Ease in, don’t dive in.

The best technique for resuming habits after a planned break is to accept a slower first day and focus on restarting the routine, not making up for lost time.

Here’s the trap: you come back from vacation, feel the guilt of missed work, and try to do everything at once. That blows up by Wednesday. Instead, pick one small anchor habit—something that takes less than five minutes—and do it on day one. For me, that’s opening my task list and writing down three things. That’s it. The rest of the day is just showing up.

Another thing that works: set a physical trigger before the break. Before you leave, leave your notebook open on your desk or set your gym bag by the door. When you return, that object greets you and says “start here.” You don’t have to think about it.

Also, block your first two hours back as “re-entry time.” No meetings, no catch-up calls. Just you and the routine. Future schedules can wait until after lunch. Q1 is long enough—you don’t need to prove anything on January 2.

Your vacation reset is