It’s Coming!

“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire….”  News flash – the holidays are coming!  Yes it was just Halloween – next – Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Christmas and National Fruitcake Day.  In addition to these joyous occasions – throw in year-end, budgeting, reporting on your goals, performance appraisals, holiday parties, your childrens’ holiday parties, decorating the house, shopping for food, presents, snacks, long lines, short tempers, weird relatives, saying yes, no or maybe – using “I’ll try” a little too often.  It adds up to one big stress ball – UGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

I’m devoting my blogs in November to you – you’ll see a multitude of tips and suggestions to not only survive the holidays but thrive during the holidays.  I post these tips twice a week – Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Be sure to pass this and the other blogs around so the stress around you lessens – which is your first tip!

It’s amazing to me that the holidays sneak up on people – they are at about the same time every year.  Plan ahead!  Here are some steps to get you started to make your holidays as stress free as possible.

Step 1:  Brainstorm and write down all the activities that you will need to do between now and the end of the year.  Include special shopping trips for holiday meals, phone calls, decorating, parties, gift purchasing, work projects and special reports, etc.  This list includes all the “stuff” you have to get done, leave out the optional activities – they clutter up an already cluttered mind.

Step 2:  Go through the list and mark which activities you could do immediately.  By each activity that you’ve identified, put a “no later than” date (For example, if you plan to buy some gifts that you’re going to give on December 25th, your “no later than” date is December 24th.)

Step 3:  Get out your calendar for November and December.  Schedule those time sensitive activities on the calendar.  (for example, shopping for Thanksgiving dinner would be scheduled for two or one day prior to Thanksgiving day.)  Do the same for time sensitive work projects – if you have to wait for information from someone else, put the date you’ll receive the information on your calendar and schedule to work on the project in the days following.

Step 4:  Your list should now include those items you can do immediately no later than a certain date.  Look through your list and select two to four activities per week to accomplish.  Schedule them on your calendar.  Do your best to start them at the beginning of the week and complete them no later than the end of the week.  If you run out of things to do in any given week – you can always add activities in.

Tip:  I plan to do activities that require me to be out in public before I do activities that I can do at home or in the office.  I do this to avoid the holiday crowds as much as possible.

Step 5:  Review your calendar each week regarding what you plan to accomplish.  Make adjustments as necessary.  As much as you can, stick to what you need to do just that week.  So much stress comes from anticipating what needs to happen in the future.  Using these steps, you’ve got that covered.

Do you have any tips to share?  How do you get everything done during November and December?  What do you do to relieve your stress?  Leave you comments below.

If you know anyone who might benefit from the tips of the next month, please pass this along.  Encourage them to subscribe below, so that will be one less thing they need to remember.

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