In Victoria, we have several public holidays, and as a result we have many long weekends to look forward to (particularly the 4 day Easter long weekend). We also have another long weekend to look forward to in October for the AFL Grand Final weekend (which has caused much controversy)! As well as Melbourne Cup, which many employees often take the Monday off to make it a nice long weekend.

Whilst long weekends may be good for our personal lives, they may begin to impact our workload.

With many employees having to meet tight deadlines, a day or two off work can throw their work schedule out! And when you get back from a long weekend, you usually are lost as to where you were to begin with, you’ve forgotten what project you were working on and you’ve fallen behind on your workload.

Here are some useful tips to get your “ducks in line” before you head down the coast for that long weekend:

Tidy your work space: Organisation is key! Make sure your desk is neat and tidy before you leave the office. Do not just shuffle a couple of papers and stack files in a neat pile. Think about what can you manage to get done before you leave? What is the most important file you need to get back to when you’re back in the office? Also if your desk could use a quick spray and wipe then now is a great opportunity to do so! As well as tidying up your physical desk, tidy up your inbox. There is nothing worse than coming back into the office with over 100 e-mails to sort through.

Prioritise: Update your “to do” list and prioritise tasks. What is the most important thing you have to get back to after your weekend? Is there little things you can do on a quiet day to just tick them off the list.

Check your meetings: Double check you haven’t accidentally scheduled any meetings for the public holiday.

Lastly, try not to stress. If you are organised and ready for the short week ahead, then pack up and enjoy the extra days off with family and friends.

Written by Natassja Ford