So you’ve just enjoyed your time off from work. You feel refreshed and relaxed, and you find it hard to return to your desk and on work-mode.

Well, it’s a common dilemma. Returning to work could cause some serious post-vacation blues. But that could also hurt your productivity at work.

So, how do you get going again? To help you through with this struggle, here are nine helpful tips that could help you get back on track:

1. Get enough sleep

You know that staying productive in a drained-brain is nearly impossible. So make sure that you’re getting enough sleep the night before. Otherwise, you won’t be doing your best work.

Sleep will boost your mental alertness and could also do wonders for your mood. Aim for at least eight hours of sleep the night before you go back to work from your holiday.

Pay attention to your diet and your caffeine intake as well. If you feel tired or exhausted, consider taking a short nap in the afternoons.

Finally, don’t forget to exercise. When you exercise, you’ll have more energy for the rest of the day, and you’ll sleep better.

2. Schedule your appointments

As soon as you get to work, you’d likely be overwhelmed with your messages in your inbox, notifications, and upcoming meetings. But this will just delay your most important tasks for the day.

Schedule a time each day where you can check and respond to these communications. If it’s a message from someone important, you can answer those first. If other matters can wait, schedule those at a much later time.

3. Try to focus on your work

There will be a lot of distractions that are waiting for you once you get back to the office.

Co-workers ask you about juicy details of your vacation, while news in your social media feed and other headlines will make you feel that you lost touch with your friends.

Don’t waste your time chatting or scrolling through your feeds. Instead, try to focus on your work.

4. Organize your workspace

According to Raymond Chiu of Maid Sailors Maid Service Jersey City,  a clean and organized workspace will help raise your levels of productivity. It will make you more efficient, decrease work-related stress, and will even help you save a lot of time.

When you create a highly efficient work environment, you are also establishing structure. By doing so, you could accomplish more. In other words, you would be spending less time looking for things.

5. Be non-judgmental

Do not be too harsh on yourself. You might think that you are not working as efficiently as you could, thus, it is easy to feel overwhelmed.

But remember, it is healthy to take vacations, to turn off your notifications, and to have a break from your daily grind every once in a while. So, stop judging yourself.

Acknowledge the things that you need to work on, and take into consideration some steps that will help you achieve those goals.

6. Take quick breaks

The human brain couldn’t hold its attention on a task for long periods. Your thoughts could wander, making you less productive.

That’s why taking short breaks, even ones that last 2-5 minutes long, will help reset your mind. This allows you to focus once again with the task at hand.

You could set a timer that would remind you to take a quick break. You can spend those extra time practicing breathing exercises, doing a couple of quick workout routines, or just walking around the building.

This will boost your motivation, refuel your energy, and even spur new creative ideas.

7. Pep talk with your team

Once you get back, you can schedule a face-to-face meeting with your team.

If you’re a manager, for instance, your team will need your input on the tasks that need to be done. They also want to see how motivated and excited you are to get back to it.

You can say hi, ask what’s been going on to re-engage your team, and also use this time to see if some priorities have shifted while you were away. You could also ask them what’s the best thing that you can do to help now that you’re back.

Ideally, try to schedule these chats on afternoons so that you’ll still give them plenty of time to prepare and organize in the morning.

8. Be comfortable saying, “No”

When you get back to work, any unnecessary activity or task could deplete your time, energy, and resources.

So, don’t hesitate to say “no” when other people start to throw things on your plate. They’ll understand if you explain thoroughly why you cannot handle these non-essential tasks at the moment.

There’s nothing worse than having a great, relaxing vacation only to be ruined with stress and anxiety once you get back to the office. Hopefully, the tips listed above will help you transition back to work in a way that would work best for you.