Holidays are often busy.  We flip between travel, vacation busyness, and gatherings of all sorts.  This leads to very little of substance getting done in our professional lives.  We have earned our vacation or Holiday and feel like its ok to fall behind.  Unfortunately, this often leads to a few hectic days when we return that leave us exhausted and longing for another vacation.  This sad situation does not need to happen.  We can use the dead time that often occurs during these periods to keep up and even manage a little holiday productivity.

Holiday Productivity Gains Through Content

The easiest way to keep moving forward is to consume business-related content.  This task is becoming incredibly easy to do.  You can listen to audiobooks and podcasts while traveling or even browse the web.  Better yet, if you have a more relaxed mindset your browsing is more likely to lead you to great new product ideas.  Your work holiday should free you from the weeds of your regular job and allow you to think out of the box.  All of these options are great for travel, waiting in lines at stores, and those long commercial breaks during sporting events.

A New Crowd

We do not want to bore people with our work life, but it does often come up.  Luckily, discussing work with friends and family can lead to new insight.  These people that do not live in your work-world have an entirely different perspective on your products, services, and even life.  Thus, they will often provide a point of view or comments that you never considered.  They will also provide feedback at times that can help you judge priorities as well as how to market your wares.  This suggestion is not about finding ways to steer conversations to work, but instead just to pay attention and keep an open mind.  You never know where your next great idea will come from.

A New Venue

Another great opportunity during the Holidays is to find a new location to work.  This may be an hour or two with your laptop in the woods, on a lake, or anywhere not in your office.  The change alone may help you be highly productive and start some creative juices flowing.  This action may seem a bit pointless or obsessive about work.  However, it may open you to new locations and higher productivity.  For example, you might find that you work better in a Starbucks or at the library.  Who knows, you might decide you like to avoid being chained to a desk.

Vacations and Holidays are essential ways to recharge and get away from the work grind.  However, many of us never really get away from work.  We can fight it, or embrace it and use the time that otherwise would be wasted to be productive.  Take advantage of those long lines and waiting for the family to decide on where to eat dinner.  Get a little work done.  Then you can pat yourself on the back for making your return to your job a little less hectic,