4 ways to improve your work-life balance during the holidays

The holiday season is the time to recharge and enjoy the fruitful labor of a year of hard work with family and friends so you can come back strong in the new year. Yet this time of year is also one of the busiest periods for most professionals, with both work and personal life competing for attention, effort, and time. It can be difficult to balance holiday preparations and work needs, but it is not an impossible feat. Here are 5 practices that you can incorporate into your life over the coming weeks to achieve a healthy holiday work–life balance:

1. Plan and know what to prioritize and what can be postponed

The key to not feeling overloaded with responsibilities is prioritization. Start with listing ‘must-do’ items and decide how much time it would take to complete them. Once you have determined the non-negotiables, start focusing on tasks that are not time-sensitive and those that do not require your involvement so you can delegate them. Then, move on to your activities where you juggle holiday-related tasks and personal commitments.

Another technique you could use when determining which tasks to prioritize is visualizing with Eisenhower’s Matrix, also known as Eisenhower Box or Urgent-Important Matrix. This framework categorizes tasks into four-quadrant boxes, taking into account how urgent (tasks that must be done ASAP) and how important (contributing to long-term goals, mission and values) the tasks are: 

• Urgent and Important: get these tasks done right away

• Urgent but not Important: assign them to someone else

• Important but not Urgent: schedule them for a later time

• Neither urgent nor important: either drop them or put them on the backburner

Now that you have a clear idea of your task log, it is time to put everything on the calendar. Schedule the unchangeable first like client meetings, volunteer events, and work parties and save items like shopping for last. That way, you will have a better sense of what you need to accomplish through the days and weeks of the holiday period and feel less stressed and more in control. Do set some contingency timeslots to deal with unexpected changes at work and in your personal life.

It is also important to clarify your priorities with colleagues and upper management. Since everyone’s schedule would be hectic these upcoming weeks, it is crucial to reach a consensus on tasks that would require collaboration and coordinate meetings and touchpoints accordingly. Transparent communications and expectation settings ensure a more seamless workflow for everyone involved.

2. Create boundaries between work and personal time

Once your holiday working calendar is established, stick to it! Most of us have a set of mandated hours to complete, others might have more flexibility in our schedule. In any case, working overtime or taking work home can do more harm than good. Be mindful while working, don’t attempt to multitask your holiday to-do list and vice versa clocking out of work means no checking and responding to messages. Setting and communicating your boundaries with colleagues will allow you to get more done while minimizing the guilt.

3. Make time for some exercise

For those who lead a sedentary work life, it is easy to get slipped away and forget about the small yet impactful movement breaks. Studies have shown that moderate physical activities benefit both affective experience and cognitive performance, on top of the numerous physical health benefits that it already brought. A simple 30-minute daily walk does wonders to boost your mood, relieve your stress level, and subsequently improve your concentration.  

4. Take time for yourself

What sparks joy for you outside of the workplace? Don’t neglect your personal goals, no matter big or small, as fulfilling them can rekindle your spark, and that trickles to other areas in your life, including work. Be it retail therapy, going to wine & paint night, exploring local cafes, catching up on reading, volunteering etc. remember to dedicate some quality time to yourself. Especially during the busiest time of year, juggling between family gatherings and increasing workload, don’t forget to give yourself the grace to unplug, regroup your thoughts and clear your mind. You will come back feeling more engaged with a fresher outlook and better focus.