Balancing Work and Play: How to Maximize Productivity While Taking Well-Deserved Breaks

In this episode, we'll explore the art of work-life balance, focusing on strategies to optimize productivity while incorporating essential breaks to recharge and rejuvenate. Discover the science behind the ideal timing for taking breaks, the importance of setting up a structured work environment before you go, and tips for seamlessly transitioning back into work mode after your time off. Whether you're planning a vacation, a long weekend, or simply looking for ways to improve your daily work routine, our podcast will equip you with valuable insights to strike the perfect balance between work and play. Tune in for expert advice on boosting efficiency, maintaining focus, and achieving overall well-being in your professional life.

1. Perfect Break Timing
2. Seamless Set-Up
3. Returning Strong
4. Relationships Matter

Transcript

0:08
s today with your host Charlene
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Authority and leadership development and
0:12
Hala an expert Community Builder the Pod
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all about best practices to get you
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noticed and ahead in your professional
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life
0:21
hi
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hi Charlene it's so good to speak with
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you we're back here from vacation
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I know it's uh it's been so long since
0:31
we connected and I but I actually think
0:33
like that led to the perfect
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conversation today
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um because we were we were out we were I
0:40
was vacationing for a very long time I
0:43
had an amazing opportunity to travel
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um with my mother-in-law my
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brother-in-law and my husband and we
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went to South Africa for three weeks
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which yes
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um which was phenomenal amazing a long
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period of time to be away from work and
1:02
I think that inspired um what we're
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doing today right hello absolutely we're
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talking vacations it's summertime here
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in the U.S I don't know if you're
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listening internationally what's going
1:13
on in your apartment it was winter in
1:16
South Africa but it was also holiday
1:19
break they it's a totally different like
1:21
school schedule kind of thing I don't
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think they have the full summer uh brain
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drain that we have which could be a
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different episode that's to a candidate
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so today what we want to talk about is
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how to take that perfect timing for your
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break and we as you just alluded to do
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you get a brain drain is there a good
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time to take a break not a good time to
1:41
take a break when you're at work so what
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are your thoughts on vacation planning
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in the workplace
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yeah I so one I like to set up when I
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take a job anything that is
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um
1:57
permanent in your life more or less
2:00
um for many years my family took a
2:03
vacation from Christmas to New Year's
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every year and when I took a job I this
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is early on in my career
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um I I would say like hey like does this
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work for you and and is this the flow
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and then honestly if the flow was no it
2:20
might not have been the right fit all
2:21
together but really thinking about one
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the things that I think are important to
2:26
you in your life and two which I think
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maybe you're getting at Ella is every
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work has a different ebb and flow and
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you need to know what yours is
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a hundred percent so just because it's
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summertime don't just assume right off
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the bat that means you could take three
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four day three four day weekends you can
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take a vacation because everybody's
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going to the beach during the summer
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everyone's taking a holiday that just
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might not be the case at your work and
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you need to be cognizant of it so if
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your job has a really busy Summer Time
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season you need to plan your vacations
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to do it another time otherwise you're
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not the best employee that you can bid
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and and I want to add that I wouldn't
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even say your company right sometimes
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your role it really is dependent and and
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that could be so frustrating when you're
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in an office and you're the only one
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that's like digging deep and working but
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that's that's your job I presume for our
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finance friends that's around tax season
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or fiscal year ends
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um but really know like it really
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involves this in-depth learning of what
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your job is what your company flow is
3:31
and really get a sense of the calendar
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so that you're not leaving people
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hanging right when it's actually
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important 100 I love that it reminds me
3:42
of teachers and administrators of
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schools administrators of schools are
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working really hard in the summer that's
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not necessarily the time they take a
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vacation all right so let's say you
3:52
finally know exactly when it is that
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you're going how do we set up to have
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this you know seamless setup and setting
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your comments up to go how how do you do
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it is it just up and go what do you what
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do you say to that Charlene okay so I as
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I mentioned I I three weeks so I can I
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can I left for three weeks one it was
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planned this trip happened to be kind
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four years in advance so it was
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something that like a year and a half
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when I got the job I'm like hey in a
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year and a half from now I'm going I am
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very fortunate for a few things when I
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have an amazing team but two also I'm
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I'm able to like schedule plan my
4:27
schedule a little bit so one pivoting
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off of one I was able to schedule it
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after we finished a big program
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and two
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um I had a meeting right before I left
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where I helped project plan hey these
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are the things that are going on that I
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might need help with while I'm away
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these are the things that can wait till
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I get back and it really takes this
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additional effort of scoping out the
4:53
work
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um the person my colleague is is out
4:57
next week and as her as a supervisor I
5:00
was like okay let me know what you need
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me to do while you are away being like
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communication communication
