11 Ways You Can Manage Work, Family, and Friends to Get Ahead During This Holiday Season  

Staying productive during the holidays is often a challenge for many who attempt to balance family, friends, school, and personal obligations throughout the season. Colleagues take vacations, clients postpone key projects, and most of the industries quiet down and ride out the rest of the year. But these slower paced six to eight weeks can propel you ahead, if used wisely. While most will embrace the shift in the workforce speed, you could be among those who plan more strategically and utilize the extra hours to drive success all year long.  Here are some tried and true tips for leveraging your time to ring in the new year fully motivated and ahead of the pack.

• Work through the holidays. Don’t be tempted to take days here and there; instead, work your usual 9-5, but take your lunches and leave on time to accomplish holiday chores like filling out holiday cards, running quick errands, and even shopping online for those gifts on your list.

• Ship gifts to the office or choose the order online and pick up in-store options. Not having to worry about being home to sign for packages or to be concerned about doorstep theft, will alleviate some of your holiday stress. Also, choosing websites with brick and mortar locations en route to your office will help you streamline your shopping further.

• Organize your home at night and your office during the day. Often, we neglect our office environment when we have other demands, but keeping your workspace organized will help you be more efficient in your personal space, as well. Make a to-do list for each week to tackle those office chores that often get postponed, like:

• • • Organizing your email folders and inbox;
    • Cleaning out your prior year’s files and creating new folders for the new year ahead;
    • Finalizing your annual budgets and submitting year-end expenses and account payables;
    • Purging outdated reading materials;
    • Initiating a new calendar with known deadlines and work that has fixed annual deadlines; and
    • Actually cleaning your work space—your phone, desktop, and computer all collect germs and dust, so the end of the year is a perfect time to reset your area, declutter, file, and clean.

• Schedule your new year’s doctors’ appointments in advance. Put your six-month dental cleanings, annual physicals, and any procedures and screeningson your calendar so you can plan around them before you are tempted to cancel them for other conflicts.

• Plan your vacations and coordinate with your partners/family/friends in advance. If vacations are scheduled, you are more likely to take them. You’ll be able to plan a restful and unique trip, rather than having the time sneak up on you and settling for whatever is available.

• Make a new year’s resolution. It sounds cliché, but most people don’t think about their personal and professional goals until pressed. Using the end of the year to reset your intentions helps keep you focused and on track. Establish at least one career goal and one personal goal, and then put some check-in points on your calendar to remind yourself to address them throughout the year.

• Get your finances in order. It is easy to just charge everything during the holidays and worry about the bills in January or February, but you will be much better served if you use the fourth quarter as a time not only to assess your retirement account, but also to check in on your savings and reaffirm your budget for the next 12 months. It might be time to increase your contribution to your 401k, or to assess your insurance policies to make sure you are still on track. If your car is old, you might consider eliminating collision coverage, or if your house appraisal has increased, you may need to elevate your coverage limits. Check to ensure that your insurance carriers still cover your preferred doctors, too. A quick review of your critical policies will save you money and time in the future.

• Organize your receipts and stubs. Tax season is just around the corner, so get ahead of this crunch time by creating a series of folders and organizing your receipts and paperwork. This will save you the time and frustration of searching for everything in April. Key folders to create include:
  • • Donations
    • Work stubs
    • Financial documents (home, taxes, retirement, and investment papers)
    • Work-related expenses (unreimbursed travel, car allowances, trips, purchases, etc.)
    • Bank slips (monthly savings and checking accounts, interest summary)
    • Health receipts (deductions can be made after a certain threshold, so if you have had health problems or procedures, it is worth calculating the totals to see if you can deduct anything)
    • Other income, rentals, interest payments/miscellaneous.

• Assess your supplies. It seems simple, but taking an assessment of commonly used office and home supplies can help you get ahead of situations when you are in a rush and run out of a critical item. The end of the year is the perfect time to refill staples, paper clips, folders, toner/ink, paper goods, batteries, light bulbs, etc. Also, replenish your emergency supplies like canned food, bottled water, and other gear needed for unexpected “survival situations.”

• Purge and donate. Go through your obviously outdated seasonal items and collect them in a bag to donate. This will help keep your closets in order and allow you to review the items you need to purchase the next time you go shopping (belts, white shirts, black pants, etc.).

• Have fun! We can get bogged down with getting things done to get through the holidays. Take time to enjoy this time of year! Plan to get together with friends you haven’t seen in a while for lunch or schedule an after-work drink with former or current colleagues. Plan at least one holiday-themed activity, like a tree lighting or a movie night, or start/continue a holiday tradition like volunteering to remind you of the real meaning of the season.

You can be both productive and happy during the holidays if you pause to make the most of the season. Getting your personal life and professional life in order will also create a peaceful and optimistic view for the new year ahead. So don’t fall into the trap of slowing down and checking out this holiday; instead, use your time to organize, plan, and enjoy, and let Santa take care of the rest!