Daily Storey

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Summer Plans | Six Week Training for August Vacation

Summer is about maintaining your health and enjoying the weather but I like athletic vacations so I’m preparing for a sporty weekend vacation in August, lets train for 6 weeks to be ready to hit the hills of San Franciso, Tahoe or Denver and the Rockies. The following schedule is designed to increase your stamina, core strength and fasting abilities.

Goal

The goal for the following six weeks is to take a fasting weekend vacation in six weeks that burns up to 3k calories a day and does not cause injury. By spending the next four to six weeks increasing the demand on your muscles you will adapt your muscles, stomach and mind without injury and be in better physical shape.

Week 1: Base Building & Mechanics

  • Monday: 45-minute reformer Pilates (focus on pelvic stability and single-leg footwork). Using your own pilates machine or signing up for a weekly pilates reformer class.
  • Wednesday: 3–4 mile walk or hike on a treadmill or outside. Choose your hiking footwear including socks.
  • Friday: 45-minute reformer Pilates at home or in a pilates reformer studio.
  • Weekend: 5-mile hike on rolling terrain or on your treadmill at the appropriate incline for the hills you plan on hiking.

For the week, workout fasted and do not drink fluids until after the workout. This training schedule is based on last years 20 day hike on a technical trail.

Week 2: Adding Load & Elevation

  • Monday: 45- 90 minute reformer Pilates at home or a flow class at a reformer studio. Let the instructor know you are training and want to focus on your core strength.
  • Wednesday: 4-mile hike on a treadmill.
  • Friday: 90-minute endurance Pilates session at home. Focus heavily on glute strength. If the course at the studio is shorter, add weight training at the gym for 45 minutes.
  • Weekend: Estimate the longest hike on your weekend hike and hike that distance so your muscles know what it feels like.

Week 3: Peak Volume

  • Monday: 45-minute reformer Pilates at a studio or 90 minutes at home.
  • Wednesday: 5-mile hike with elevation.
  • Thursday: 3-mile recovery walk after a pilates session to get used to moving on tired legs.
  • Friday: 90-minute endurance Pilates session at home.
  • Weekend: 8–10 mile hike on challenging terrain on a treadmill. Start picking what clothes you want to wear hiking.

Week 4 -6: Fine-Tuning

  • Monday: 45-minute reformer Pilates at a studio or 90 minutes at home.
  • Wednesday: 3-mile hike on the treadmill.
  • Friday: 45 minute Pilates flow for balance
  • Weekend: 2–3 mile walk outside

Train for walking hiking up and down hills. Walking downhill creates eccentric muscle contractions that cause significantly more soreness than climbing up hills. If you don’t have access to trails with elevation, use a stair-stepper or walk down flights of stairs to condition your knees and quads.

Note: This training schedule may be used for hiking in the hill country or visiting a city like San Francisco. What kind of August weekend vacation do you want to take?

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Back from Vacation! First Day at the Office. How Does it Feel?

Post-Vacation Blues are a perfect reason to start a fourteen day detox before the July 4th celebration.

If you are returning back from vacation, you may experience the following:

  • The Dopamine Crash: Vacations provide a spike of dopamine. Returning to your routine leads to a temporary feeling of lethargy, sadness, or lack of motivation.
  • The Contrast Effect: Comparing your vacation experience to the mundane tasks of your regular life may make your normal schedule feel significantly duller and more restrictive.

The Logistical Overload

  • The Chore of Rain Making: Sorting through mail, and realizing the work pipeline is completely empty may create a sense of urgency the second you arrive at the office.
  • Decision Fatigue: On vacation, decisions are often fun and spontaneous. At home, you are immediately hit with decisions that drain your mental energy or your pocket book in a non-vacation way.

The Physical Shift

  • Sleep Disruption: Forcing your body back into a rigid alarm-clock schedule causes a mild form of physical jet lag.
  • Dietary and Movement Reset: Transitioning away from vacation can leave your body feeling sluggish for a few days as it recalibrates to your normal activities.

The Schedule Friction

  • Loss of Autonomy: Returning to a schedule means surrendering large blocks of your day to work, commuting, and obligations, which can add to your workday stress.
  • Backlog Anxiety: The looming knowledge of unread emails, household maintenance, and paused projects may cause a mild depression. Acknowledge how you feel and review your schedule to keep your emotions balanced.

