It’s that time of year again, where the holidays consume more of your time than daily life. Even work takes a backseat to the holiday office party or the holiday gift exchange. It’s impossible to get all your work done and feel comfortable to enjoy the actual holiday time. Luckily we dug up some helpful advice from a previous blog post By Robin Madell US News: On Careers blog.
4 Ways to Find Work-Life Balance During the Holidays
1. Schedule a walking meeting. Exercise is a proven stress buster, yet it’s often the first thing to go during the holiday season, edged out by festivities and obligations. Maren Kate Donovan, CEO of Zirtual, notes that if you’re feeling stressed from the pressures, it’s a fair assumption that many of your clients and colleagues will be in the same boat.
2. Think of alternatives to travel. While many people equate the holidays with cross-country flights packed like sardines, the rigmarole of holiday travel often infuses us with the spirit of bah humbug. While many people feel they have to travel during the holidays to get together with extended family they don’t often see, the holidays may be better spent limiting travel or calling it off completely, according to author April Masini.
3. Don’t power through it. Perfectionist personalities may fall back on all-or-nothing thinking during the holidays, which transforms potentially fun times into misery. With so much to do in only a few short weeks (or sometimes days), you’ll have to make decisions about which priorities really matter and what you need to let go.
4. Say “no” more often. In the spirit of the holidays and giving back to others, it can be even more difficult than usual to decline requests. But Charlie Harary, professor of management and entrepreneurship at Yeshiva University’s Syms School of Business in New York, notes that everything you take on when you’re too busy at this time of year has a cost.