It’s time for the little ones to get all dressed up in costumes for whatever dance recital or performance they have this holiday season. Nothing is more stressful than trying to enjoy a beautiful event and you have twenty urgent emails. Don’t be that parent who’s on the phone during the whole performance. Add a couple of these techniques into your day and you’ll be enjoying every sugarplum fairy.
Delegate All Nonessential Email
This is a great tip from Tim Ferris’s book the 4-Hour Work Week: empower your team and employees to respond and make decisions up to a certain level. You will reduce the amount of email that you receive and give your staff the responsibility to make decisions. The team will have more pride in their work and you’ll have more buy-in in day-to-day decisions.
IFTTT What?
Put the internet to work for you. By using IF-Then recipes you can create multiple systemized responses that will take all the guesswork and decision making out of your hands. Check out IFTTT and their examples of “recipes.” The website even helps us pronounce it’s concept, “IFTTT is pronounced like “gift” without the “g.” Sign up for a free account and browse their collections for Small Business Owners.
Relax While You’re Working
Make the most of the time in the office. Don’t fall into the trap of spending your day thinking about how busy you are. Even pranks have been tied to increased productivity at work. If you’re in an office environment many will stand around the coffeemaker talking about how much they have to do rather than actually accomplishing those tasks. This is a great time to shut the door to your office and knockout those tasks during the day.
The Power Hours
Studies show that we are most productive when we first wake up through lunch. After lunch most of the creativity and decision-making energy has been used for the day. Soak up those power hours in the morning and show what a rockstar you are.
By doing the best work you can and then delegating the rest; you’ll be able to relax with family and enjoy this season the way it’s meant to be enjoyed.