Before starting Outward Travel, I was deeply ensconced in Corporate America. I know how month after month of tasks, reports, deadlines, and clients eventually drains you, and all we need is a break. But not all breaks are created equal—and how you choose to spend your PTO makes the difference between delaying burnout and defeating burnout.
Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by long periods of stress or a lack of meaning in your work. It thrives on the monotony and relentless routine of the modern American workplace. Stress comes and goes—the big project, the board presentation, the critical deal—but burnout leaves you questioning your life choices.
Burnout hits everyone differently. For some, every little hiccup feels like a five-alarm fire. For others, they just give up caring at all which puts their bonus or promotion at risk. For most, it has real effects on your mind and your body that risks your health.
The human brain thrives on discovery, creativity, and stimulation. You need a break. Effective breaks are not just “time off” — they are blank slates that unlock your true, fullest potential.
Your Brain Needs Miles, Not Just Hours: How Travel Enhances Your Success
The human brain associates places with feelings & behavior. When you are in the office, you have a certain routine that makes you successful; those routines reinforce focus and help you ignore the distractions of non-work life. At home, you have cooking, cleaning, helping kids with their homework, fixing broken stuff, paying bills, and everything else that keeps your life moving. Your brain associates these places with tasks—and tasks are not relaxing.
Tasks are not restorative. Tasks are taxing. It may feel good to get stuff done, but it’s not restorative and your brain is left with little extra space for creativity, dreaming, or enjoyment. At the end of the day, you’re just tired.
This is why staycations are a trap—because you’re sticking to the same places that your brain already associates with tasks and responsibilities, and your brain automatically says “I don’t have time to dream, I have stuff to do.”
Taking yourself away from these places lets your brain reset. And when your brain resets, creativity can flow, the heart slows down, the body relaxes. When these things happen, you are restored, you are happier, and you can be more effective when you get back to the office.
The Science Shows Travel Enhances Wellbeing
Look, I know you’re reading this on a travel agency’s blog, so of course we think travel solves all your problems (that’s a joke, btw). But there’s actual science here:
The Helsinki Businessmen Study showed that execs who took less than 3 weeks of vacation had a 37% higher chance of dying than those who took more. So, you know, travel or die? Not exactly but you need time off.
The Framingham Heart Study showed women who vacation only once every 6 years were 8 times more likely to develop heart disease. You definitely need to vacation way more often than every 6 years.
The MRFIT Study that focused on men showed vacations were linked to 32% lower risk of death from heart disease.
A SUNY-Oswego study found a yearly vacation reduces the risk of a fatal heart attack by 32%.
We Americans work really hard, and don’t have enough PTO to begin with. We have to use it effectively so that we not just are more successful in the long term, but so that we don’t, you know, die early.
Pre-Trip is as Valuable as On-Trip
And by the way, it’s not just the vacation itself that helps, but knowing you have a vacation on the horizon makes you happier, healthier, and more relaxed, too:
The Institute for Applied Positive Research found 97% of people report feeling happier when they have a trip planned, and 71% feel more energetic. Maybe that’s because you know that all the BS and stress you’re dealing with today won’t matter in a few months, weeks, or days.
A Dutch study showed anticipating a trip often creates more happiness than the trip itself.
Travel Increases Your Work Performance, Too
Apart from the personal benefits — like reducing stress, improving health, and keeping things in perspective because you’re about to be on a beach somewhere — travel can actually make you a more successful professional.
Professor Adam Galinsky from Columbia Business School found that immersing yourself in another culture can increase your cognitive flexibility and creativity. While Professor Galinsky’s study was focused more on living abroad, you can also get similar benefits from frequent exposure to other cultures all over the world.
Pushing yourself on a travel experience can inspire you to push harder, reach farther, and challenge yourself to grow as a person and as a professional.
Tips for Planning an Anti-Burnout Vacation
Use a Travel Advisor
I mean, we’re a travel agency, of course we’re going to say “hire a travel advisor.” But there’s a good reason for it.
You already have enough of your plate - you’re a successful professional and you have a home life to manage. Planning travel can be 40+ hours of work by itself. Sometimes people get so overwhelmed by planning their travel they give up and do a “staycation,” but that doesn’t solve any problems. Instead, using a travel advisor means you get all the benefits of anticipating and going on vacation with none of the stress of research, planning, and details you just don’t have time for.
Plan Well In Advance
Maximize that anticipatory happiness by planning your vacation at least six months in advance. If you’ve got a big project with a launch day, or you know that Q4 is always a mad dash, planning your vacation for just after that will help get you through the slog.
Of course, if you find yourself needing a last-minute escape, that is perfectly acceptable. (And we can help with that, too).
Add a Buffer Day - Start Work on Tuesday
Give yourself a day at home between when you return and when you have to be at work. It sucks to have to get home from vacation at 9pm on Sunday and be in a meeting at 8am on Monday. In my youth, I could just barely manage a red-eye flight and go straight to the office, but the work day was extra awful when you have a week’s worth of email to catch up on. Don’t shortchange your vacation though—start work on Tuesday.
Disconnect Digitally
I hate to say it but you will probably need your phone on vacation. You’ll likely need Maps, the Cruise Ship or Resort’s App, and of course your camera. But do your best to turn off work distractions and keep your brain in vacation mode. On Android phones you can put all your work apps in the Work Profile and disable them wholesale. On iPhone you can and should disable the notifications for your work apps.
Ready or Not, Give Us a Call
I don’t know how you found this article. Maybe you are ready to plan something awesome. Maybe you’re in the middle of such drudgery you’re just imagining being on a beach as a way to escape a mind-numbing meeting (no judgment, I’ve been there … a lot). But whether you’re ready or not to plan something right now, you should:
Subscribe to our 5-Minute Vacay newsletter, below. It’s an occasional vacation delivered to your inbox that helps you imagine your next trip.
Schedule a time to chat with me about what kind of trip would help you reinvigorate. I can either help you plan it now, or keep an eye out for you for awesome opportunities in the future.
