Hypothetical situation: You’re still at work on the day before your holiday break is set to begin, and all around you, people are leaving. You stare longingly at the clock, willing the digital numbers to move.
But, alas, you are not a member of the X-Men and cannot manipulate time. It’s still 3:00 P.M. and you still have emails to send out, social media sites to update, and that blog post to write. You sigh. How will you find the motivation to get this all finished while electric lights twinkle, candles flicker, and the air is filled with the scent of “Northern Pine”?
Let’s face it, this is a not-so-hypothetical situation that highlights the reality of getting work done during the holidays – it’s almost impossible. Maybe, as in the scenario above, you’re stuck in the office while everyone else has gone home. Or maybe you’re home surrounded by your family and finding it difficult to concentrate.
Guest Post by Olivia Billbrough of the Aberdeen Group
While it may seem like you will never get through it all, you can and you will! Here are some tips to help you survive the holiday workload while enjoying all the family, food, and fun.
Tip 1: Get Organized
It may feel like you have a thousand things to do before you can pack up and head to the airport, but getting everything organized and scheduled will save you the headache of leaving the office only to realize you forgot to do something. Making a checklist can help you stay on top of things and get work done. Crossing items off a list also helps to pass the time! Give yourself a set amount of time for each item and then, when that time is up, check it off. Look at that, two hours to closing time and you only have three items left. Good for you!
Tip 2: Make Deadlines
Even if a project doesn’t have a specific deadline (we’ve all had those, “Oh, you know, just before the New Year is good” kind of projects), by setting one, you are committing to getting something finished at a certain time. This puts the pressure on and ensures that you have something concrete to work towards that doesn’t just affect you if it’s not finished. Make sure that you are realistic about these deadlines, however; promising something that you can’t deliver will NOT help you get out to play in the snow any faster.
Tip 3: Remove Yourself
Sometimes the only way to really get work done during the holidays is to pretend that they don’t exist. (If you’re working from home with your family during the holidays, this can be especially challenging.) Here’s what you do: Find an empty room (or basement, or broom closet, or whatever) and hole up for a few hours to really get away from the stimulation of holiday festivities. Believe me, if you don’t do this you’ll end up staring at the same subject line for an hour while half listening to a holiday special on TV.
Tip 4: Treat Yo Self
On the other hand, sometimes the best motivation is to reward yourself for finishing work. Finished writing that blog post? Go get a Hershey’s Kiss! Sent out those emails? Watch a video of Santas falling down! As long as the rewards don’t take too much time away from the actual work you’re doing (like, for example, taking a half hour TV break after writing every hundred words of a 700 word blog post), they can help you break your time up into manageable chunks and get you ever closer to your time off.
Tip 5: Have Fun
Remember, it’s the holiday season! Unless you don’t celebrate holidays, or don’t particularly care about them (in which case you can still use these tips to help avoid everyone else during this hectic time), use the season to your advantage. For example, you could write a blog post with a seasonal slant (very meta advice, I know, since it’s exactly what I’m doing right now). By going with the flow of the season, rather than fighting it, you’ll be much less likely to watch the clock and much more likely to put your all into whatever you still have on your plate.
So what are you waiting for! String up some lights, put on an ugly sweater, and break out your laptop. It’s the holiday season. Why not have fun AND get your work done?
Image Source (Creative Commons): State Farm.
Olivia Billbrough is the Content Production Specialist at Aberdeen Group. Olivia is responsible for the editorial workflow and the overall management of grammar enforcement. Prior to joining Aberdeen Group, Olivia was an editorial assistant at an educational publisher. She is a graduate of Emerson College where she majored in Writing, Literature, and Publishing.
