How to Keep Going Even Though it’s the End of the Year!

Productivity plummets in December. Full of parties, public holidays and the almost inevitable food and booze hangovers, December is a month where goals are rarely achieved and things are often allowed to slip.

This lack of productivity is not a good thing for the business, obviously, but it’s also not a good thing for you personally. After all, who wants to go back to work in January to face a whole month’s backlog of work because you spent December putting things off? What kind of start is this to a New Year- particularly if you’ve vowed to hit some career goals in 2016?

So, without being all Grinchy about it, how do we ensure that we maintain productivity in the lead-up to Christmas?       It’s not about cancelling parties and hiding the Santa hats, rather it’s about giving yourself the best fighting chance to start next year on top.

1. Make a plan. List all the things you want to get done in December. Believe me, when you hit those goals, you’ll be able to shut down your computer and go on holidays with sense of pride (and relief.) You won’t spend a second thinking about work over the break because you won’t have dug a hole for yourself for when you get back.

2. Dig into your reserves of energy. Yes, you’re tired-we all are in December- but if you can dig deep and find a last burst of energy, your dedication will serve you well. Putting effort in now will not only put you on the front foot in January, but also you’ll find you make an extremely good impression on your higher-ups if you keep working when all around you are eating mince pies and hitting the metaphorical snooze button.

3. Choose one or two events over December that you really want to have fun at. The rest, drive to so you can’t indulge too much, and vow to get away early. If you’re not driving, pre-book a taxi so you don’t waver. Use your time at work events wisely- speak to the right people and make a good impression.

4. Bear in mind that losing momentum on a project is hugely counter-productive. You may think it’s just a matter of putting things off and doing them in January instead, but it’s not as simple as that. It actually takes much longer to restart a project than it does to keep going- this is why multi-tasking really doesn’t work. When we stop working on a project, our brains then have to re-familiarise with it later, taking time to ‘warm up’. By ‘dropping’ a project for a few weeks over December, you’ll waste valuable time later getting back into the project. Not only that, but if this project involved clients or new business, then you have lost that valuable sense of immediacy, and possibly even damaged your professional reputation by letting things slide.

5. Wrap things up where you can, but don’t fret over it. I mentioned that if you let things drop over December, your clients may think poorly of you. But that’s not taking into account the very frequent problem of struggling to get clients- or managers and colleagues- to get things done in December! It can be frustrating when you’re wanting to hit goals but everyone else is already mentally on vacation and might not be interested in that proposal/query/email you sent them. You can only do what you can. Get as much as you can done- but as they say…if you can’t beat them, grab a champers, put on the silly hat, and join them.

Merry Christmas!

Cheryl and the GSR2R Team