Note: If you are detoxing for July 4th, keep your calories under 1200. The detox I’m following uses, coffee, salads, rice and vanilla ice cream. The ice cream is for summer detoxes. If you are not able to eat just a cup, you can use rice pudding at the dessert.

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21 Day Detox for July 4th | Summer Maintenance

Hi! I’m still on vacation until next week but the 21 Day Detox starts today for July 4th. This detox keeps you from worrying about celebrating the holiday. For the next three weeks, keep your calories around 800 by having soup for lunch and dinner and, rice for breakfast.

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Presentation Week | 30 Day Vacation Prep

Preparing for your Presentation

  • Remind the Audience: Send out a reminder email to your list of attendees.
  • The Hook: How are you going to open your presentation? With an impressive achievement the group can share? A joke? Is the main meeting presentation supporting your presentation topic?
  • The Payload: Did you practice summarizing the presentation and giving the attendees a clear call to action while you are on vacation?
  • Check Your Slides : Use the slides as a loose guide with one idea per slide represented by an icon, photograph or word. Check that each slide is needed for the presentation and that your presentation ends in the appropriate amount of time.

Rehearsal Techniques

Your brain processes “thinking the words” and “speaking the words” differently.

  • The “Out Loud” Test: Do you like how the words sound when you say them out loud. If they don’t sound right, make sure your words are words you are comfortable saying in a presentation. Pick an alternate word if the word is not in your everyday conversation at work.
  • Time Yourself: When presenting, persons tend to speed up their speech. Take a moment between slides. This may be used for questions or to look at the slide or your notes. Leave room for questions and be prepared with copies of the presentation in case their is a technical hiccup.
  • End with a slide containing details important to the group while you are away. Emergency contact details.

Technical Tips for Presentation Slides

CategoryAction Item
HardwareEnsure you have the right adapters and a remote clicker.
SoftwareDownload an offline version of your slides in case the Wi-Fi fails.
VisualsCheck that your font sizes are legible from the back of a room (usually 24pt+).
BackupKeep a PDF version of the deck on a thumb drive.
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This Week, Complete this Slide Deck | 30 Day Vacation Prep

Presentation Template for Client Presentation Update

For the Presentation Week before leaving for vacation, you might be giving five presentations. Here is another template to use for your presentation to clients before leaving. Let them know you are taking your yearly vacation but that everything will be monitored while you are away from your desk.

Suggested Presentation Template

Presentation Overview: 30-Minute Allocation

  • Context & Review: 5 Minutes
  • Key Achievements & Data: 10 Minutes
  • Challenges & Learnings: 5 Minutes
  • Future Roadmap: 5 Minutes
  • Q&A / Discussion: 5 Minutes

Slide Deck Template

Slide 1: Title Slide

  • Content: Project/Account Name: Six-Month Progress Review.
  • Sub-text: Reporting Period: [Month, Year] – [Month, Year].
  • Details: Client Name, Your Agency/Company Name, and Date.

Slide 2: Executive Summary

  • Heading: Initial Project Summary and Current Project Summary – at a Glance.
  • Content: 3–4 bullet points highlighting the most significant achievements or pivots of the last six months and the primary focus for the next six months.
  • Purpose: To give stakeholders the bottom line immediately.

Slide 3: Goals & Objectives Recap

  • Heading: What We Set Out to Achieve with this project & While I’m Away Goals.
  • Content: A table comparing six months ago against current status.
  • Visual: Status icons appropriate for Industry

Slide 4: Key Achievements

  • Heading: Major Milestones Reached up to Date
  • Content: Focus on 3 major accomplishments. Use specific data from files.
  • Visual: Use high-impact photos of the completed work, team working, work environment industry environment.

Slide 5: Quantitative Results

  • Heading: Performance Metrics.
  • Content: Charts or graphs showing trends over the last six months. Annotate the graphs to explain spikes or dips in work progress – Campaign Launch or Seasonal Shift.

Slide 6: Challenges & Pivot Points

  • Heading: Navigating Obstacles.
  • Content: Be transparent about what didn’t go according to plan in the initial timeline.
  • Structure: Challenge → Action Taken → Result/Current Status.
  • Purpose: Builds trust and shows proactive problem-solving.

Slide 7: Strategic Learnings

  • Heading: Strategic Learning from Project
  • Content: Qualitative insights. What have we learned about the client’s audience, the market, or the product over the last half-year?
  • Purpose: Proves you are thinking critically about their business, not just executing tasks.

