Two weeks ago, I talked about the genius of doing nothing: how stepping away from the day-to-day and letting your brain drift by the pool can give you the kind of clarity you can’t find in a busy office. This was indeed the zone I was seeking whilst lying by the shores of the Mediterranean which I have just returned from….
The solitude was warm and the sun gods shone for us. And whilst I did indeed zone out for a while, one other thing made this a break to remember: my team.
I don’t know many business owners who go on holiday without either their laptop or a phone which is capable of running things should they need it: it just goes with the territory. And even though they may switch their OOO on, there’s always a cheeky look at the email at some point in their day to subdue any rising anxiety of what’s going on back at the ranch. Not to do any ‘real’ work you understand, just to keep an eye on things…. But this time knowing that my team were there to respond to anything that came up, made the time even sweeter than normal. So a huge thanks to them for this & for allowing me the space to think and let all of those ideas wash over me.
But of course we know that zone can’t last forever…
So, fast forward to post-bank holiday & the suitcase is unpacked, the sand’s been shaken out of your shoes, the 17th load of washing has been sorted through and you’re back at your desk. Your inbox has opinions about how your first day back should go. And yet, you’ve got this precious cargo: a handful of ideas, niggles and “aha” moments from your holiday headspace.
The question now is: how do you stop them disappearing into the black hole of “things I’ll get to one day”?
Step one: open the notes (before you open the inbox)
If you scribbled thoughts in a notebook, dumped them into your phone, or even left yourself a voice note mid-sunset, dig them out. Do it before you fully submerge yourself in email triage.
Holiday insights have a short shelf life. The longer you leave them, the more they fade, and the more likely they are to be replaced by whatever’s loudest and most urgent today.
Step two: sort the gold from the “nice to haves”
Not every poolside musing is a priority. Some are flashes of brilliance. Others… not so much.
Take ten minutes to scan through your list and mark:
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High impact / high urgency — the issues or opportunities that will genuinely move the dial if tackled soon.
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High impact / low urgency — still important, but can be scheduled for later in the quarter.
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Low impact — ideas that might be nice in theory but aren’t where your focus should go right now.
This isn’t about killing ideas. It’s about protecting the ones that matter most.
Step three: pick your “holiday top three”
Here’s the trap founders fall into: trying to action everything at once. You’ve come back with ten new projects in mind, and three weeks later, none of them have moved.
Instead, choose no more than three priorities from your holiday list to work on in the next 90 days. For each one, define:
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What “done” looks like
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Who’s responsible for it (and ideally, it’s not always you)
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The first step to get it moving
Step four: make a quick win your first move
Momentum matters. If one of your three priorities is something you can make visible progress on in under a week — do it.
That might be removing a pointless recurring meeting, signing off budget for a training programme, or delegating a chunk of admin you’ve been holding onto. Quick wins keep your post-holiday clarity alive and prove to yourself (and your team) that action follows insight.
Step five: loop in your team early
Sharing your priorities with your senior team is both an accountability tool and a way to get them engaged.
When you say, “One of my focuses this quarter is making our onboarding process slicker,” you give them permission to contribute ideas and spot obstacles you may not have considered. It also stops these projects from sitting solely on your plate.
Step six: keep a little holiday habit in play
If your clearest thinking happened while you were taking a morning walk or keeping your phone in another room for a few hours, try carrying that habit into your working life.
No, you can’t quite recreate a Greek beach in the middle of Croydon! But you can recreate some of the mental space that allowed those ideas to emerge. Even small tweaks — a walk before your first call, blocking out “thinking time” in your diary — make a difference.
Step seven: review before the glow fades
Book a slot in your diary, 30 days after you’re back, to check in on your holiday top three. Have they moved forward? Are they still relevant? What’s got in the way?
That deliberate pause stops the slow slide back into “business as usual” and keeps those bigger, better ideas visible.
From glow to growth
Your holiday headspace gave you something valuable: a rare, uncluttered view of your business. But insight without action is just a nice thought.
If you can capture, prioritise, and start implementing the best of your summer thinking now, you’ll thank yourself when autumn gets busy.
Because while tans fade and inboxes refill, the right post-holiday actions can keep paying off long after your suitcase is back in the loft.
At The HR Hub, we’ve helped over 250 businesses grow, building lean, human-first people systems that support performance and scale. No jargon. No bureaucracy. Just the right foundations, tailored to you.
📩 Drop us a line or book a call – we’d love to help. You can reach us at hello@thehrhub.co.uk or call 0203 627 7048.
