Are you getting stressed about covering off all your work before Christmas? Let us help you focus and get organised before a well-deserved break.
For those who will be taking a break from work over the festive period, the time for wrapping things up is running out.
We’re just a week away from the last day of office hours before Christmas Day, while some people may have saved up annual leave to finish early. So much to do in so little time.
If you’re worried about getting organised enough to wrap up work before Christmas in a way that will give you a stress-free time off and won’t leave you on the back foot in the new year, we’ve got you covered.
Look at where you are right now
When we feel under time pressure, it can be hard to believe you have time to stop and take stock of anything, but it’s actually an essential part of getting organised.
Think about how much time you have left, what’s already on your to-do list for the next week, be it meetings or other day-to-day activities, and what are the needs of your other team members.
If other people are taking annual leave over the next week, it may impact how busy you are.
Make a list of what needs to be done
Once you know where you’re at, you need to know where you’re going. As philosophical as it sounds, it’s actually a case of literally knowing what you have to do to get to the end of the year.
This should be a list of everything you’d like to get done in an ideal world, both to wrap up before Christmas and also to set yourself up well for January.
You may not get to everything – more on that in a moment – but it will help you focus on your priorities and not get distracted on other tasks.
Think about the best way to set yourself up for January
December is not just about getting things wrapped up before the end of the year. For many, it’s a good time to get things in order to get a head start on the year ahead, whether that be building strategies, making plans or implementing new processes.
When you’re creating your to-do list, make sure you consider the tasks that will give you an easier time settling back into work in the new year.
Consider things that could have made your job easier in 2022. What could be brought in next year to improve these situations? Now is the time to consider putting them in place.
Focus on what’s doable (scrap or push out what’s not)
Now that you’ve made your giant list, including your hypothetical wish list, it’s time to start putting step one and step two together.
What are the biggest priorities that you absolutely have to get done? And where can you start slotting those tasks into the time you have left?
Once you’ve gotten that done, have a look at the rest of the list and start fitting in what you can. Make sure you’re thinking about whether two quicker tasks would be more beneficial than one large task.
Once you’ve filled your time, decide what doesn’t need to get done at all, and what you can push out into the new year.
Use the break to restore energy
Once you have all your affairs in order as best you can, it’s vital that you switch off your work brain properly while you’re on holidays.
Just like the previous two years, which were strange in their own ways, 2022 was a year when the pandemic was very much still present but lessened enough that many in-person events started taking place again.
If you’re one of the workers who is lucky enough to have some time off between Christmas and January, capitalise on the quiet, embrace the stand-still, switch off your notifications and give your hard-working brain a much-needed rest.
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