5 Preemptive Ways To Boost Productivity After The Holidays

It’s hard to believe another year has almost already come and gone.

Before you say goodbye to 2015, do your due diligence at work so you can relax during the holidays. That way, you can hit the ground running when you return in 2016.

Since the holidays are hectic, work can become brutal during the month of December. With that in mind, here are five tips you can employ to ensure you ace productivity after the holidays.

1. Take a day off to run your billion errands.

Everyone needs a day to run around town (or shop online) to grab gifts for family, friends and loved ones. You could do these chores on a weekend, but you’re competing against countless other folks doing the same thing.

Instead of squeezing your errands into evenings and weekends, consider taking off a random Tuesday earlier in the holiday season. That way, you can complete all or most of your shopping and errands early on in the month. When you’re at work, you can devote your energy to your job and not what you’re doing after clocking out.

2. Conquer your inclinations to procrastinate.

It can be tempting to slack off as the holidays approach. You might figure none of your clients really need any deliverables until after the holidays are over. You may as well take it easy knowing you’ll be slammed when you get back from your time off.

However, there’s a good chance you won’t want to work incredibly hard when you return from your holiday break either. So instead of procrastinating, try to get everything done you possibly can before you go on vacation. That way, you will have a smooth landing when you return from work.

3. Don’t bite off more than you can chew.

You may be tempted to say “yes” whenever a coworker or manager asks to add another task to your plate. It is the holiday season, after all, and you’d like to give back to the folks you care about.

While it’s a nice gesture, be careful not to take on more responsibilities than you can reasonably handle. You don’t want to inadvertently force yourself to have to work late hours because you have way too much to do — all because you volunteered.

4. Communicate directly with all of your clients.

By maintaining open lines of communication with your clients, all involved parties will know exactly what’s expected. In doing this, you won’t have to work 18-hour days before Christmas, for example, so you can wrap up a project your client really doesn’t need until January 15.

If, for whatever reason, you can’t get a firm answer as to what precisely your clients expect during the holidays, you could always under-promise and over-deliver.

5. Don’t stop exercising.

Exercise also promotes work productivity after the holidays. Though it might be hard to maintain your workout schedule when the days get shorter and the weather gets worse, by all means, don’t write off exercising altogether.

By keeping up with regular exercise, you can be confident you’ll have the energy necessary to work in overdrive during the holiday season if need be. What’s more, you won’t have to worry about putting on a bunch of weight that is typically associated with the baked sweets and other candies that seem to populate office kitchens this time of year.

By planning ahead and setting yourself up to succeed when you come back to the office after the holidays, you can rest comfortably knowing your boss, your coworkers and your clients will be thrilled with your efforts — even during a time when lots of folks traditionally drop the ball. With these tips, you can definitely conquer productivity after the holidays.