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After the holiday break, we can choose how we show up at work.

by Bob McKinnon
Executive Director of Moving Up Media Lab



For many, today will be their first day back to work after a long holiday break. Perhaps you traveled, spent time with family, enjoyed some much needed rest and relaxation.


The tendency might be to rush back into work, making up for lost time by sending out a flurry of emails, reminding people of what they owe you, requesting meetings, and trying to get everything β€œback on track.”


But this penchant for trying to catch up in one day has one obvious drawback  - what goes around comes around. Imagine if in the spirit of being productive or getting on β€œtop of things” everyone takes this approach.


Pick your metaphor. Hot potato, whack a mole, getting a monkey off my back by putting it yours or cleaning off my plate by dumping it onto yours.


Each of those visuals evokes a negative feedback loop, one mired in stressful back and forth, wasted time and frankly an unkind way to kick off a new work year - for you and everyone in your orbit.


(And no, starting an email with β€œHope you had a nice holiday” will not in any way mitigate this stress.)


What if you instead tried this?


1)  Spend most of your time just working independently on a project you care about.
2)  If you want to send an email, don’t ask for anything. Instead, send an email complimenting someone for a job well done.
3)  Finally, If you have meetings already scheduled, try to end them early. The gift of found time will be especially appreciated today..

At the end of the day, instead of feeling good about how much you got done, maybe you’ll feel even better about how much easier you made someone else’s first day back.


(And if that doesn’t alleviate your pent up work stress, just remind yourself of all the people who had to work over the holidays and didn’t have much of a break at all.)

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As one of those people who rarely takes time off over the holidays (only 3 days - and we were closed then anyway) - it's difficult when others come back bouncy, refreshed and full of ideas (which somehow make it to my inbox). As a public library we are busy during the holidays. For those of us who keep things running during the holidays, we are frazzled by Jan. 2, because did our work and picked up the slack for those who were off. In the face of all that jubilation, I've learned the importance of saying no. I don't want to squash someone's energy, but a gentle "that isn't going to happen right now," has saved me. Maybe I should share this piece with the rest of the management team.
Susan Dennison
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