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There is often nothing more relaxing and rejuvenating than taking a much-deserved break during the holiday season. However, as the festivities wind down, thoughts of needing to get back to work after holidays, the research reading and writing to be done, and looming deadlines to be met begin clouding the happy moments spent with family and friends. Most researchers will agree that getting back towinto a regular routine after a long holiday can be an arduous task. That is why it is important to have a plan in place to help you shift gears and jump back into your academic mindset and routine. This article offers seven useful tips on going back to work after holidays with minimum stress and be able hit your daily research reading, writing and project goals.
7 Tips on going back to work after holidays with minimum stress
1. Start getting back into your work routine
Holidays typically mean sleeping in, relaxing with family, and spending time with friends on night-outs that extend late into the night. However, when going back to work after the holidays, make a conscious effort to return to a regular sleep schedule, take stock of your eating habits, and carve some time out daily for exercise. Getting into a routine again will ensure that you are physically and mentally ready to take on the rigors of regular research reading, writing or project work.
2. Organize your space and plan ahead
A great way to get started and focus on your research reading, academic writing, and in-depth project work is to get things organized. Tidy up your workspace and create a list of key tasks that need to get done on the first day you get back to work after holidays then prioritize your to-do list in order of importance. Make your research reading list and revisit it through the week to ensure you stay on track with your daily goals. Getting organized, setting up your physical space for work, and establishing goals will give you a head-start when you’re going back to work after holidays.
3. Get caught up on larger progress
An important task you should add to your to-do list for day one is catching up with your peers and catching up on what you may have missed during your time off. Meet your supervisor, teammates, and any others you’ve been collaborating with to learn about the progress on projects. This will give you the opportunity to understand where things stand and re-prioritize your tasks for the week ahead. Learning about what needs to be done, brainstorming and collaborating with others is a proven way of quickly getting back into the loop.
4. Set aside time for research reading
Going back to work after holidays can be overwhelming and stressful and often pushes researchers into procrastination mode. You can mitigate this by blocking time for key tasks like research reading in your daily routine. Starting with some research reading will help you reacquaint yourself with the latest in research as well as put you in the frame of mind to tackle things head on, whether it’s writing your research paper or a literature review. You can let your peers and colleagues know that you will be unavailable for an hour or so and avoid distractions to maximize the benefits from focused reading.
5. Be mindful of procrastination
Putting yourself in the right mindset for going back to work after holidays is critical to make in-roads into all work and research reading you need to do. This needs some mental discipline and conscious effort though, especially when faced with distractions lingering from your time off. For instance, you may be tempted to do smaller tasks around the home instead of tackling seemingly overwhelming volumes of work. It’s not fun but remind yourself to focus on work now that the holidays are done.
6. Don’t be bogged down by emails
Most researchers will find their inboxes full of emails clamouring for attention when they get back to work after the holidays. Many end up spending long unproductive hours on day one just going through and responding to emails, many of which are not important. This is time that could have otherwise been used productively for mapping the week ahead, research reading or writing, collaborating with peers or diving into project work. A great tip to maximize your first day back is to complete critical tasks in the first half of the day and check your emails in the second half. Instead of reading every email in your ever-expanding inbox, scan the subject line and use the flag or star function to tag messages that need to be responded to urgently and only work on those. All other emails can be read and dealt with on day two or three of going back to work after holidays. This smart approach helps you work more effectively, saves time and reduces the stress of addressing all those emails.
7. Take small steps and build pace
Don’t push yourself to take on too much in the first few days of your going back after the holidays or you may be left feeling overwhelmed and tired. Instead choose to ease back into your routine and add incremental steps. For example, wake up 15 minutes earlier every day until you’re waking up at your regular work time or give yourself small goals like getting through 5, then 10, then 15 pages of research reading a day. Before you know it, you’ll be back to your pre-holiday work rhythm and will be able to handle your research reading or writing schedules. Remember, breaking up bigger, seemingly difficult tasks into smaller achievable steps can help you check things off your to-do list more effectively, making you more productive and leaving you with a sense of satisfaction every day.
While taking a break and spending time doing what relaxes you is important to refresh and rejuvenate your mind, it is just as important to be able to get back to work after holidays with a renewed sense of purpose. Hopefully, the tips shared above will make the process easier.
