For anyone who gets to enjoy bank holiday weekends, it can be the perfect way to decompress at various times throughout the year. The only drawback is that the psychological feeling that somehow, the four-day week that follows feels longer than a regular five-day week.
Not to mention the fact that getting back into the groove of work after a nice three-day weekend can be tough. So, if you’re walking into work this morning feeling a little slower than usual, we have some tips to get you through today and the rest of the week.
The best way to get through each working day (bank holiday weekend or not) is to have a to-do list. If you didn’t leave yourself one on Friday, make this the first thing you do when you come in in the morning.
Write out an overall list of goals or tasks to be achieved in the week and then write another one for what you hope to get through that day. Another good tip is to timestamp each ask with the time you expect to complete them. While you don’t have to stick rigidly to this time, it’s a good way of putting some thought into how long you expect a task to take and stops you from overloading yourself.
It can be tempting to simply write down all the tasks you need to get done in the order that first comes to mind, but another good reason to put timestamps on your tasks is to help you decide which tasks to tackle first.
There’s a lot to be said for tackling the biggest or worst task first to get it out of the way, but if you’re coming back from a bank holiday weekend, your energy levels might not be at their strongest first thing in the morning. In this case, it might be good to make your first task something quick and easy to cross off in order to get you going.
On the other hand, perhaps you know from previous experience that your energy levels tend to plummet in the afternoon after a long weekend and so it’s better to save the easy stuff for later. The most important advice here is to know how your productivity levels change during the day and plan accordingly.
Once you’ve completed your to-do list, launch straight into the first task and avoid the dreaded time-sucking inbox. Getting lost in a sea of unread emails can both drag out your first few hours back at work and drain your energy levels.
If you must look at your inbox to ensure you don’t miss anything important that needs to be dealt with immediately, give yourself a set amount of time, go through your unread emails and scan for anything of high priority. Once this initial scan is done, set aside time later in the day to go back to the rest, but don’t get bogged down reading every email first thing in the morning.
To avoid getting sluggish after your bank holiday weekend, make sure you give yourself regular breaks. Depending on how long each task takes, consider taking a quick five-minute break after each one to leave your desk, get a coffee or a bit of fresh air.
In fact, the Pomodoro Technique is a popular time-management method based on the idea of working in short sprints to ensure you’re as productive as possible during that sprint followed by a break to recharge your brain. The timings behind the Pomodoro Technique involves working on a task for 25 minutes followed by a five-minute break. After four of these rounds, you can take a longer break. This method of working keeps your brain both rested and charged and increases productivity – especially after a bank holiday weekend.
When you feel like you have a full five-day week that you need to condense into a four-day week, combined with the scatty feeling we all get from just being back from a long weekend, multitasking can be a very tempting habit to fall into. Start on this report, answer that email, organise that project, etc.
Before you know it, you’ve started six tasks, haven’t fully completed any and it’s already time for lunch. according to a University of California Irvine study, it can take almost 30 minutes to get back to a task after a distraction. And yes, other tasks do count as distractions. So, avoid the temptation to jump between tasks and take your day after the bank holiday weekend one task at a time.
Of course, if you feel dispondent in work and you’re worried it’s about more than just post-bank holiday blues, it might be worth reading this to see if it’s time for a new job. If the signs are there, maybe it’s time to talk to us, starting with uploading your CV.
Feeling confused about your career? We’ve got everything you need to know about progression, new jobs and happiness in your career right here.
Garrett O'Gorman is a principal consultant at RECRUITERS
Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash
