The holidays are upon us, and all the joy and stress that come with them. Unless you work at a company that deals with retail in some way, chances are pretty good that you’ll experience a bit of a workplace slowdown during the final two weeks of the year. This is a good thing because, as Fast Company describes in a new column, a slower pace gives you the chance to re-balance your professional life a bit. How do you accomplish that re-balancing? “Rather than trying to cram personal errands into your workday, schedule a personal day to focus solely on those domestic and personal holiday preparations,” the magazine advises. “This will allow you to focus 100 [percent] of your energy on work while you’re there.” While at work, make it a point to avoid procrastination and focus on those tasks that need doing; be unafraid to say “no” to at least some of the requests that tend to pour into your inbox near the end of the year. Given the holiday-related slowdown, it’s also prudent to set realistic expectations about how much work will actually get done. To Fast Company’s advice, we can add this: Use the end of the year to plan the next. Clean your desk, and finish up any outstanding projects. Make a list of things you’d like to accomplish, ordered by priority; to that list, add the resources you’ll need for each of those goals, the time it’ll take to achieve them, and other important information. That’ll allow you to hit the ground running in early January.

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