The holiday season is upon us — and most of us are ready for a well-deserved break. I bring this up for two reasons. First, there’s solid evidence that time away from work supports the body and mind: vacations improve sleep, reduce stress, and increase positive mood and life satisfaction. Recent meta-analyses and reviews confirm these benefits and show they can last well beyond the trip itself. Second, large-scale data analyses have found that employees who actually take their allotted vacation are, on average, somewhat more likely to receive raises or promotions — although this is a correlation (other factors such as role, visibility, and network matter). Importantly, the benefits come when people truly detach and recover during their time […]

I usually dedicate a weekend in November to sorting out old stuff, decluttering, and preparing the apartment for cleaning. I would like to do this before I start decorating for the holidays because it gives the home a fresher look and feel. As I mentioned, most of us experience stress in the final weeks leading up to the end of the year. We wish to focus more on family and friends during the holidays, and at the same time, work pressure usually increases.  During my corporate career, we always had “comp season,” when I was also working on performance reviews and trying to accomplish new projects. I’m currently in what I call “the Post-It Phase.” Yes, I had to admit […]