The week before festive season break is generally one of complete madness.
Many people are at work trying to get an impossibly large task lists completed and signed off before suppliers, customers, co-workers and colleagues shut their doors for around two weeks.
Evenings and weekends can involve a flurry of sprinting through shopping centres and hopping from one festive event to the next.
I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling the week ahead could be described as a complete assault on the system. But somehow you get it all done. Somehow, you meet the impossible deadlines, your efficiency doubles every single day because the Big Deadline is looming.
For many, that deadline comes with a sweet reward of some rest and recuperation time, seeing the family and, in the Southern Hemisphere, enjoying some of the best possible weather.
Similar flurries of activity often occur before people take Annual Leave. Productivity goes through the roof as we strive to leave an Empty Desk and a Blank To Do List.
What would happen if we approached every single week of the year in this way? Without the pressure of a Major Deadline, would we enjoy a new level of efficiency?
Would we alleviate the need for the last minute rush? Or would the space that we empty simply fill with more?