Slide 8: The Next 6 Months: Vision & Goals

  • Heading: Strategic Focus for the next six months.
  • Content: Outline 3–5 high-level objectives.
  • Visual: A timeline or chevron-style graphic showing the evolution of the project.

Slide 9: Roadmap & Immediate Next Steps

  • Heading: Q3 & Q4 Action Plan.
  • Content: A more granular look at the next 30, 60, and 90 days.
  • Call to Action: Mention any approvals or resources needed from the client.

Slide 10: Conclusion & Discussion

  • Heading: Q&A.
  • Content: Leave this slide up during the discussion.
  • Details: Contact information and a “Thank You” note to the team / clients / Boss

I’ve added to rice this week Crispy Balsamic Beets. If you are Preparing for a swimsuit vacation, it takes four days to get rid of rice from your system. Focus on salads four days before leaving.

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Review of Progress: Recurring Tasks, Deadlines, Projects,

Vacation Binder – Away from Desk Binder – Schedule a Meeting for next week. May use this jpg.

Meeting Itinerary: The Handover Alignment For Planned Absence Vacation

Duration: 45–60 Minutes Meeting Length

Goal: Clarify ownership, finalize deadlines, and pause / Notify Delay of Implementation of New Projects

TimeSegmentPurpose
00-05 minCountdownState departure/return dates and “hard stop” time to meeting attendees.
05-20 minStatusHigh-level overview of what will be finished vs. what is paused or delayed during absence.
20-40 minDelegation During AbsenceAssigning contact person for specific tasks or workflow while absent
40-50 minEmergency ProtocolDefining what constitutes an actual emergency while the Desk is on Vacation
50-60 minQ&A / FeedbackClear up any ambiguity with the team and take notes to add to Vacation Binder

Layout of the Presentation Slides

Slide 1: Out of Office Logistics

  • Dates: [Start Date] to [Return Date].
  • Last Available Hour: [e.g., Friday at 3:00 PM].
  • Communication Status: “Fully Offline” (highly recommended) or “Emergency Only.”

Slide 2: Before Vacation Completion Goals

  • List 3–5 high-priority items to be completed before leaving.
  • Q & A on Tasks to be completed, delegation if necessary to team members to ensure completion.

Slide 3: Work on Hold

  • List projects that are paused while on vacation.
  • Provide a restart date for project items and update clients with update right before absence.

Slide 4: Delegation & Ownership

  • Task A: [Point Person Name] – responsible for [specific output].
  • Task B: [Point Person Name] – responsible for [specific output].
  • Internal Approvals: Pre-approval for Point Person A and Point Person B for certain tasks.

Slide 5: Triage & Escalation

  • Step 1: Discuss the Vacation Binder and how to find information on your projects.
  • Step 2: Contact and operational questions in your Binder
  • Step 3: Contact and upper level management that might need to be contacted.
  • Emergency Contact: Only to be used if Contact Persons are unable to respond.
  • Update your Email Signature: Mention your upcoming absence and What the focus of your work is for your clients.
  • Record Loom Videos: For complex tasks you are delegating ensure your department as an alternative person with similar skill levels to complete the tasks.
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Vacation Binder | Checklist for Departure

Part 1: Your Personal “Desk Exit” Checklist

Go through this checklist:

Out of Office Checklist Section of your Binder – THE DEPARTURE CHECKLIST

Dates Away: [Start Date] to [Return Date]

Priority Tasks in Progress to be Monitored

  • Task: [e.g., The Monthly Report]
  • Status: [e.g., 80% done; just needs Friday’s data.]
  • Action Needed: [e.g., Please hit ‘Send’ on Monday morning.]

Key Contacts & Stakeholders for Each project – Notification that desk is on Vacation –

  • If [Client/Boss Name] calls, tell them: [Instructions].
  • For urgent issues regarding [Project X], contact: [Name of backup person].

Where to Find Things. Verify Locations and Update Records

  • Physical Files: Located in [Drawer/Folder Name].
  • Digital Files: Saved on the shared drive at: [Pathway/Link].
  • Passwords/Keys: [Mention if they are with the Manager or in the secure lockbox].

Emergency Contacts at WORK for your Desk

  • Please only contact me for: [e.g., True emergencies / Don’t contact me at all!]
  • Best way to reach me: [Phone number/Email].

Create Notes for my Return Section with a Tab. Make sure your Colleagues know they may add notes to your Binder.

Notes for My Return: Please jot down anything major that happened here so I can catch up quickly and anything you may need accomplished which is not urgent but has a deadline.