The first day back from vacation can feel overwhelming. You’re likely getting caught up on what you missed, tackling an overflowing inbox, and adapting from vacation brain to work mode. How you handle the day, however, can improve your productivity for the rest of the year, says Peter Bregman, author of Leading with Emotional Courage: How to Have Hard Conversations, Create Accountability, and Inspire Action on Your Most Important Work.

“You come back to a bucket instead of the normally dripping faucet of information,” he says. “With hundreds of emails and tons of phone calls, the question is, 'How do you filter through all of this information'?”

Most of us do the logical thing: Start from the top or bottom and go through messages and requests one by one. Instead, Bregman says you should take advantage of the situation, pause and create a clean slate: “The first question to ask is, 'What is most important for me to accomplish'?” he says. "'What are my top three to five priorities—the things that will make the biggest difference'?”

Please select this link to read the complete article from Fast Company.