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During the holidays, both your personal and professional to-do lists can often feel never-ending. With gatherings to attend, shopping to do, projects to wrap up and tasks to try to complete before you take off on PTO, finding a way to get it all done can seem impossible. To help ease your work-life balance during the busy holiday season, it’s key to get organized at work and put systems into place to help you bring your workload down to a more manageable level.
To help, 11 business leaders from Rolling Stone Culture Council each discuss one tip they’d offer business leaders for how to tackle a long list of competing priorities during this time of year and get a little more enjoyment out of the festive season.
Assign Your Tasks Levels of Priority
Making a set of priorities and layering those priorities are key. You essentially only work on the most high-priority tasks at all times and don’t focus on low-priority tasks. That way, work-life balance is easier to achieve and the time spent with loved ones is increased. – Ali Aksu, Untold
Empower Your Team to Help
I find that team members want to help and own their work, and giving them the latitude to do this helps build a culture of support, proactivity, engagement and accountability. It’s hard to get everything done, and having team members who can jump in and help is truly wonderful. – Zena Harris, Green Spark Group
Get Clarity Around Your Goals
As much as I love crossing an item off my list, I have learned that my to-do lists usually consist of a litany of small tasks and several giant goals. When I can clarify which one goal is most vital to the company’s success and which of the tasks are most critical to achieving that goal, I usually feel much less stressed about which tasks are getting done and which are not. – Aili McGill, Nickel Plate Arts
Complete Tasks Based on Urgency
When to-do lists start to get overwhelming, list tasks to be completed in columns based on urgency, not necessarily in the chronological order in which they were received. Tag tasks by priority with proposed or ideal deadlines — due end of month, end of week, end of day — to minimize the stress of trying to get everything done at once. – Allie Gruensfelder, Trendsetter Media & Marketing
Make a List of What Not to Do Instead
Make a list of what not to do. These are likely time-wasters and things that are not crucial during this season. Follow that list to keep your priorities in focus. – Bridget Hilton, Experiential Billionaire
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Tackle Tasks by Category
Task bunching is key for efficiency and great for results when you have a long list of to-dos. Write down all the tasks that need to be done, organize them by category, import them into a project management software and then tackle the list by each category. – Kice Akkawi, Treblemonsters
Take a Weekly Inventory
Take inventory on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Journal in the mornings and write down the items that absolutely cannot fall by the wayside. Make a “Must Do” list and a secondary list, and then go at it bit by bit. Don’t forget to schedule time to relax and recharge as well! – Victoria Kennedy, Marisa Johnson
Separate the Must-Haves From the Nice-To-Haves
It comes down to ruthless prioritization. Separate your tasks by what are must-haves and what are nice-to-haves. Also, try to quantify the impact of each task. How many employees can be helped or what is the upside potential inherent in each task? Make sure you prioritize what must be done and work on the most impactful task first. Additionally, make sure others are not held up by certain tasks — do those first to keep it moving. – Harrison Bard, Custom Cones USA
Keep Inspiration on Hand
For every grueling task, there’s an opportune moment to find motivation. Seek out and gather all the tools you may need to attack any item on your list — anything from inspirational podcasts and self-help books to having lunch with a mentor or inspiring colleagues. You can even look to yourself by referring to your journals, vision boards and personal mission statements. – Cynthia Johnson, Bell + Ivy
Knock Out the High-Stress Items
The core rule is to take the hardest and most important item and start with that. This takes the pressure off the long list of items and pinpoints what is truly important. Things get stressful when you let multiple smaller items build into a mountain of work. However, if you start knocking off the highest-stress items, it will make everything else seem like less work! – Nathan Green, New Level Radio
Create Space for Yourself
When you slow down and take time for meditation, self-care, creative expression and community you’re actually speeding up your productivity. You go from a half-empty cup led by the logical mind to “just keep pushing” to an overflowing cup led by the heart. This allows you to find alignment with what priorities truly matter, build up an abundance of energy and fall into the flow. – Lyle Maxson, GeniusX
