This article has been adapted and edited from an article posted by Hubspot on their blog. The full article can be viewed here on the Hubspot website. Arcs & Curves is a Hubspot Partner Agency based in Dubai.
What could be better than a three-day holiday weekend?
Whether you decide to staycation at home or take advantage of the time off by visiting a new place, most people would agree that getting an extra vacation day is a good thing.
The trouble is, once you get back into the office to a deluge of emails and only three days left to get your job done, it can feel overwhelming.
Trust us, we’ve been there too. That's why we've put together our best tips for getting back on track after a three-day weekend -- without derailing your four-day workweek.
(And if you don't have time to read the full blog post, we understand -- here's a quick video summary.)
How to Be Productive in the week after a long weekend
1) Check in with your team
Whether it’s virtual or in-person, have a quick stand-up meeting with your team to review what everyone’s focusing on to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks. The meeting also gives you all a chance to catch up on how you spent your time off and how to prioritize the week ahead.
Make sure you’re holding a productive meeting by keeping the meeting short and making sure to recap with follow-up materials via email. CT Business Travel also suggests setting an agenda ahead of time so everyone in the group can prepare to talk, which is especially helpful for introverts who may not feel as comfortable speaking off-the-cuff in a group.
Here’s an example of what the HubSpot content team’s meeting agendas look like, with a helpful breakdown of how much time will be spent on each topic for maximum efficiency:
2) Prioritize your to-do list
Take a look at your to-do list. It’s probably a bit longer than on a typical Monday, right?
Sort through your list and determine what needs to be prioritized and what can wait until the next day.
Behavioral scientist Dan Ariely says that the two hours after waking up in the morning are the most productive time of day, when you have the greatest capacity for higher-level decision making and cognition. Take a couple minutes when you first get into the office to review your to-do list and determine which most important tasks should be taken care of first thing in the morning, and which can wait until the afternoon.
3) Triage your email inbox
We also encourage organizing your inbox using multiple inboxes, which help you organize you sort messages in a way that makes them easier to wade through when you get back into the office. Use labels like "Needs Action" or "To-Do List" to easily visualize which emails are of highest priority.
4) Don’t burn out
You might feel stressed at the prospect of only four days in the week to accomplish your entire to-do list. However, there is such a thing as working too hard, and burnout could end up sabotaging your productivity as the week goes on if you don’t take enough breaks.
Remember tip #2?
Prioritize your to-do list and determine what can be accomplished by one person over the course of a workday. You could try the Pomodoro Technique, which calls for 90 minutes of work, followed by 30 minutes of rest to regroup and recharge. This technique helps you align your most and least productive times with your working and resting periods, respectively, and there are timers you can download to keep track of your status.
Alternatively, you could also try downloading an app called Daily Water that reminds you to drink a glass of water once per hour. When the reminder goes off, you must get up from the desk, drink water, and walk around. Taking regular breaks achieves greater productivity than working nonstop, and so do drinking water and exercise.
There are some other Apps that help you with staying hydrated, like Waterlogged and Hydro Coach. Check them out.
If you have a certain strategy you use to stay productive and motivated especially after a long holiday, please share with us on our facebook page or tell us in comments below.
5) Use Hubspot CRM (If you're a business owner, marketer or executive)
Hubspot is the epitome of productivity because of its all-in-one dashboard.
From this centralized CRM, you can plan and control your daily activities as well as get an overview of what you probably missed out on during your long weekend. With a seamless interface and reporting facility, find more time to be productive with.