4 ways to be productive this holiday week

4 ways to be productive this holiday week4 ways to be productive this holiday weekWhen you walked into the office after the holidays, how many people were at their desks? Three? Four? Take this as your cue for the rest of this week.Heres how to get work done if youre at work during this festive season, but most of your colleagues arent.Dont send a ton of emaillesChances are, at least some of your contacts are on vacation, so you might as well press pause on sending email requests and follow-ups.Referencing a tweet about how people wont want to receive your emails until this week is over,Lifehacker staff writer Nick Douglas writes in the publication about how people wont be very receptive to them this week.Dont email people this week unless you have to. This isnt about being nice, its about being effective. Unless your email is the very most important thing arriving in someones inbox, they arent going to bother with it until later, and maybe never, he writes, before advising that you can draft them instead.Use the time for things that require deep focusRevel in the fact that you can finally get the silence you need, even if you work in an open office.If youre working on a huge project due at the end of this week or getting ahead for a new campaign youll be heading up in the new year, toil away in a part of the office where youre best able to work.Get lunch with someone elseYou might as well use the time to get to know someone you work with.Freelance journalist Kate Rockwood writes in Mental Floss that when most people arent at the office at the end of the December, you should invite a coworker to lunch, and features advice from an expert.A skeleton crew at the office can be a good excuse to mix up your usual routine and socialize with someone new at the office, Rockwood writes. It can come in handy the next time youre in a work crunch and need more people to pitch in.Have a one-on-one meeting with your bossDo you have any questions youd like to get off your ches t?If you dont have performance reviews, you might want to make this time to discuss expectations and responsibilities for 2018.Make a list of your questions, concerns, and ideas for new ways you can contribute to your team beforehand, and go into the meeting feeling prepared for what comes your way.After all, if you dont schedule time to meet with your boss and you already dont have assessment periods, how will you know exactly where you stand?Its better than blindly continuing into the new year, unprepared for changes that will come your way.Also ask yourself these seven career questions before 2018 comes around in a few days. You dont even have to wait to begin working on your New Years resolutions - get a head start on them in the office when things are quiet and you can think a lot more clearly.