Earlier this summer, we posted about the 4 steps you need to follow to have a stress-free getaway before your vacation. But what happens if your best-laid plans for an easy escape and a smooth reentry just don’t work?

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We all know that horrible feeling of arriving back at work to an overflowing inbox, 362 voicemails, and a stack of work that either didn’t get done or didn’t get done right while we were away. Or worse, arriving back just as exhausted as when you left, because you spent half your holiday working.

Welcome to Gimbal’s Tip of the Week, where you get practical, actionable advice you can use right away to start building a more productive and profitable legal practice.

This week’s tip:

Whether you’ve arrived back rested and relaxed, or you’re feeling more stressed out than when you left, take a few minutes for an After-Vacation Review.

Here are the four questions you need to ask:

1. What did you expect would happen while you were away?
2. What actually happened and why?
3. What worked well (so you can do it again next time)?
4. What didn’t work (so you can do it differently next time)?

Often, the biggest problems arise because work wasn’t delegated properly before you left. With clear processes to follow and resources to support them, your team will actually be able to carry on while you’re away. If you have a very small team or you’re solo, you can still get away…but you may need to automate or delegate key tasks to external resources.

We know it can be difficult to delegate work. You may feel like it’s just faster to do it yourself (especially the first few times you delegate a task). But delegation is the one skill you need to master if you’re ever going to take a holiday (let alone grow and scale your practice).

That’s why we created Delegation Express, our easy-to-implement system that teaches you what to delegate and how to delegate it. If you need to reduce your workload, start Delegation Express today. By this time next week, you’ll be saving hours a week, every week…for ever!

Whatever you do, don’t fall into the trap of thinking you can do it all before you leave, or worse, that you can’t take a break at all.

Every lawyer deserves a successful practice and the freedom to enjoy that success…and that includes the freedom to get away on holiday.

Your Action Item

Conduct an After-Vacation Review. If you discover that delegation is the source of your problems, join Delegation Express and learn exactly how to delegate work effectively, so you can finally take that totally unplugged vacation you deserve.

Legal professionals who delegate effectively are able to take the breaks they need to maintain their health. That means they can deliver more value for themselves, for their firm and, most importantly, for their clients. Put simply, they’re much more likely to be recognized as true value-driven legal professionals.

And that’s it. Join us next week for more on building a profitable and productive law practice.

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Thanks a lot everybody! See you next week. Remember: you should not have to work so hard! Every lawyer deserves a successful practice, and the time and freedom to enjoy that success.