… so you can enjoy holidays and relax MORE.
If you have been following me, you know I am a work-life balance evangelist, even for one of the busiest professions – lawyers.
But the secret to helping my clients find work-life balance in almost impossible scenarios is my strategy that is based on a belief: in work-life balance, work comes before life.
Let me explain how it pertains to the holiday season. If you want to enjoy uninterrupted time off, worry less about your work and really have the ability to recover after a difficult year, then it’s very hard to imagine that when you have a 6 feet long to-do list of unfinished business, no real priorities, unmanaged fires popping up in your case load and no clear next steps.
As next week is the last work week before the holidays, you are still in time to prevent that and set yourself up for guilt-free time off with peace of mind, satisfaction, and only one intention: to chill till 2024.
Here are my 3 TOP STRATEGIES (and maybe a bonus) on how to still achieve that!
- WORKLOAD & TO-DO LIST AUDIT
This is the first step. Gather all of your tasks to have a clear workload overview. Review them and prioritize critical tasks for pre-holiday attention. Set realistic deadlines, and specify what you will do after the holidays. Then focus fully on completing the high-priority tasks.
- RISK MANAGEMENT
Try to anticipate potential emergencies or critical issues that may arise during holidays. Develop contingency plans or (if relevant) provide clear instructions to your colleagues on how to handle such situations – such as next steps, main issues, list of documents or relevant contacts.
- COMMUNICATION
Managing your workload is crucial. But, for an uninterrupted vacation, others need to play their part as well. Make sure to communicate the status and timeline of the workload or caseload with your team, your management, and clients – to manage expectations and ensure a smooth return to work after the holidays.
BONUS – POST VACAY WORK
As part of the preparations, also prepare your post-holiday work schedule and to-do list. To allow for a smooth transition back to your routine and to ensure you get back on track without overwhelm, make sure to schedule a ‘buffer’ period between your holidays and your first day back!
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