Good Use of Annual Leave

I'm not one for doing reviews of the year or watching such like formatted television shows. That said, because my annual leave is worked on a calendar year basis if I am to take an objective view of how well I used I am making use of it I have to mull over 2005.

• End of January - A good few days off to go up Snowdon with my fellow badgers.
• End of April - Another good trip, this time going up Scafell Pike up in Cumbria.
• Early August - Home for a couple of days, getting to see a friend and her new born.
• October & November - Long weekends all over the place to soak up a large chunk of days.
• December - A single long weekend.

I recall very clearly that when I was taking the days off early in the year they were digging into my allowance prematurely. I have previously always saved up holiday for the second half of the year. It turns out, that the leave I did take in the second half of the year was nowhere near as good as that from the first.

In October and November the leave I took distracted my focus away from work and felt very frustrating afterwards. There was a method behind this: taking these odd spells of leave meant I didn't take on too much project work during this period and therefore opens the possibility for my last day to not be the hectic mess I usually find they are. Also, being back in a few days meant that middle distance tasks could be left until my return and not require the dreaded 'handover'.

My leave pattern is inherent from my days doing blue collar work. The job would be pretty much the same daily and my absence wasn't particularly notable to the business because I just needed to provide a pair of hands. My life in the white collar world is different, my skills are individual and the work is varied. As such I need to change my ways.

So I unveil the 8 week cycle. It goes something like:
1 week look-up
2 week preparation
2 week implementation
2 week follow up
1 week annual leave

This is a personal schedule because I have been in my job for a long enough spell to be able to judge when my work patterns fall, I am fortunate enough to have a large leave allowance and I know I benefit a lot more from structured living.
Apart from the August bank holiday the English national holidays fall perfectly into this cycle too.

I get myself 6 project cycles each year. Before I enter 2006 I know how 3 of them will be filled. Going to plan, this should be a real winner for me.

From the small searches I've done I haven't found anyone that has looked into the subject. I would have thought how people use their holiday allowance would have had more prominence on the web.

Technorati Tag = Productivity Annual Leave