Ease Your Holiday Stress With These Tech Tools

The end-of-the-year holiday season is a busy time in many offices. While cheery music and festive lights can put a smile on your face, an undercurrent of "need-to-rush" paired with holiday demands at home often creates a pervasive atmosphere of holiday stress underneath that smiles. Luckily, technology has plenty of tools to help you ease your stress this holiday season. Check out these administrative tech tools for a smooth end of the year.

Headspace

Meditation is an easy way to clear your mind and reduce stress, and it doesn't have to take a lot of time. Headspace is an easy-to-use application that walks you through the meditation process. Instead of taking a break online with some random Web surfing, open up your Headspace app and watch your holiday stress float away.

Workflow

Use the Workflow app on your smartphone to automate the things you do every day. Workflow makes your smartphone work a little bit more like a full-size computer. Set up sequences of tasks with an easy drag-and-drop interface, and the app helps you get things done. Automate things like photo storage, invitation RSVPs and shopping lists to keep both holiday tasks and regular office routines organized. Decluttering your mind reduces holiday stress at work and home.

Elfster

Elfster takes the stress out of setting up office gift exchanges. This electronic elf draws names, notifies the members of the gift exchange about their gift recipient and sends helpful reminders to exchange members throughout the holiday season. It also lets participants create useful wish lists and bios to assist their giver in finding just the right gift. Keep the focus on fun and generosity while reducing holiday stress with this helpful app.

MailLift

If you love the idea of sending out handwritten cards but just don't have the time, MailLift is available to help you out. This administrative tech tool takes your electronic text and has real people translate it to handwritten cards and notes. MailLift also hand addresses envelopes and mails correspondence from your local post office. Send MailLift your holiday card list, and cross another item off your to-do list.

Hipmunk

Hipmunk makes booking holiday travel arrangements easy. Compare prices, get personalized travel recommendations and, best of all, do it fast. Hipmunk prioritizes simplifying and speeding up the travel booking process so that you have less stress and more time for other things.

Slack

Slack is the easy way to communicate with everyone at work. Chat one on one, collaborate with team members in a private group, or brainstorm in large public forums. Quickly share files with the exact users who need them. Slack reduces phone tag and the time spent waiting for email replies. Regular communication keeps productivity levels even throughout the busyness of the holiday season, further reducing holiday stress.

When holiday stress strikes, look to your tech toolkit for solutions. These helpful apps reduce stress by automating processes, increasing productivity and helping you keep a positive attitude. Keep your spirits up to reduce your inner Grinch and spread holiday cheer throughout your organization.

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