These days it seems that there are just way too many demands made on our time. We’d like the holiday season to be a joyful period, but add holiday shopping, meals to cook, relatives to see ON TOP OF what we already need to get done and it can turn stressful pretty quickly.
Since the demands aren’t going away any time soon, I have learned to be as deliberate as I can about determining what is truly important, and how I want to spend my time. We all want to accomplish those things at work that really make a difference; and we all want to make space in our lives to be present for the people who matter to us and the interests we are committed to outside of work.
Here are Five Steps to consider this month, for managing the work that needs to be done, and enjoying the Holiday Season.
Start work early. While everyone else is spending that first hour nursing their coffee and muffin, you have an even better chance of getting things done — and enabling yourself to finish up your work day at a normal hour.
Figure out what your most productive time is, and guard it ferociously. Most of us work in an office setting, where the constant stream of interruptions reduces the quality of work and allows us to finish only half of what we could. Schedule at least one hour of uninterrupted time and turn off the phone, ignore emails, shut your door. Dedicate that hour to working on your top priorities and you’ll accomplish two or three times what you could otherwise.
Don’t waste your time. There’s almost always time to get the most important things done, unless we fill our days with unimportant things. Two ways we tend to waste our time: 1) focusing on the things that are quick, easy, and enjoyable first and 2) being distracted by what is “urgent” rather than “important”. How often do we shift our focus away from our own important goals and priorities in order to accommodate someone else’s loud demands? Decide what tasks are most important to accomplish and then focus on those things and ignore, delegate, or work around the others.
Maintain a healthy routine. From the traditions of Ayurveda, to the advice of those who coach athletes and other top performers comes a pretty standard set of instructions: Don’t go to bed too late and do get enough sleep; eat a balanced diet and don’t overeat; avoid excessive drinking; get sufficient exercise. A good reason to stick to a routine MOST of the time is that you’ll just feel better, get more done, and be in much better shape to truly overindulge when those not-to-be-missed occasions for holiday revelry arise.
When work is done, it’s done. For those of us who are in sales, run our own companies, believe “There are certain things that only I can do” — or all three — this can be a challenge. But one of the great benefits of working efficiently and well, is that when it is time to shut the door on work, and play: YOU CAN PLAY. Give your attention fully to the people and activities you care about. Enjoy everything that is important to you about the holidays and put the phone away. Go for a long walk with your dog, read something for pure pleasure, sleep in late with your loved one, cut your relatives some slack, call friends who live far away, spend some time doing nothing at all.
