Do you ever reach a point in the wonderful holiday season we’re in that you’re completely overwhelmed by everything and just want it to be over? If so have you reached that point yet? I reached the panic moment the other day when I realized that we’re past December 10 and that means less than 15 days until Christmas has passed! I’m not ready for the holidays to be over yet! As much as I love the holidays, something I am very aware of as a business owner is that life goes on beyond and during the holiday celebrations. It’s unrealistic to think that people’s lives stop just because we’re in this special time of year, so I shared a challenge with some of my newsletter subscribers to not waste opportunities that come their way this month even if it’s something that could wait until the new year or doesn’t have to do with the holidays.
This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot in recent weeks, knowing how busy everyone seems to be right now with life picking up the pace again and people going places and doing more things due to the stage of the pandemic that we’re in and then adding all the holiday festivities to it. I’m a huge fan of to-do lists, they’re great for helping me stay focused and on-task but not forget or panic about other important things that need attention. Over the last week though I’ve been a little more proactive and instead of just adding stuff to my to-do list, I’ve been taking stuff off it. I know, that’s what you’re supposed to do. But so many of us add stuff to that list that we think will just take too much time that we don’t think we have and as a result we put it off time and again.
What did I learn when I did some of the stuff on my to-do list? That’s right: it didn’t take as long as I thought it would or wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be or ended up working out better than I thought it would. And maybe most important besides the fact that stuff got done, is that I felt better about my holiday celebrations and the amount of time I wanted to spend on them because those things got tackled too. I don’t think the holidays should cause us to stop being responsible or stop us from living our regular lives. If anything it’s a great time to motivate ourselves to get stuff done because we’re very conscious of our tight timelines and are motivated to get stuff done quickly but thoroughly (no one likes to redo stuff that could have been done right the first time with a little effort).
So if you’re feeling inspired between Christmas Carols, candle lightings, holiday gatherings, home decorating, card sending and holiday shopping, take a couple of moments to get some of the other stuff done too. You’ll be more successful, motivated and hopeful in the new year if you don’t arrive on January 2nd to a to-do list that’s as long as the lists some kids send to Santa. What little (or big) projects and activities will you cross off your list this month and help set you up for better, faster, or more success in the new year?