5 Tips on Staying Productive This Festive Season
The arrival of Christmas makes it increasingly difficult to focus on your work; people are telling you what presents they want, you can smell the mulled wine and mince pies and it’s getting cold enough to want to stay at home all day. I have come up with some helpful tips you may like to follow in order to stay on top of your work and yet still enjoy the festivities!
- Have a plan and prioritise jobs
If you write down a list of everything you need to do, you’ll have less excuses to put things off. This should include a day to do Christmas shopping, any deadlines you need to meet and some “you” time. If you list your jobs in order of priority this will minimise the chance of you procrastinating, leaving you with time to plan family and shopping days around your work. - Tell people your plans
If you tell some friends or co-workers your plans, you will be more inclined to follow them through because people will know if you aren’t doing what you’re supposed to! This is kind of a form of self-reverse psychology…
3. Have a daily routine
This is similar to having a plan but more specific to what needs doing each day. Keeping to a daily schedule is another way of minimising the opportunities to procrastinate. Once you have completed everything you’re supposed to do for the day, you will feel better knowing exactly how much free time you have at the end of the day to kick back and relax.
4. Don’t be scared to say ‘no’
It can be very difficult to say no to a Christmas party invitation or you might feel too bad to turn down a trip to the pub with your friend, but sometimes you just need to take the hit and turn down the offers. If you are in the middle of a project and have a deadline to meet, you will have to find a nice way to say no to invitations and not take their reactions too personally.
5. Self-evaluate
Now that you have your days planned you are able to evaluate your work at the end of each week. Did you reach the goals you set? Is there anything you could have done better? If you do this every week you will be able to measure your levels of productivity and then work on what you might have done badly in the weeks to come. Finding new ways to grow and improve is always a very positive way to approach life, work, and the festive season..!
