A question you might have as we head into the Holidays is, ‘How do I get all my work done before taking a break?!’ This comes up not just at Christmas / the Holidays but any time you’re planning a break away from your business. It’s easy to feel that frantic, cramming energy before you turn on your ‘out of office’ – like Wile E. Coyote running off the edge of a cliff and suddenly realizing there’s no support underneath!
Here’s a process I recommend to help you feel more in control & calmer as you head into the Holidays.
Step 1 – Get Clear on What Has to Be Done
Start by identifying tasks that must be completed before your break. These aren’t ‘nice to haves’ – they’re things with deadlines, client commitments, or essential milestones that would have consequences – or an apology! – if missed.
Distinguish these from everything else. By seeing your must-dos clearly, you’ll have a better sense of how much capacity is left for other tasks.
Keep in mind your capacity may be very different to someone else’s. You might have kids, health challenges, or other responsibilities that impact how much time and energy you have available. So take that into account, let this be holistic and look at what’s realistic for you.
Step 2 – Braindump & Prioritize the ‘Nice to-do’s’
Once you know your must-dos, it’s time to clear your head of all the ‘nice to do’ ideas. These are tasks that you want to capture, but don’t necessarily need to be done before your holiday.
To do this, grab a notebook, a sheet of paper, or use a digital tool like Airtable. If I’m doing a ‘clearing’ exercise like this, I’ll often use paper and pen first to get the thoughts out of my head, and then move the ones I’m keeping into Airtable for ongoing task management. In Airtable, I can track deadlines, tag tasks by project, and shift priorities more easily.
I love Airtable for this, but use what works for you — post-it notes, Trello, or a pen & notebook. The goal is to get everything out of your head so you can see it clearly.
Once it’s all laid out, you might spot tasks that aren’t actually worth doing, that you can cross off. Other tasks might be simple to streamline or allocate to a timeframe.
If the tasks are feeling overwhelming, imagine asking them to form an orderly queue! If they currently feel like they’re all around you, asking for attention, tell them to line up and you’ll deal with them in order. 😉
Step 3 – Declutter Your Inbox & Desktop
This is all about feeling calmer and more in control… Set aside 1-2 hours and declutter your inbox and desktop.
I really like one of the teachings in David Allen’s Getting Things Done book – to follow the ‘3 minute rule’; if it takes less than 3 minutes to do, do it now. As you go through your emails, make decisions or action the email if it’s something you can do in a couple of minutes. If it’s more than that, leave it for later.
If you have thousands of unread emails, I’d focus on the more recent ones first. Or you can sort your emails by sender, and see if you can delete large batches at once.
This is a bit like weeding the garden; you’ll clear away a lot of ‘noise’ and then can see what you need to action (when you’re able to).
Quick Recap
If you’re preparing for a break — whether for the Holidays or a vacation — here’s those 3-steps:
1️⃣ Clarify Must-Dos: Identify the non-negotiable tasks that have to be done before you leave.
2️⃣ Brain Dump & Prioritize: Braindump out your ‘nice to do’ tasks and give them a some order; sooner, next month, later.
3️⃣ Declutter Your Inbox & Desktop: Clear your emails and desktop using the 3-minute rule to clear quick wins.
Thanks for watching, I hope you’ve found this useful!
