There are certain times of the year when getting things done is just hard. During these times, for whatever reason, the amount of time it takes to get anything done seems to double or triple. Probably one of the worst examples of this begins at Thanksgiving and ends a week after New Years. The dreaded “Holiday Trifecta”, you have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years all within weeks of each other, a killer combination when trying to get anything done. What really hurts you during this time are vacations. Everybody starts taking time off, and not just a few days here and there. Nope, this is when all of that vacation time that everybody has been saving is put to use. One week, two weeks, three weeks, even a month, there really is no limit during this time. This means that key people, people you need to approve decisions, etc. can be gone at crucial times thus crippling your effectiveness.

Is all hope lost then? Should you just forget about getting anything accomplished until January? Absolutely not. While problems during this time are unavoidable, you can take steps to mitigate their impact on your work. Here are things you can do to make sure that if you can’t be at 100% during this time, you are as close as possible:

Know your key contacts vacation schedules - This is a must during this season. Your chances of getting that budget approved on time will be far better if you approach the approver two weeks before their vacation instead of two days. You need to know when your key people are going to be gone so you can give them enough leeway to get your job completed. As they get closer to their vacation, not only will their workload drastically increase because everybody is scrambling to finish assignments, but they will most likely start to go into “vacation mode”. This is where they get just enough done to get by until their vacation, which obviously doesn’t include reading your email at midnight the day before they leave. Remember: First in, First out.

Be on top of your game - The word “Procrastination” should not even be in your vocabulary during this time of the year. Because of all of the absences, keeping to your scheduled timeline will be harder than ever. An hour here and there can really make the difference when it comes to getting things done on time. If you need to take extra steps to make sure this happens, do so. For example, if you normally don’t keep a spreadsheet of all your assignments and deadlines, this is the time to try one out. If you don’t normally check on your team members every day, this is the time to start getting daily progress reports. With effective scheduling, you won’t have to be working at 3:00 AM on Christmas day.

Minimize critical deadlines - Another way to keep from missing important deadlines is to not have any. While it will most likely not be possible to avoid having any critical deadlines during this time, if you can push one off until after the season do so. This not only minimizes the amount of work you have due, but allows you to concentrate on your remaining work that you can’t move the deadlines on, making it easier to complete those assignments on time. The less work you have due, the less of a chance there is it won’t get done.

It’s important to remember that even though the above tips will help you out, something will inevitably just not get done on time. Remember: You can’t always control every factor that goes into finishing an assignment, all you can do is make every effort to get them done.