Hope you enjoyed the Presidents Day holiday weekend. The next federal holiday that gives most of us another three day weekend won’t be until Memorial Day. That’s 96 days away.
We’re now in the longest stretch between federal holidays that we face every year. And this being a leap year, it’s slightly further away.
Why should you care? For many, one of the best things about long weekends is the chance to get away from your job for a little longer.
If you face challenges in the workplace, little problems tend to grow larger, disagreements with colleagues fester, and your commute seems a lot longer.
Unless you’ve got vacation time to spare, you’re in for a long three months. Here are a few survival tips to keep in mind as you look to Clear the Path to your next long weekend.
Your Time Is Valuable: Think of time like a precious resource. Too often we tend to waste it and then curse the clock when we’re suddenly running out of time to finish a project.
When you’re tackling a challenging task, don’t be afraid to unplug yourself from the world. Most phone calls can wait, the Internet can live without you for a few hours, and small talk can be blocked with a Do Not Disturb sign. You’ll find that you can get a lot more done when you remove distractions and interruptions.
See People In 3-D: One of the secrets of life is learning how to celebrate people for who they are and who they aren’t. It can be easy to try to categorize people into various roles like the annoying coworker, the nosey neighbor, and the slacker who doesn’t follow the rules
While these observations can be true, no one is just one thing. People exist in three dimensions and we don’t always get to see everything that makes them who they are, even when we may find them extremely annoying.
For instance, the person who strives for total control at work may be compensating for an out of control situation outside the workplace.
In the big picture, we’re all the same boys and girls we were on the first day of Kindergarten (Other than a little more mileage on our tires). As you might have learned then, if you don’t get along with someone, there’s always someone else to play with.
Change What You Can: Let’s say have a stressful commute to work that you can’t avoid. The distance and the time are things that are out of your control.
But you can change how you experience them. What could you do to make the experience more pleasurable and productive? Sometimes you can’t beat problems but you can make them more tolerable.
For some, it’s about making their car as comfortable as possible. They may buy a fancy coffee machine for their kitchen, so they know they’ll enjoy the perfect cup of joe during the drive. And they may ditch the Wacky Morning DJs for their favorite music or a good book on CD.
In life there will be plenty of situations that you can’t change. You can control how you react to them.
Bottom Line: None of these tips should be a huge revelation. But they are things that we tend to forget when we go a long time between three day weekends.
