Many people consider the end of the year a very stressful time. Not only are you expected to finish your own team's KPI's and action plans, sometimes even somebody else's KPI's are making it even worse before the end of the year! Read 5 tips below to have more fun in business and avoid end-of-year fatigue (and learn something unexpected about bumblebees having fun!)
The risk of forgetting all about fun in business is real and it even creates a spiralling effect: if you become more overwhelmed, you will take longer over the same amount of work, which leaves you less free time and more stress, etc. etc.
“The first rule of business is FUN.” (James Victoire)
So let's go over 5 practical tips to have more fun in business.
Rearrange priorities
As you could read in the previous blogpost: your mind is playing tricks on you and pushing you to follow the "Mere Urgency effect", especially at the end of the year. Go back to your Eisenhower tool and make a clear review of your priorities: eg. ruthlessly eliminate what is in the "Elimination" quadrant. Also be realistic in not pushing yourself and others too much and move some deadlines in the "Schedule" quadrant. In this way you will create the necessary breathing room. Don't forget to explicitly add some "fun" tasks in your team planning as well such as holiday drinks, team dinners, ... (yes, they are urgent and important at the end of year :-)
Win total time
Your energy level is like a mathematic quotation: workload divided by available time. Increase your amount of total time by temporary increasing your remote work (avoid traffic jams!), by traveling a bit earlier to your end-of-year holiday destination but still finish some work there, by following conferences and trainings online instead of having to travel and manically check your mails during the short breaks, ... Use the "live" time to have real fun with your colleagues, friends, family and hobbies.
Invest in flexible training
Don't go and spend your precious end-of-year time in following long boring full-day workshops: invest in a flexible (online + live) KDENZA program where you can learn tools and templates to win time and energy, but in your own pace. Human attention span has been declining drastically even in recent years, so don't feel bad if you cannot bring up the energy to take long workshops as an extra task at the end of the year.
Our KPI Masterclass Training, which is currently already helping people to have improved KPI's and follow-up via best practices from other organizations, is currently closed for new participants, but you can be the first to be informed about the relaunch in 2023 (without obligation) by joining the waiting list on your favourite launch page (English program or Dutch program).
Use new trends and prepare budget
To be ready for the next year, start already budgeting some "new trends" in for next year. Especially digitalisation of your team's repetitive tasks (workflow automation), data analysis (eg. Power BI), outsourcing (supplier) audits... can make a huge difference in your workload. Also, for internal trainings, new trends such as on-demand training platforms and gamification are going to make your lives better.
Contact info@kdenza.com for more information on these subjects or book a free no-nonsense 30 minute Introduction call with me without obligation directly via the Calendly app.
Be kind to yourself (and the bumblebees :-)
A recent groundbreaking scientific study in Animal Behaviour has shown that bees are not little robots that just respond to stimuli but they do carry out activities that are just for fun (by playing around with colourful balls in a special test setup). It was even shown that the youngsters were playing more than the elders (just like kids or puppies!) So if even bumblebees need to have fun sometimes, be kind to yourself and plan some of your favourite activities at the end of year. You are more than a KPI machine and by using your time wisely, you can 100% enjoy the end of the year while still being successful!
P.S. The researchers can also teach the bumblebees to play football with sugary treats, so imagine what difference you could make in your organization with effective KPI tools :-)
P.P.S. Don't forget to join the KDENZA Newsletter by leaving your email below.
Commentaires