By Alexandra de Vries, DLD Blog Editor
Happy New Year!
There is nothing like starting the new year with a clean slate. And although I am not a big fan of New Year’s Resolutions – I read somewhere that 80% will have failed by February – I do like making a fresh start.
Here are some tips for taking the time to reboot and do some physical and mental housekeeping.
1. Clean up your workspace
If you are anything like me, you probably have a desk or a corner packed with papers, notes, business cards and flyers from conferences.
I have been told that a clean and organized workspace helps you think better. Clutter interferes with our concentration. If you are afraid of throwing anything out, you may benefit from the book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” by Marie Kondo.
She recommends separating your paperwork into three categories; one that you are currently need, one that you must save for a certain amount of time and one that you must keep forever. Everything else should be thrown out! She also suggests handling each piece of paper only once and immediately giving it a destination or tossing it. If you want to tackle other areas of your house or office, she also has great tips for cleaning out your closet, kitchen and more.
2. Update glossaries and resources
I know we often plan to organize all the information we accumulate as we work: glossaries, useful links, notes. How about taking some time to organize all this information in a handy, searchable format like a spreadsheet, google.docs or putting everything into one folder on your computer. Then afterwards, you can toss (read: recycle) any excess paper copies or notes.
3. Enhance your language skills
Most of us interact with our work languages on a regular basis, but often that means translating, reading newspapers, researching terminology or communicating with clients or families.
When was the last you read a novel, watched a movie or documentary or picked up a magazine just for fun?
4. Refresh your professional knowledge
Check the calendars of your professional associations to find upcoming courses, conferences or workshops. These always provide a great excuse to travel and meet knew colleagues. But even if you are unable to travel, there are many great professional development opportunities online. In addition to courses targeted specifically at interpreters and translators, you can also enhance your knowledge with a wide range of other courses provided free of charge. The best-known platform is Coursera (https://www.coursera.org/), which even offers free courses as Stanford e Princeton, as well as courses in several other languages.
5. New skills and abilities
Us the new year to challenge yourself and try something new (I have taken up figure-skating lessons). How about a photography course, cooking classes, art school or perhaps volunteering?
6. The Happiness Project
Although I am hardly the self-help book advocate, in recent years I have enjoyed reading the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (https://gretchenrubin.com/books/the-happiness-project/about-the-book/). She looked into what it takes to make us happy and designed a one-year plan with small steps you can take to transform those resolutions into a lasting change in behavior. Very interesting food for thought that includes some tips on sticking to your resolutions.
7. Relax!
If those projects are starting to come in fast and furious and deadlines are stressing you out, try relaxing your body and mind with meditation. In addition to relieving stress, mediation can improve your concentration, increase your mental clarity and make you sleep better. I often don’t have time to attend a course or class so once again the internet comes to the rescue with great resources. I enjoy mindful meditation, guided meditation exercises that help you relax. See for example: marc.ucla.edu/mindful-meditations. YouTube also provides a large selection of relaxation exercises and music for mediation (see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRd-GLn3QBU) or download an app such as CalmMind or Relax.
8. Just do nothing
We have gotten so used to always being online, often working on weekends, checking e-mails at night, meeting deadlines that we hardly ever completely disconnect. Maybe we should all make a resolution to just do nothing every now and then and leave all those other tasks, chores and goals for another day.