It’s beginning to feel a little quieter in Downtown Seattle.  You can tell people are starting to head out of town for the holidays and it will likely remain this quite until the New Year.  It can be tempting to lose steam with so many people out of the office, but we can honestly say it’s one of our favorite times to be in the office.  Why?  Because it’s my most productive week of the year!

Below are a few tips to help you stay focused and productive during the last week of the year:

1.  Write it down – Make a list of all of the tasks that you’ve been meaning to get to, but have never become a top priority.  You know what we’re talking about - that pile of papers you’ve been meaning to go through, the thank you notes you keep putting off writing, the email inbox you keep hoping to organize, and the strategic planning you start working on but somehow you always manage to get interrupted.  Writing these tasks down helps you stay focused on accomplishing them.

2.  Team Up With a Coworker – If you need help finishing some projects this week, ask a coworker for their assistance.  Everyone is busy this time of year, but the work goes faster when everyone helps out.

3.  Limit Your Social Media – We all love our Twitter breaks, but it is disruptive and distracting to keep refreshing your feed.  Put your social media on hold until lunch breaks or after work.

4.  Set Specific Times To Check Your Email – Take down your pop-up notifications that announce each incoming email.  As strong as we all think we are, it’s hard to look at the subject of an email and not click to open it.  Pick a few times throughout the day to check-in on your inbox, rather than reacting to it the entire day.

5.  Break Down Monotonous Tasks – You might be procrastinating some tasks and projects because they seem long, tedious and boring.  Try breaking these tasks down into smaller blocks of time (30 minutes a day) and scheduling them for a time when your brain needs a little break anyways.  For instance, I prefer to save “mindless” tasks for late afternoon because it allows me to be productive during a not-so-productive hour of my day. Stay consistent and you’ll be done by the end of the week!