It’s typical for contractors to have busy and often unpredictable workloads. Working on different contracts throughout the year, bringing in their strong skill and expertise, contractors can often have a busy and full-on work life.
That’s why the Christmas season offers a well-deserved chance for some time off, giving contractors a well-needed opportunity to recharge and enjoy some downtime. After all, downtime is essential for contractors to return to the new year recharged and ready to bring their all in the new year.
To help, in this guide, Umbrella Search has put together our top tips to help every contractor enjoy some much-needed downtime this festive season so you can enter 2025 refreshed and ready to go.
Tip 1: Focus on rest and relaxation
Contractors should aim to take a well-earned break over the festive period. Whether it’s a couple of weeks or a few days, enjoy your time off and focus on switching off from work, allowing you to relax and rest.
Establishing some boundaries around work will be important to help you fully switch off. Whether that’s putting away your work phone or switching off your work email notifications, make sure you give yourself the chance to focus on switching off and enjoying some well-needed time off.
Tip 2: do what matters to you
Time off from work gives you an excellent opportunity to focus on the other important things in your life. Whether that’s focusing on family time or picking up that hobby you love, give yourself the time to focus on what matters to you.
This will help you switch off from work and recharge your batteries, focusing on the stuff you love doing.
Tip 3: reflect on the year that has passed
Once you’ve given yourself the time to switch off and relax, it can be helpful to reflect on the year that has passed.
Look back at the achievements from last year, celebrating the projects you have completed and the wins you've achieved. Whether that’s completing a specific contract, winning work with a dream client, completing a course you have worked hard on or building new contacts.
Writing these down can be helpful, which helps you take stock of what you have done well in the last year and enjoying your sense of achievement.
Tip 4: update your network
Once you’ve taken stock of the achievements from the last year, it can be great to share these with your professional network. This keeps your network current and helps others share your wins.
Whether that’s on LinkedIn or another platform, it can be a great idea to write an end-of-year post outlining the highlights from the last year.
Tip 5: organise your workspace
A break over Christmas gives you the chance to get to the tasks that you find yourself too busy to get to at other times in the year. Whether it’s clearing your workspace or organising your desktop, this is a great way to declutter and organise your workspace for the coming year.
You can start by sorting through paperwork, such as contracts, invoices, and receipts, and shredding anything that is unnecessary to hold on to.
Give your office space a spring clean so you can start the new year in a fresh and tidy space.
If you work with tools or equipment, use this time to clean and organise these.
Take time to organise and declutter your folder and filing system on your computer. These are easy to get cluttered, but having an organised and tidy filing system makes your life much easier when it comes to document management.
Tip 6: set your goals for the year ahead
Finally, now you’ve taken the time to rest and recharge, taken time to do the things that you enjoy, taken stock of the achievements you’ve enjoyed and organised your workspace both physically and digitally, you’re in a strong position to plan for the year ahead.
Knowing what you’ve achieved in the last year, you should have a good idea of what other goals are on your list for the next year.
Whether you are looking to expand your skill set into a certain area, bagging a contract with a particular client, expanding your network or working on marketing your skills in a better way, it’s important to think these through and write them down.
Make a list of your goals and keep these accessible so you can refer to them throughout the year, ticking them off when each one is done.
You may also find it useful to write down a pathway to how you will achieve each goal. Let’s say you want to gain a new skill, you should research how you can do this and write down the steps to achieving this. Look at what courses you can enrol on, which institutions offer these, what the application process looks like and how much time you will need to dedicate to this and whether this is feasible.
Next steps – take a helping hand from an umbrella company
The festive period is a great time for contractors to take some time off, relax, take stock and plan for the year ahead.
If you’re looking to make your contracting life even easier going into 2025, then you may consider using the services of an umbrella company. After all, an umbrella company takes on all the hard work and hassle that comes as part of contracting, from invoicing, paying you a salary, taxes and finance, insurance, giving you holiday and sick pay, to offering useful help and advice.
If you’re looking to join an umbrella company in the new year, Umbrella Search can help. Our team of experts will work closely with contractors to find out exactly what they need from an umbrella company in order to find a provider that’s a perfect match.
See how we can help today and head into the new year prepared and ready to go.
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