Can’t you feel the holiday cheer? With December right around the corner, the world around us becomes a little more softer and significantly prettier with all the holiday decorations. The winter break will also mark an important part of the year—its end. While you may be planning ahead for all that you want to accomplish in the coming year, do not forget that this one is not over yet! You can still accomplish some of your leftover resolutions and goals.
To help you stay productive over the holidays, we’re sharing some helpful tips and tricks to balance all the holiday fun with your other responsibilities. Follow along and when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Day, you’ll welcome the new year with pride.
Make a To-Do List Before the Winter Break
Seriously, writing everything you have left to do is the first step to actually getting them done. Start with a brainstorm of all the pending work/commitments you have. Then, prioritize your brainstorm:
- What needs to be done first?
- What will take a lot of time to complete?
- How much effort will a certain task take?
- Do you need any external inputs to get your task done?
How you choose to weigh certain tasks is ultimately up to you, but keeping the above questions in mind can help keep from being blind-sided when the deadlines pass you by. After you complete your prioritizing, you will have a clear idea and plan to go about your pending tasks.
You can thank us for the relatively less stress you will be dealing with towards the end of the year. Hopefully, everything will be sorted before winter break start!
Start the New Year Early!
Whenever we start a new year, we start out with some goals and resolutions we may or may not end up reaching or fulfilling. Do not set yourself up for disappointment! The holidays are a great time to set yourself and the others around you for success in the coming year.
Winter break is a time for relaxation and rejuvenation. We believe that it’s also a time for growth. With the extra free time on your hands, explore new opportunities you may find fruitful the coming year.
Some of the explorations you and your family could embark on:
- Learn or improve an important skill, talent, or hobby
- Go on a hike while describing your surroundings to each other or into a voice recorder
- Volunteer at your local homeless shelter
- Go thrift shopping and catalog some of the interesting items you come across
Here’s what all of these have in common. They are opportunities for you to grow intellectually, emotionally, and culturally. Actively engaging with your environment is an important ability that you can turn into a habit during the holidays.
Reflect on the Year
Growth does not come without introspection. When we fail to identify our miscalculations in the previous year, we are highly likely to repeat those same mistakes. However, it is not all negative! If we cannot identify and acknowledge the successes we have had in the previous year, it is highly unlikely we will continue such behavior.
To help you along your way, here are a few questions you can begin with:
- What did you do in the past year that makes you proud?
- What could you have done better?
- Is there a common factor within all your successes?
- What about within all your failures?
- What were your goals for this year?
- Did you achieve them?
Furthermore, although reflection is important, reflection without appropriate corrective action is useless. If you’re having trouble understanding certain concepts in your classes, there’s a tool for that. If you want to improve at a hobby like painting or guitar, there are lessons for that. Take action when you have that extra free time. Take action during winter break!
Connect with Your Loved Ones
Finally, spend time with people who love you and you love best! Your productivity increases when you are happier. Being around the people who make you happy—whether you are interacting or not—can help you finish tasks much faster.
Fortunately, with the year winding to an end, you will have more opportunities to see and connect with your loved ones. In fact, you can apply the above tips with your loved ones. Whether they are children, friends, family members or colleagues, bettering oneself during the holidays is a task they can all complete.
Share the love, the kindness, and the positive change with everyone around you! That’s the true winter break spirit!
Let us know how you are staying productive over winter break down below!