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Whether you celebrate Christmas or are simply taking some time off to unplug before 2024 arrives, many of us are in the final working days of the year!

The big question around the office or virtual water cooler is “what are you doing during your time off?” From vacations to house projects to time with family, we all have something we’re looking forward to. Yet, many of us with the best of intentions to unplug from work, know that the alluring call of the laptop and unread e-mail will bring us back to our inboxs far sooner than we intended.

How do we make sure our PTO doesn’t turn into half-hearted WFH or a social media scroll fest?

It starts with redefining PTO as Planned Time Off.

Creating the plan

1. Sync with your team on how you’ll cover the work whether that’s spreading the “on-call” love, or simply directing folks to call you with urgent requests. If you intend to “check in” during this time, schedule a half day of work complete with a calendar block reflecting your intent to process e-mail, respond to messages, or attend a call.
2. Clear your work calendar. Let people know you won’t be at their meeting, and cancel anything that’s on your calendar that you set up. Nothing is worse than jumping on a call only to realize the organizer forgot to cancel.
3. Make a loose plan of what you want to get done during your time off. I like to throw these on sticky notes: movie with the kids, take down decorations, write, finalize goals and personal annual planning, update financial tracker.
4. Assign each day at least one thing from your plan. This isn’t full-blown goal planning, it’s just easy and gives you something to shoot for when you wake up instead of reaching for your phone or laptop.

Need some inspiration?

Here’s my Planned Time Off schedule:

Monday: Christmas Day – PJs til noon, take a walk, family event

Tuesday: Operation Organization – get kids rooms reset and decluttered for the new year, zoom with friends in the evening

Wednesday: Write in the AM, take kids for gift card redeem/shopping in the PM

Thursday: Write in the AM, be outdoors in the PM, take down Christmas decor in the evening

Friday: Annual planning in the AM, appointments in the PM

Saturday: laundry, grocery order, update financial tracker

As a time optimist, it would be easy to PACK a to-do list with everything under the sun that I’ve put off knowing this time off was coming, but setting up this loose PTO schedule by day helps me create an honest schedule that keeps things realistic, fun, and flexible.

It’s a time of year that requires us to adjust our beautifully planned schedules to accommodate more – more gatherings, more to-dos, more deadlines, more activities.

Of course, this requires time. And since we don’t get gifted any additional hours, we have to find ways to make the most of what we already have.

Post-Thanksgiving and Pre-Monday, I was feeling on top of the world – relaxed, thankful, and enjoying the slowness of the long weekend. And then it was back to the laptop, and with it – the pile of extras that the holiday season brings both at home and work.

It reminds me of running out to the garbage can on a frozen winter evening without a coat 🥶 and then sprinting back in the house to begin to thaw. If I had taken a mere 30 seconds to throw on a coat, I would have been spared the misery of the freeze fest.

Is there anything we can do TODAY to avoid the metaphorical chill of the holiday busyness so we can experience the joy of the season?✨

Yes! We’re going old school with a holiday Kanban board. So grab your sticky notes and let’s go!

Holiday Kanban

1. Ask yourself, “what do I need/want/must do this month?” and write down every little thing that crosses your mind – work, home, personal, family.
2. Find a blank wall, door, or kitchen cabinet and divide it into 3 sections, labeling each one – To-Do, Work in Progress, Done.
3. I take all my work-related sticky notes, and put them into my normal work system.
4. Then, I line up the remaining items under To-Do and move the first thing I’ll tackle into the Work in Progress column. Pro tip: Don’t allow more than 3 things in this column!
5. When you finish an item, move it to Done.

My board is nowhere near Pinterest-perfect, but it’s done! And it allows me to take advantage of small moments I have each evening where I can take action instead of feeling burdened by the to-dos of the season swirling in my head. Give it a try and see how it works for you!