If you do not have vacation time blocked off on the company schedule now for the end of the year, do not despair.  It seems everyone wants to have the holidays off, yet when we submit our annual vacation request, we may be turned down.  If you are glum over the prospect of limited holiday time off, console yourself with what you will actually be facing:

Reduced traffic
Quiet atmosphere
Limited interruptions
Greater concentration
Shortened hours
Lower stress
Sympathy from others

Throughout the year, it is easy to be swept up by the crisis du jour.  You may be responding to constant interruptions, multitasking all the time.  There is often no opportunity to pause for thinking and planning.  More involved projects get set aside for a “better” time when you can concentrate.  Many times these delayed activities are the most “important” projects, the ones that will actually make a difference.  However since they did not have a deadline or an “Urgent” tag attached to them, they were shuffled aside.

Here is your chance to catch up. Rather than joining the throngs at the airports, jostling through overcrowded stores, or fighting for a spot on the lift line, enjoy the opportunity that is presented to you in the office.

• 51% of workers rate their productivity as just as high during the holiday week.
• 25% say it is even higher. (Harris Interactive Survey)

What can you do that would make you feel energized for the new year?  After catching up on key projects, look around and see where organizing could help you be even more productive.  Areas to examine:

Daily Systems:  Do you have an effective system for handling all of your daily incoming items?  A good system allow you to easily prioritize each day and ensures that you will never overlook and opportunity or miss a deadline.

Desk:Only what you use on a regular basis needs to be close to you.  Remove the accumulation from the past year.

Email:  When was the last time you zeroed out your inbox?  Set up folders both for Daily Action items and for reference files.

Filing:Are your file folders stuffed and drawers overflowing?  Clean out unused, unneeded items.  Do you hesitate to file anything because you will never find it again?  A good program to help with that is the Paper Tiger filing system.

When you find yourself at the office during those holiday lulls, enjoy the peace and look forward to another time when you really need a break.  Hopefully it can be a time without peak fares, overbooked resorts, crowded slopes, and too many obligations.  Meanwhile you are organized and ready for a productive new year!