1. Plan And Prioritize
The first thing you need to be doing is prioritizing the right stuff. Figure out what you need to complete before your trip. Figuring out what you need to get done before the break is crucial because you can reverse engineer how many days it’s going to take you to do it. Try to set aside some projects that don’t need to get done right away. You can save these for the next year. You want to concentrate and put your full focus on the projects that need to be done with a sense of urgency. Create an optimized “to-do” list and use Tracktime24 to track progress and keep tabs on pending activities. It will also help you split the larger projects into more manageable tasks.
In situations where you get overwhelmed, try to distribute some of the workloads to other members of your team. This can help you evenly distribute the work to share the load. Everyone can handle some of the tasks on their own which helps you get things done quicker. This can relieve a lot of the pressure off individuals on the team. Whenever you delegate to other employees, a manager needs to ensure they are delivering a detailed brief and the right tools to get the job done.
You also want to set up your automated “out-of-office” reply on your email. This can let everyone know who is trying to contact you that you are unavailable. You should leave them a contact they can get in touch with for emergencies.
2. Help Wherever Possible But Be Willing To Say No
A lot of people around the office are going to appreciate those willing to help. If everyone is under a lot of work pressure, they will understand the offer. You always want to help out your colleagues if they are in a tough spot because they will be certain to do the same for you. It can help your entire team complete projects quicker and consistently meet deadlines. It also helps boost employee morale and teamwork.
It’s a good way to showcase your initiative and demonstrate your ability to work under pressure. It is only going to make you look better when it comes to your next performance review.
However, don’t spread yourself too thin. You need to learn how to say “no” when the time calls for it. You don’t want to put yourself in a situation where you are burnt out. This can happen to an employee that experiences too much stress too often. It can leave you mentally and physically exhausted to the point where you are no longer productive.
If you are consistently being relied on by your other colleagues to handle their workload, it’s time to take a step back and reassess. You want to create healthy boundaries and ensure that you are only taking on tasks and projects that you can handle. You could always tell them that you can help them more once the holidays are over.
3. Limit Distractions
It can be very easy to find yourself getting distracted during the holidays. After all, you are likely prepping for holiday trips, gift buying, and more. Because of this, you could attempt to try to juggle both of these things at work.
It’s best to separate your personal and work time because of this. You want to ensure that you are separating these things because you want your entire time at work to be devoted to getting things done. You need to be focusing your attention on work while at work rather than trying to get personal errands done. If you don’t, you’ll find it very easy to get behind on things and find yourself with even more stress. Your productivity will suffer if you attempt to multitask. Save your holiday planning for after-work hours. This can help you be much more productive while at work.
Try to set your phone to “do not disturb” and/or “airplane mode” when you are working. This can free you from a lot of the distractions that would get in your way of being ultra-productive. You may want to take things a step further and clear your desk from anything that could distract you. You want your desk to be conducive to maximizing your productivity. If you have a lot of holiday photos or other things on your desk, you could find yourself daydreaming about your trip.
Try to batch everything that can be done together. For instance, all of your email responses and social media updates you can batch together. This will help you get things done in work blocks. Having blocks that you can dedicate to certain things can keep you from getting distracted by different things when you are focused on something else.
4. Plan For The New Year
Once you have finished all of your December assignments, it’s time to start planning for the new year. You want to figure out what you need to do when you get back to work. This will help you get back to work and hit the ground running. Many employees will take a good week or so to catch their bearings after a working holiday.
You want to try to map out your entire January to figure things out. This can save you a lot of time when you get back to work. It can also help you start your year being as productive as possible.
Try to prioritize everything that needs to get done right when you get back. It could be responding to important clients, sending out proposals, completing pending assignments, or something else. You want to have a set list of tasks to jump right into when you get back.
You also want to look at your goals for the upcoming year. Figure out what project or responsibilities you want to take on for the new year. This can help you figure out what you can do to continue progressing in your career with newfound optimism.