Lights, chilly weather, candy canes, and Christmas songs playing over the radio mean it’s the last month of the year and everything is coming due; your final reports, last sales goals, and employees taking time off. That also means your customers are scrambling in and out of shops and perusing the internet to get all the gifts on their lists. Needless to say, while it’s the most wonderful time of the year, at work, it’s the wildest time of the year.
Before you get sick from the lists of to-dos at work piled on top of the letters to Santa for your kids, try these stress-reducing tips in your job to make this season delightful.
Organize Your Priorities
- Use a calendar like one provided in Outlook or Google or another software to schedule chunks of time, hour by hour, for each of your most important tasks. It’s easy to cram the schedule full thinking that it will take half the usual time to finish running and analyzing sales reports when nothing has changed. Likely you have some idea of how much time each task will take so use your experience to make realistic time allotments and goals.
- Keep a clear picture of your highest priorities for each day. Whether it’s a software like Trello or Kanban or going old-fashioned with a sticky note on your computer, use a method of prioritizing that keeps your activities aligned with your major goals.
- Cut down on habits that distract from your most important priorities. This means closing Facebook and resisting the impulse to check your email every ten minutes. Use your best friend, the calendar, to allot time for checking email or social media.
Pace Yourself
- When was the last time you kept driving your car after the gas tank was empty? My guess is you couldn’t get very far without stopping to refuel. Human beings are the same way. If you don’t stop for a few minutes to rest and refuel, your productivity will eventually grind to a halt. Short breaks go are effective and really can be short.
Try
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- Taking 3 minutes in the restroom to do simple standing stretches like touching your toes and gentle spinal twists (can be done other places but when privacy is preferred, a restroom stall is great)
- Eating a small healthy snack like fruit, nuts, or veggies (and go easy on holiday treats to make sure your body is nourished and won’t crash every other hour)
- Leaning back in your chair, stretching/rolling out your wrists and feet for two minutes after long periods of typing
- Taking a water break that makes you stand up and walk for a couple of minutes
Leave work at work
- Tidy up your desk and set goals for the next day so you leave with a sense of conclusion to the workday rather than a frazzling mess to come back to.
- Don’t vent about all your tasks to loved ones at home. Let them go when you walk out of the office doors and spend the time you have at home focused on fun, relaxing activities. Open gifts from family and friends, not upsetting work emails during holiday celebrations.
- Listen to music on the way home. Yes, you’re allowed to crank up the old familiar tunes and sing along if that helps you leave work behind so you can enjoy time off the clock with your family and friends.
Get tools that cut down on time spent on mundane tasks
If you find yourself spending excessive time on mundane tasks while other projects loom over your shoulder, take a little time to research tools to reduce time spent on these stressful work tasks. For example, you shouldn’t have to sit and crunch numbers for payroll when you need to take care of ordering and managing inventory for the holiday rush. Using effective software to take care of such tasks as employee time tracking and payroll can lighten your burden and make the season bright.