What to do when things slow down
Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash
It's easy to feel like the work is never-ending. You're stuck in overdrive, working hard to complete that project by the deadline.
Or you've got multiple projects all at different stages and you're moving as fast as you can. It doesn’t seem like it will ever let up.
And this year? It's been more like hyper-drive. You may never have felt so busy and tired for so many months on end.
But in most workplaces there are also times when the workload begins to ebb a bit. If you keep your eye out, you can spot these moments, take a deep breath, and poke your head above water, even if for a bit. But when that happens it can be hard to know what to do with yourself. You’re so used to go-go-go, that you need to take a beat to figure out what to do with yourself when you aren’t fighting fires.
The holiday season is often one of these slower periods. While this year no one's out of town, people are still taking time off. (Could you?) Annual reviews are taking place. And not too many deals are being made. Look around. Could you slow down too?
Often I find that we look back at the slower periods (from the middle of a busy period, no doubt) and feel that we didn’t exactly take advantage of that time.
Most of us want to be productive, even when the pressure is off. So, let me share a few ways that you can make the most out of the slower times, to set yourself up for success during the busier times. (Cause they're coming!):
Purge/Declutter
Clear Off Your Desk - Put everything in its place. Put that extra stapler back in the supply closet where it belongs. Straighten, neaten, tidy and toss.
Remove Paper - Get rid of all that paper that’s been accumulating. File, scan and/or shred.
Unsubscribe from all those marketing emails that are cluttering up your inbox and not providing you with any value. (Try Unroll.me to streamline the process.)
Organize
Digitize! - Have you still got a lot of paper hanging around? It’s never been easier to digitize. Most printers have a scanner. If you have an Android phone you can scan to PDF directly from the Google Drive app. If you’re on iOS there are plenty of great scanning apps (Scanbot or Scanner Pro are both are highly rated and connect with Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.)
Organize Digital Files - Is your desktop a mess of document icons? Do you have a folder structure that has a HUGE “misc.” folder? Do you not have a folder structure at all? Clean up (or create) your folder structure and give those docs place a to call home. (Or, if you're a "searcher" instead of a "navigator", then put it all in one folder, or in Google Drive so you can search without visual clutter on your desktop.)
Organize Email - Are your labels, tags, and/or folders working for you? Take some time to clean them up. Automate labeling of emails by setting up filters and auto-applying labels.
Prepare For Your Performance Review - Create an email label/tag called “performance” so that you can tag anything you want to include in your annual self-review (kudos you receive from others, emails you send yourself to remember your accomplishments, etc.). Doing so will make next year’s review process a breeze.
Tackle the Backlog
Get to Inbox 0 - It’s elusive, I know. It can feel like an overwhelming feat. But you can do it. There’s no better time than a slow period at work to make it happen. (Not sure it's possible? Here's how to get there. And here's how to stay there.)
Schedule a Productivity Power Hour (or Day) - We’ve all got tasks on our list that just aren’t as important as the rest of our work. And those things can start to pile up. Schedule an hour, or a day, and knock them all off your list.
Reflect
Reflect on the busy period you just emerged from:
What practices or habits made the busy time feel even more overwhelming?
What systems seemed rather inefficient?
On your most stressful days, what was going on?
Take the time to really think back and figure out what you can do now to help yourself later. Maybe you need to improve communication with a certain team or coworker. Maybe your information/resources weren’t always up to date. Reflect on the challenges so that you can work on the solutions.
Set Goals/Priorities
What’s Next? - It’s hard to think about the future when we are treading water in the present. (And it's also much harder this year to think about the future, when the pandemic is making planning feel futile.) But now you’ve got a little room to think. So think.
What do you want to do, learn or become over the next several months or year? Do a little research to figure out the next steps and make an action plan. Figure out what you need to do each day or week to make your goal a reality.
A big decision on the horizon? Start a list of pros and cons. Put your thoughts on paper. Start narrowing down the options and pick a direction.
Keep, Start, Stop
Yes, we're still in a pandemic, but with vaccines on the horizon we're also starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
When this thing's finally over:
What do you want to keep doing? What's been serving you well?
What do you want to start doing? What are you excited to try?
And what do you want to stop doing? What have you been relieved to be missing?
Relax
I know I said I was going to give you tips about how to be productive in the slow times, so maybe you’re thinking “what is she talking about?”. But, taking breaks has been proven to help us improve both our creativity and productivity. In fact, I wrote a whole blog post about it that I won’t rehash, but you are welcome to read it here. Bask a little bit in the slowness.
(And if you're feeling like there's no time to relax, and that it's going to be just as busy over these next few weeks as the last several months, remember that at the very least you won't be managing your kids’ Zoom meetings as well as your own during winter break!)