Preparing Ahead to Make Life Simpler for You Later

It’s a short work week with Thanksgiving this Thursday, but we all know that work still needs to get done, so today I wanted to talk about preparing ahead to make life simpler for you later.

The first step to preparing ahead is to make a list of things you do each week. Once you have this list of your weekly routine tasks, go through it and figure out what still needs to get done during the holiday week and what does not need to happen. Cross out the tasks you don’t need to take care of and focus on the items that are left. This list is what you will use when preparing ahead to make life simpler later.

Some examples of items I prepare early are blog posts, photos, resumes for clients, and newsletters. Getting the grunt work of these done early will make it very simple when I go to fulfill these duties.

In a world so technically advanced, you can also automate a lot of things. A great thing to automate and set ahead of time is your away message on your email. You can write it today and set it to run from the minute you leave the office for thanksgiving break until the moment you step inside and are ready to work. I always try to make my away messages relate to what is happening while I’m unavailable. For instance, try setting your away message to something like “Thank you for your email. I’m currently busy eating turkey and partaking in other Thanksgiving festivities, but will be back in the office Monday and will contact you then. Happy Thanksgiving!” The more festive it is, people tend to be more understanding as to why you are not clicking away at your computer, eagerly waiting to respond to their email. Setting your away message now ensures that you won’t forget, and will have one last task to remember before heading out the door on Wednesday.

The next step of preparing ahead is to figure out what can be done now and what needs to be done closer to its due date. For instance, can you write a memo now, or are you waiting on other crucial information that you need in order to finish it? Whatever you can get done early, get it done so you don’t put anything off and aren’t scrambling to finish all of your tasks before break.

If you are traveling, make sure to look at the weather now and at least think about what you’re going to pack. I understand that packing your suitcase early is hard for most people, but even thinking about what you’re going to bring and what you’ll need to pack will help you a lot. On that note, make sure you find out the dress code for thanksgiving ahead of time if you are traveling. This way, you make sure that you pack the right clothing and don’t look inappropriately dressed.

Lastly, don’t forget about the option to make some of the thanksgiving meal ahead of time. We often get stuck on the idea of fresh cooked food, but there are a lot of little side dishes and extras that can be made ahead of time and reheated during dinner to save you time on the big day. Think of making cranberry sauce, desserts, and stuffing today, tomorrow, or Wednesday so that you don’t have as much to do on Thursday.

These are my simple tips for preparing ahead to make life simpler for you later, but what are your secrets? Reach out and let me know with #writestyles!