Recharging Your Career Batteries This Holiday Season

Every year it seems like our lives are busier than ever before.

We’re online almost 24/7, available to pretty much everyone at all times, and our to-do lists seem to be never-ending. As your well-deserved holiday approaches, you might be feeling unproductive, unmotivated, tired, and lacking the mental capacity to do anything much at all.

Here are some simple (and even quite enjoyable) things that you can do to replenish your energy and focus over the holiday break, to ensure your career is in tip-top shape:

UNPLUG

Don’t let work seep into your holiday break. Compulsively checking your emails and social media has repeatedly been shown to hinder productivity, focus, and creativity – and we need all of that good stuff! Your holiday is a perfect opportunity to unplug and give yourself some space from the online world.

GOT A HOME OFFICE? CLOSE IT.

If you have a home office, do something to create a strict divide between home and work like shutting the door to the office or not looking at your email. With the number of devices we all use, it can be all too easy to get sucked into work while on holiday – and you may not even realise it’s happening. Switch off push notifications, and take a break away from your work phone! Yes, you have my permission to do so.

DO SOMETHING NON-ROUTINE

Our regular work routines can cause us stress (even before we get to the office). So how do we de-stress? Disrupt your usual routine – go on, I dare you. Have a sleep in, eat ice cream for breakfast, go to a late night movie. Disrupting your regular routine can actually increase creative thinking – so branch out and do something fun with friends or family.

RECHARGE

Our lives are busier than ever before, and we’re somehow getting by on less sleep than ever (we’re keeping baristas busy, that’s for sure). We’re fooling ourselves if we think that lack of sleep isn’t affecting us. Relationships, health, productivity at work – it’s all negatively impacted by chronic lack of sleep. Leading up to your holiday, it’s likely you will find you’re getting to bed later and later, trying to tie up the loose ends at work and squeeze in late night Santa shopping.

All you want for Christmas is a great big sleep…? Yeah, me too.

Use the holidays to not only catch up on sleep, but set up some good sleep habits for when you return.

THINK ABOUT NEXT YEAR

Whether or not you’re planning to look for a new job, the Christmas holidays are the perfect time to catalogue your achievements and update your CV.

Before you go back to work, take a few minutes to sit down and think about your goals for the year – personal and professional. Where do you want to be within the next 1, 3, or even 5 years? Are you planning on making any major life decisions next year? It’s great if you can actually think about these things weekly, however, the holidays are a great time to assess your goals and take the next-year-bull by the horns!

This one might sound like too much work, but don’t let it stress you out! It will probably (like most things) take way less time than you think.

Sometimes, you have to slow down to speed up. If you have a hard time relaxing, you may need to jolt your subconsciousness into recognising you are on holiday. Slow down, enjoy your time away from work, and try and relax (I know, it’s easier said than done). Your career will thank you for it next year!

Unfortunately, we are now saddled with the terrible task of being on leave over the holiday period. This was not by choice and completely forced on us. We have to put up with going to the beach, sipping cool drinks, spending time with loved ones and of course relaxing a lot. Have a great Christmas and an epic New Year, and we will see you soon. Keep an eye out for the best bits from the blog this year, winging their way to your inbox soon!