It’s the time of year when everyone is scrambling at work and home. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed, two factors that can have cascading consequences. When uncontrollable factors add in even more disruptions (such as unexpected extreme winter weather in November) it’s tempting to cry uncle. You don’t have to nor is it necessary to purchase the latest of gadgets, gizmos, or apps to get back on track (though I wouldn’t mind if you purchased my planning grid). Here are three reminders on keeping the end-of-year frantic feeling under control.
- Get enough sleep. I know it’s hard. If you stay up late only because you want to complete “one more small thing” before a deadline, or your commute home took hours (instead minutes) and you need to head back to the office soon, you’ll soon find yourself in sleep debt. Try to get a full night’s sleep especially if you cut yourself short the night before. Curious to learn more? How to Get Better Sleep: The Beginner’s Guide to Overcoming Sleep Deprivation had a timely arrival to my inbox this week.
- Say no if a project doesn’t excite you. I know, I like to ask for the impossible. It’s difficult, but this is the best time of year to practice because chances are you may already have a legitimate conflict.
- Review-revise-review and you don’t need fancy gadgets to do it. A piece of paper with a list of tasks you accomplished today and need to finish tomorrow is a wonderful starting point. Expand from there and figure out what are the projects for those tasks. Spend some time to ask yourself how they’re progressing. Identify one quick (two minute) task you could do today so that tomorrow’s work will be easier (now go do it). Every night, review the list and make a plan for tomorrow. It may even help you sleep and not stress about what needs to be done.
I hope this short list of three tips helps you to focus on your important goals as the year-end season enters high gear next week.