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yes that is so critical because I think
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especially when you're young in your
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profession or new to a job you might
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think to yourself oh these are the days
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I'm working these are the times I'm
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working and when I'm off I'm off and you
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don't want to think about it and you
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want to just step out but that's really
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not how it works because the company and
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the organization is going on and on even
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when you're not there so you need to
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make sure that you show to your
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employers that you value and understand
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what it is that they're doing because
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you're not leaving anyone hanging and
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you're telling them what's going on and
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that's so important to set your
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colleagues up for Success when you're
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not there it's not about making sure
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that everyone knows that you're super
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missed when you're not there it's about
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making the opposite things are
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successful okay so then you go on your
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vacation and then you're coming back
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tell me a little bit about returning
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strong what are your tips on that okay
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one so one again to dovetail into our
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last one I think if if and there's such
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a movement in our Workforce to respect
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the boundaries of off work time which I
6:15
I don't think I had in Adam for you you
6:17
didn't have but that really is the case
6:19
right now so if you want to have all of
6:24
those boundaries really respect it and
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when you're off you are off setting up
6:29
is critical and then returning is a look
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right like when we used to go on
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vacation we check emails here and there
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and and maybe I did that a few times but
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I actually had no internet access so
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returning I I think is my opinion
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returning used to be a little bit easier
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right because you were never fully away
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now if you are really respecting your
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boundaries of verification as everybody
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frankly should
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um you're returning to 7 000 things
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probably and emails and it is all if you
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set it up correctly maybe you're not and
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you're doing great but regardless
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there's work that that not only did you
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not get done you were really removed
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from and it's almost like this re-entry
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phase I don't know I vaguely remember
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the macro I had like astronauts I don't
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know it's like this thing where it's
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like you're entering back in and I don't
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know I have to I'll look it up for
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another time I know where you're getting
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though yeah because astronauts need to
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return like slowly you have to set your
7:29
body up to get ready to come back to
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earth and so one of the returning
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strategies is to set up your vacation if
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possible to come back midweek because
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even if you don't have significant
7:39
amount of responsibilities and you are
7:42
more of a punch in punch out situation
7:44
it's hard to come back to full days
7:47
where you're responsible for not so if
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you come back on a Wednesday you get a
7:51
short week and it makes it a little bit
7:53
easier to come back right so for sure
7:55
you need that re-entry to the other
7:58
point that you were saying if you are a
7:59
worker that's going to come back to a
8:01
massive amount of females my suggestion
8:04
is frame it appropriately
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lot of people like would benefit from
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framing it is thinking ahead of not that
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oh I have my vacation and my life is
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going to be horrible and back to all
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this work again rather than thinking
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like that no ahead of time that you have
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this vacation because when you come back
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you're going to have a really hectic
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couple of days and you already know that
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so psychologically emotionally you prep
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for it you've set yourself up for a
8:30
short week if possible and uh as you
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said if you set yourself up even
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beforehand and had colleague support
8:38
that is also helpful
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um well I wanted to touch a little bit
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uh continue on colleague support we are
8:46
fully aware that everyone in your office
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is at different economic standpoints
8:50
different
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um places in their life what's something
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we can do to really respect all of the
8:56
people around us
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it's so interesting that you say that
8:59
because I think the answer to that
9:01
question for me goes on to our fourth
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point of communication with our
9:06
colleagues
9:07
um a lot of times you might go on
9:08
vacation and come back and how are you
9:11
perceived when you come back are people
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thinking that oh you're the person who
9:15
gets all these breaks all the time or
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you're the person who you know gets to
9:19
relax and not do anything or you're
9:22
scourging your responsibilities
9:25
um I think you have to be really careful
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when you come back how much you talk
9:27
about your vacation right like is it
9:30
really appropriate everyone's everyone
9:32
was working do they really want to hear
9:34
it from you maybe your buddy hasn't had
9:37
a break in a year
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yeah I don't know keep it on the down
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low a bit in my opinion I underscore all
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these relationships matter right how
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you're interacting
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um well is true for for all the way
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through all right do you want to uh
9:53
let's try and wrap us up for today all
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right let's wrap it up in the U.S it's
9:58
summertime many people think it's
10:00
vacation season is it or is it not think
10:03
about your perfect break for perfect
10:05
timing for your breaks and if you're
10:07
going on vacation make sure you do that
10:09
seamless setup so that your colleagues
10:12
are ready to have you go you're ready to
10:14
come back when you come back you want to
10:16
return strong and finally remember
10:19
always that your relationships matter
10:21
communicate be aware of what others are
10:24
doing inside your office so they're not
10:26
so upset that you've gone on a break and
10:28
think you're the one who's living it
10:30
high even though you've been planning
10:31
for four years for this Safari getaway
10:34
with your family
10:36
yeah yeah it's uh I think that's all
10:39
that that really emphasize think about
10:41
your surroundings think about who you're
10:43
with and what you need to do and and
10:45
really that's threaded through
10:46
everything we do so
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um thank you everybody for joining us
10:51
today
10:53
um and it was fun to get to chat again
10:55
hello absolutely thanks Charlene thanks



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