7 Year-End-Of-The-Year To-Dos That Everybody Forgets About
7 Year-End-Of-The-Year To-Dos That Everybody Forgets About
We’re so close to the holidays that I can smell (Buy Facebook Likes)the eggnog. For many professionals, the end-of-year tasks have been in full flow for the past few weeks.
A lot of us are working through this home stretch of the holidays until the customary celebrations dictate that we spend time with our loved ones and friends or have some much-needed R & R&R. I feel no excuse for not anticipating some time off. To relax and enjoy the holidays!
In the meantime, the world’s businesses are booming:
- The year’s budget, revenue, and profits are being reviewed…
- Tax documents are being prepared…
- Christmas sales and promotions have begun…
- the strategies for the coming year are being developed…
- New editorial calendars are being created…
- Performance reviews are being scheduled…
- The contracts of technology vendors are getting extended…
- Annual holiday greetings are delivered…
- The list continues and on. It’s a long list.
It’s a list of tasks that teams of all sizes and shapes each year. No matter how good or bad, most of us are used to it. The December lists are designed to close loose ends before moving into the year ahead, filled with fresh challenges and opportunities.
December-todos
So, I know that everyone is extremely busy right now. In addition, adding additional tasks to your list of tasks doesn’t seem like the most enjoyable idea.
But, as we went through our checklists during the last month, it dawned on me that a few additional tasks are relatively simple to complete that people might not contemplate during the holidays.
To share the love of being a part of it, I will run through some easy-to-follow steps that might be useful to your team’s annual checklist. Perhaps the future generations will be grateful to you in the future.
1. Backup Your Files In Multiple Places
I’m talking to smaller teams! You may not have an IT department that can manage to back all of your important files daily. This vital job will help you avoid the heartbreaking catastrophe of losing your digital files to theft, damage, or unplanned events like flooding!
(Ask any of us about the notorious Server Room Flood of ’12! Luckily, we were able to back up. #welaughaboutitnow). Utilize external hard drives and cloud services to save essential documents for business and client documents. Better safe than sorry.
2. Design the following year’s courses and organize Conferences
The fourth quarter of the year likely saw both you and the group working on your first campaign and the upcoming year’s editorial calendars.
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Now that the details are sorted out, you’ve got a time frame for when you’ll have the time for essential industry gatherings or finish that online course you’ve been looking at. Keep focusing on your professional and personal growth when you add these to your list of priorities.
3. Designate a person to fill in while you’re away
If you’re planning to take some extra days to take a break and relax from your work schedule, You should be aware of the people left in the office. It may be unrealistic to hand over all the responsibilities of an employee; however, having a single contact person in the case of an emergency is enough to ensure everyone is relaxed.
4. Set Boundaries through Automating Communications
Many top brands have established healthy boundaries during the Christmas season to let their teams recharge. Think about leveraging simple tools since it’s not a good idea to let customers or clients without response during the holiday season.
One of them is your autoresponder for emails, web forms, and chatbots available on the internet. These are all easy methods to keep the channels of communication open to your customers without delaying the joy of your holiday.
5. Make Your Devices Ready for your trip
In line with the type of job, you may need to be available for colleagues or customers during the holiday season. Instead of carrying around the laptop with the charger to each holiday party you attend. You can streamline specific work tasks by downloading essential workplace apps onto your phone.
Consider email client applications as well as calendar applications (e.g., Outlook) or communication apps (e.g., Slack), or prototyping tools (e.g., InVision). Remotely working without laptops is feasible!
6. Snooze Notifications
It may seem counterintuitive to the number 5 up there; however, time off from work is essential to getting ready for the new year ahead. Set the app’s settings to ensure that only urgent messages are sent through.
Find your equilibrium between taking time to enjoy the season and remaining accessible to your colleagues when it’s necessary.
7. Outsource your To-Do List (If You Need To!)
If there’s one thing that’s at risk during the hectic holiday season is your mental well-being. The demands of professional and personal life are at their peak towards the end of the year. This stress can be detrimental to your efficiency as well as your well-being.
If your team does not have the time or energy to finish the final project or launch the final campaign, you should get experts to do the work. Outsourcing to experts who can handle those tasks you’re trying to complete allows you to concentrate your efforts elsewhere and cross everything else off your to-do list.
