Photo: Ben Brown
Traveling may not damage your career, but it can have an unwelcome effect on the way you feel about your job. Here’s how to get back into a good work flow.
When I returned from a long travel break, my initial enthusiasm to get back to work faded around the time I landed myself a shiny new job. It was much more prestigious and better-paid than the one I had given up to go traveling, but once the novelty of it all – wearing a suit! Drinking vending machine coffee! Free email without a two-drink minimum! – wore off, I found myself unable to get motivated.
This is not an uncommon reaction. Many people can’t take reentry into a work routine and end up leaving the country again within a few months. But if this isn’t a desirable or viable option, don’t despair. Your travels have not rendered you terminally unable to hold down a job. Here a few steps to help get your head back into your work:
Swear yourself off travel for a year.
Don’t plan another sabbatical. Don’t even plan a two-week vacation. A long weekend here, a week’s trip within your home country there, is fine, but nothing more ambitious than that. It’s important to get focused, and stay focused, on where your home is.
Make a five year plan.
Don’t worry if this does not center wholly, or even mainly, around work. It’s fine if it involves more travel or another sabbatical. But it will show you where your current job fits in with your wider plans and, hopefully, make it seem worthwhile.
Ensure you have a life outside of work.
Photo: chatirygirl
If friends have moved on while you were away and your social world is no longer what it was, work can take on a disproportionate significance in your life. Get out there and meet like-minded people, just as you did when traveling, and you’ll soon end up feeling refreshed and looking at your job with new eyes – even if it’s just as a way to pay the bills.
Keep the souvenirs at home.
Resist the temptation to decorate your office with that Thai wooden fish mobile or use a shot of yourself scuba diving as your screen saver. It will not – and believe me I know, because I tried – motivate you, inspire you, or help you concentrate.
It will merely distract and depress you, and will serve as a talking point to every visitor to your desk – which will result in you spending every coffee break chatting about what you could be doing if you hadn’t come back home and got a job.
Who’s the new guy?
After you’ve settled into your new job, or settled back into your old one, take some time to assess what skills or qualities you now have, which you didn’t before your travels. Then work out how you can employ them in this post to ensure you do an even better job than you would have before. It will make you see travel less as something you do instead of, or as an escape from work, and will help you start to knit the two aspects of your life together.
Community Connection
For more on long term travel and how it can affect your career, check out How to Make Travel Look Good on a Resume.
For those interested in making a career out of travel, please visit MatadorU.
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17 Comments... join the discussion!
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ah ‘buckle-down’ turner.
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This is exactly my current problem! But I refuse to swear off travel. I can work on the other things, though.
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I have to say that my Cliffs of Moher desktop background is sometimes the ONLY thing that gets me through the day at work! Every time I see it I’m not only reminded of the wonderful time I had there, but all sorts of little random stories from that trip pop into my head.
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Good, reasonable tips if that’s what you really want, to settle back into your old life. But if travel has affected you in any kind of profound way, perhaps it’s time for a self-assessment. Your education/experience need not go to waste, maybe you could research other countries/cities to go to for some time and work there. Maybe a change in work/life balance are in order – contracting instead of permanent staff? Can work 9/12 months, travel for 3.
Maybe work part time instead and use the extra time to pursue other interests. Maybe try to work out a new work schedule like 3 x 12 or 4 x 10 and have more days off.
If I have my way, this is the last I’ll ever be working Mon-Fri 40 hours per week in an office. It’s just wrong.
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Great post…but I don’t know if I could do without the reminders of travel at work.
I agree with Carlo. After 20 months of traveling and living abroad, I’ve already procrastinated on updating my resume for 5 weeks (and counting). My ideal would be to leverage my recent experiences and blogs to earn an income freelancing. I may have to get a normal job eventually, but the idea would be to make it short lived so I can get back to South America and explore the rest of the continent. Brazil is calling this gringo, and I gotta answer!
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It helped me to infuse a bit of travel into my weekly life. Cooking something exotic that reminds me of traveling, exploring a new area in my own city, or getting out of the city for a hike and picnic on a Saturday all give me a brief ‘I’m away!!!’ rush.
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Good tips, but I’d HAVE TO plan a vacation in order to work …… like at all. I always have to know when my next excursion is going to be in order to function. It’s just planning it and planning could help you focus because you know you’d have something to look forward to!
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I’ve always viewed my job as giving me the ability to at least have some decent spending cash to go on awesome trips (e.g., heli-skiing, hiking, relaxation, etc…). I do agree that it is always tough to get back into the work mode after a long time off (blackberrys seem to mess that up though. To keep a mind-set of travel (other then souviners), I’ve created a travel website of all my stories and memories from that trip just incase while I’m at work and need to re-live the moment.
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I think you’re right about having a balance because unless you’re ready to “go pro” as a traveler, it’s gonna be your day job that pays for those precious weeks or months you spend outside of your office.
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It’s impressive that you landed a new, shiny job after coming back from traveling. Giving up a job to travel is scary for most people. What’s your secret for finding one straight-away?
Easing back into the workforce won’t be that bad knowing that you already have job lined up. You can start saving for your next travel adventure. A Weekend get-away here and there will help curb the travel bug that’s itching to run rampant.
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Ahhhh I am STRUGGLING with this! After 2 years of traveling, I just don’t understand how people can work and work without saving for a trip or planning for one… like why work? I wish I could dig up some motivation!
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I have now been back in the ‘real world’ for four months after four months in SE Asia. A few times each day I find myself at my computer at work, trying not to disturb the mouse or keyboard for several minutes just so I can have a peek at my travel photos on the screen saver….
Needless to say I hope to be out by January 2010!
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^ That’s the right attitude Lanna ! Did you do any blogging about your adventures by any chance ? That’s where I want to go NEXT !
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Oh, I liked this article. Coping methods are a good idea for people who can’t travel as much – like accidental mums. It’s all well and good to tote baby along, but my partner disagrees. He thinks it’s much better to have a stable home life (he thinks that travelling is unpredictable – but obviously I don’t think that) and I hate disrupting our days with travel talks. I used to venture into chats, but now I mostly collect pictures from magazines. It’s a landmine topic. If you think of your family as a unit, and not everyone supports your ideas about travel, then it’s hard to break away.
I am going to try every single tip. I hope it works
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I would love to get back to work. I’ve been home from a RTW since April and I still haven’t found a job in my field. Must’ve picked the worst time to do it, but after saving and planning for two years I was itching to go.
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Just want to mention a quote I remember from I know not where: “Do what you have to do to do what you want to do”.
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