The Holiday Burnout is Real

The holidays are approaching quickly, bringing joyous festivities and annual activities. The holidays also bring a long list of extra tasks. These to-do list items are often added onto an already full stack of obligations, increasing your stress. Avoid the holiday burnout at work with these simple tips and get back to enjoying your time away from the office this season.

Be Realistic

Before you commit to going to any events or taking on extra projects, consider what your schedule will really allow. With so many activities happening in the festive season, you can easily get caught up in wanting to do everything. However, by limiting your schedule to what you can really do, you’ll be able to enjoy those moments more and have better results because of it. Be willing to say no to extra activities and prioritize your schedule over superfluous obligations.

Prep Your Workspace

Before taking your holiday break, go through your desk, emails, and voicemail. Clear your desk of documents waiting for your review. As you look through papers and files, put them in several piles based on priority. What can wait until after the holiday break, what can be thrown out, and what needs attention before you leave? Sort through as much as you can and get as many tasks completed as you can. The goal is to prevent having to do work while you are on your holiday break.

Review your inbox and organize emails based on priority. Make a file for email that can respond to after the break, those you can forward onto someone else, and those that need your attention prior to leave. Send an email to contacts and clients letting them know you will be out of the office for the holidays and when you will return. Be sure to mention that you will have limited access to your email while you are gone. This will drastically reduce the amount of email you come back to in the new year!

Clear your voicemail box and record a new greeting letting callers know when you will be out of the office and provide an alternate way to contact you.

Delegate When Possible

In all areas, delegate responsibilities to others when you can. For a lot of people, delegating is a difficult skill to master. We feel obligated to take on extra projects and don’t trust others to complete tasks on projects, so we take it all on ourselves. This is an unhealthy and unproductive habit in general, but especially around the holidays. Go through your to-do list and give over tasks that can be done by other team members. You’ll be thankful in the long run.

Work Smarter Not Harder

Avoid the holiday burnout. Instead of increasing your workload to get your work done before this holiday season, think of smarter solutions. Outsource your recruiting and hiring tasks to Charles Foster. We will save you time, freeing your schedule so you can focus on more important tasks. Also, because of our large applicant pool, targeted recruiting resources and tools, and wide network, we will provide more qualified candidates that better match your job opening. Check us out and see how we can help you find the right one this holiday season!