My 2024 Summer Holiday To-Do List
How to make the most of the summer break by relaxing, reflecting, setting goals, reconnecting with colleagues, and focusing on professional development.
OK, the big names have been (re-)elected, time to move ahead.
Now we can focus on ourselves a little. With the summer break arriving (for some of you probably already there), we have a goldern opportunity to do just that.
In today’s piece, I’m going to take you through a few things that I intend to do this summer, not only to wind down, but also to advance my career productively. And I’ll explain why you should consider them too.
Let’s get started.
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Relax
Summer is an excellent time for winding down after six to eight months of hard work.
I mean, we had to work through the end of the past legislature and its final rushes. Then the European elections and their aftermath, which are still unfolding.
It’s nice to take a few weeks off and just... do nothing.
Pick a few good reads
But if you don’t like to do anything while away, why not go back to nice books?
This summer, I intend to read The Spirit of Law by Montesquieu. I know, not the lightest book. I might top it with some shorts stories and Il Gattopardo as I travel through Sicily.
Why should you read? The benefits of reading are well known, so I won’t get into details here. Yet, I’m going to point out that it is nice, after spending months reading jargon-filled memos, poorly-written emails, and indecipherable papers, to finally read some great prose. We need it to feed our brain with qualitative text — think about the junk food-healthy food analogy.
Time to reflect
The slow summer months are also an excellent moment to stop the hamster wheel and pause to reflect.
I will use my summer to reflect on the last months, and what I can do better as I go forward. What did I do? What didn’t I, although I said I would? What would I do differently?
If you want to do it too, keep in mind that you don’t owe it to anybody to do this exercise. It’s just a nice occasion to book a moment with yourself to think, assess, and reflect. Strongly encouraged.
Plan for the next months
Now that you’ve made this effort to think back on the last month, we’ll turn towards the coming week.
I try to do a quarterly review, where I define a couple of objectives for the next quarter. This gives me a broad direction of where I want to go, what I should prioritise, and what’s the best way to get there.
Try incorporating it into your routine.
Reconnect with long-lost colleagues
Either you moved, or they changed companies. Or they got a promotion, and you don’t spend as much time with this good colleague as you used to.
Now’s the time to reconnect. You have more time. They probably do too. Also, it’s so much nicer to have a chat on sunny terraces in Place du Luxembourg than in a grey office meeting room.
And it’s not just about having an otherwise nice chat with an equally nice person. It is also to discuss your respective jobs, understand how you can help each other, discuss issues that bother the two of you, discuss projects, meetings, opportunities.
Tackle the work you’ve been putting off
In the coming week, we’ll probably face some… less intense days.
Why not use them to your advantage and work on projects you’ve been putting off? Past the rush and deadlines of June, there’s now time to work on more fulfilling and meaningful tasks.
But don’t forget to ask yourself why you put these off in the first place. Was this to-do really that important? Or has the project since become irrelevant? In this case, would you consider dropping this work altogether? This might have the advantage of decluttering your to-do list.
But if the work matters, and if you can find the time to work on it… well, go for it!
Travel
If you have the chance to take a few days off, you probably will travel elsewhere.
Travel’s excellent to leave work aside for a few days and focus on discovering and experiencing new things. What I do, since a few years, it to give myself some kind of challenge, such as drinking the best coffee in a given city, or running for 30 minutes every day of my travel.
Something light and easy, but challenging enough that it forces you to be on the lookout and activate the curiosity part of your brain.
Have special time with the people under your responsibility
If you have people under your responsibility, the summer weeks are a good time to focus on them.
Treat them to a coffee. What’s going on in their lives and jobs? What would they like you to do to ease their work? How well do they understand the organisation’s mission and objectives? How do they consider their professional perspectives in the organisation, in Brussels, or in general?
These are questions you can ask them that will be extremely beneficial to them, for cohesion, for mutual understanding, and, ultimately, to you too.
Thanks for reading!
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