Make the final weeks of the year your most productive

From flexible routines to encouraging your team to take regular breaks, finding a healthy work-life balance is key to you and your team's success. Vanessa Taylor, Head of Marketing at realestate.co.nz, shares her thoughts on how to make the most of the last few weeks of the year.  

 

More than spring cleaning your home 

It’s not just our home that needs to be spring cleaned, it’s our workspaces and minds too. Carry out a simple workspace declutter by filing everything you haven’t used in the last month and creating clear space.

It is refreshing to clear everything off your desk, give it a good wipe down and rearrange your desk items. Ensure you clean up your to-do list also, consider going from hard copy to digital.

Always keep a glass of water or drink bottle within an arm’s length, add a plant to your desk to help with air quality and re-engage with a book that inspires you.

I have just bought a succulent for our office (low maintenance) and read Dr. Libby's ‘Beauty from the inside out' - a great book to remind me how to eat and drink over the silly season that's fast approaching.

 

Take a break

Getting to November can be a stretch, with dark winter nights and no long weekends, but we are now on the other side. If you haven’t taken a break during the year, you may need one.

Perhaps it’s time to contemplate a long weekend and encourage your team to do the same. Breaks allow us to compartmentalise our work lives from our personal lives, which is healthy.

It also means we come back to the office with a fresh perspective and a creative mind. Breaks can happen during the day too, remember to step away from your desk to eat lunch, go for a stroll around the block or simply remove yourself from your desk to read through documents.

A fresh space can spark those ‘lightbulb moments’. You will often find me proof-reading all over the office, chairs by the window are a great place to sit and read.

 

Sense check

It is a timely reminder to sit down with your team and check in on goals which were set at the beginning of the year, so you can achieve anything outstanding during the last months.

This is a good time to also motivate colleagues and remind them of any incentives you put in place earlier on in the year.

Also, check in on your own goals, how are they tracking? What final push do you need to tick off a successful 2017?

 

Let the planning begin

Now you know what success looks like for 2017, what do you want to achieve in 2018? It’s well documented that successful people plan, so what can you do to put your best foot forward?

Are there things you didn’t quite achieve this year that you could focus on next year? Is November too long to go without a holiday? 

Plant those seeds now, then over the summer break brainstorm how you’d like your 2018 to look. That way, you’ll set yourself up for an even more successful year. 

 

Vanessa Taylor is realestate.co.nz’s Head of Marketing. Vanessa believes there is no such thing as 'because that's the way we do it'. "Let's break the process, keep it simple, automate if possible and do it all for our customers". Connect with Vanessa on LinkedIn here.