It can all get so overwhelming when the busy season hits. With so much work to get done and deadlines to beat, you will find yourself putting in long hours in what seems like an unending marathon. These busy periods can leave you with serious burnout and wreak havoc on your emotions if you don’t have a plan.
Even as your workload increases and you feel your mood taking a real beating, here is a one-size-fits-all plan with actionable tips to help with how to navigate during the busy season.
1. Create a Prioritized Plan
Over the weekend or first thing when you get to your workstation are perfect times to prioritize your goals and create a plan. Look at your current workflow and assess what you need to do first. Also, be sure to revisit your plan at the end of each day and adjust accordingly.
This approach will help you to avoid multitasking. Multitasking, if you don’t get it right, may not be productive, to say anything of the strain under which you’d be putting yourself trying to do everything at once. Therefore, checking items off your plan will give you the encouragement you need to move to the next item.
2. Reserve Work Time
Now may not be a great time to sit in on that meeting to help plan your colleague’s wedding or the year-end office party. Politely excuse yourself, and communicate apologies for your absence. If you need to get permission to miss out on, or push forward some meetings, be it with the business owner, or a vendor, then do so.
Above all, during this busy time, you just want to keep the number of meetings you are attending or scheduling to a minimum. This way, you can devote a good amount of time in your day to being productive while catching up on and completing any pending work.
3. Set Task Appointments
It’s not enough to reserve some time on your calendar for a specific task. What you want to do is to go ahead and set a task appointment.
In other words, block out everything else for this slot on your calendar and concentrate on the task at hand. This may mean turning off the notifications on your email and phone to avoid distractions. Additionally, you can politely let other team members know that you will not be available for consults for the next few hours. Take this time to pour yourself into the work before you, and you will no doubt make some significant progress with it.
4. Delegate
You can only do so much by yourself. Make a point to include others. There is no doubt other personnel may be able to help you with some of your workloads. However, while they may not be able to do it exactly as you would – with some guidance, and an insight into what is expected, they may pleasantly surprise you with what they deliver. So, let team effort help you navigate during the busy season, and you can get to the finish line together.
5. Feed Off Group Morale
Feeling connected to other team members and having a sense of community undoubtedly adds to that feeling of job satisfaction. During those busy times, you can benefit greatly from feeding off of each other’s good vibes and positive energy.
In this case, you don’t even have to share your workload. It’s simply about tapping into the positive group morale and feeling reassured that you can all rely on each other.
6. Schedule a Break
It’s never a good idea to work for long hours without a break. You are more than likely to lose focus, not to mention the physical and mental strain you will be subjecting yourself to if you don’t take a break.
For instance, catch infotainment on the break room signs. You can spend a few minutes catching some sporting action on the screens or watch the news and see what’s happening. Didn’t get a chance to open that email with details about the end-of-year office party? Get the highlights on the digital signs.
There is so much that you can do on your scheduled break. Firstly, you can take a walk. It will help you stretch out your feet, and it’s great for clearing your head. Secondly, if you are into music, find a great spot, plug in your earphones, and let the music carry you into that relaxing headspace. Further, run through your breathing exercises. Call a loved one and share a hearty moment. Rest assured that you will be reinvigorated after the break.
Wrapping Up
To sum up, you can successfully navigate the busy season with a few tips and tricks, as highlighted. In a word, you can avoid burnout and have a better experience during even the busiest seasons by optimizing your time and taking mental and physical breaks in between.
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