused in the United States.

The psychology behind the pre-trip rush

Our urge to over-produce before holidays is partially described by the Zeigarnik effect — which first demonstrated that students recall items from unfinished tasks better than those that were finished. This is because the brain has a natural urge for closure. Consequently, we feel an irrational rush to finish open tasks prior to a trip.

The downside to this approach is that there’s a feeling of excitement that boosts wellbeing in the weeks before major holidays. It’s akin to the excitement of a meal you know will be lights-out-good. Anticipation is part of the experience, and it is ruined if you cram in too much work beforehand. Speaking personally, anytime I’ve been extremely stressed before a trip, it has taken me two full PTO days to get fully relaxed and stop thinking about work.

And here’s the thing — I’m one of those people who quit his job to do the thing he truly loves: writing. I don’t have meetings. I rarely have phone calls. I say no to most podcast interviews. I’m not surrounded by grids of cubicles and people with questions. I’m not beholden to a boss.

Yet I still haven’t gone three straight days without writing since I began this journey eight years ago. Maybe two. But definitely not three. Even when I’m sitting on a ski lift, I’m taking notes on the conversation I’m having with a stranger for a potential story. There’s a constant tick of, “Can I use this?”

And just like many of you are, I’m preparing for my own vacation — rushing to get through a list of drafts so that I can mostly not worry about work while I’m gone. Writing is certainly a lifestyle I embrace. But I do question if this is the healthiest path.

My partner, who is a professor, who also loves her job, has been off of work for several days now but has been spending her PTO days on administrative work and preparing for next semester.

There’s a psychological phenomenon called “The Deadline Rush” that describes this behavior. We are more likely to jump on tasks as a deadline approaches. But with a holiday, there is a big wall of tasks that feel pushed to the front of the line. This creates extra and often, unneeded, work that can usually be pushed back to a later date. This rush also disproportionately affects women — who feel a heavier burden of childcare and family duties.

Many of you are feeling the heat right now. Use this time wisely, and be rational in choosing what tasks are truly important. And to the managers seeing this, consider having a no-meetings week during the week prior to major holidays, or dialing down those meetings and expectations. Having a nuclear finger-pointing session in the boardroom 24 hours before your child is sitting in Santa’s lap doesn’t feel like a great way to instill the holiday spirit.

Just yesterday, I was walking through the mall and saw a dad standing with his kids. He looked like a white-collar professional and was saying “uhu” to his kid as she talked, but had a distant stare in his eyes. He clearly wasn’t in the room.

“That man right there is thinking about work,” I thought. I’d seen and been that person so many times.

Part of this is on us, too

I work far faster when a deadline is imminent, and often wonder why I can’t write with such ferocity on a normal day with nothing hanging over my head. Why can’t all students study as urgently as they do in the 10 minutes prior to an exam? Perhaps if we all took steps to stay more diligent in the months, rather than weeks, leading up to a big holiday, we wouldn’t feel this avalanche.

But even as the holiday approaches — don’t fret if you can’t finish everything. During a study led by Dr. Ahmad Adeel, researchers proved that even if you choose to put off tasks — you can still get high-performance reviews if you continually demonstrate self-motivation and high task engagement (working diligently, with care and high attention to detail).

Give yourself permission to relax and enjoy a trip. Taking time off isn’t a privilege. Don’t punish yourself by drowning in work, especially if much of it can reasonably be pushed back.

Nobody needs a work hangover during family time.