Let’s face it: December can leave even the most resilient among us cursing at the burned out bulb on the blow up snowman or burning the midnight oil beneath mountains of scotch tape and gift wrap!
The sound of Christmas carols has evolved into the sound the bings and dings. No silver bells — just a steady barrage of text message “best deal of the year” notifications. And every marketer seems to cry out that we are their favorite holiday “VIP”.
Thank goodness that there is the Hallmark Channel reminding us that the solution to all of this holiday hustle is a warm cup of cocoa, a Christmas tree and a warm Christmas cookie baked for the new love that is just around the corner. Ah, the mysteries of mistletoe!
So…. here’s burning question for you:
How do you find time to harmonize the potential joy of this holiday season with the pressures of productivity and “to do” lists that keep growing daily?
Maybe the better question is, “how’s it going?” Wink!
Navigating December has been a huge topic with my clients these days because of course this all corresponds with the end of Q4 professionally!
Oh my! Where are Santa’s elves when we need them?
One of the strategies that my clients LOVE is called your “Personal Empowerment System™” (PES™).
We go through a personalized process where my clients create a virtual “care and feeding” manual for themselves. These are things that you can control and adapt so that you consistently are showing up at your best.
For some of my most high performing clients, this is the secret to how they turbo charge their day and manage to live each day to its max.
And yes, they learn that different conditions do require the need to shift things. That’s normal and actually how we develop our “resilience muscle” and get confident in our ability to adapt.
Even though each client’s mission is to develop their own “recipe”, there are quite a few overlaps that seem to show up in many clients’ holiday PES™.
I thought that even if I share just 3 of the faves, it might give you the edge to remain on the “Nice” list versus dipping into the domain of the “Naughty”.
So… (note the sound of 5 drummers drumming in the background)…
Here are 3 of my G.R.I.T. “tr’amily”s” (tribe + family) favorite PES™ Holiday “Hacks”:
- OUTER GAME: No matter how many things are pulling at you, remember that YOU choose how to own your time and how to adapt. Stay true to the core of your commitments then iterate. For example, if you get busy and start thinking about skimping on exercise, agree simply to do shorter workouts and increase your movement in other areas. If you have a standing desk, try doing an extra 30 minutes standing rather than sitting. Do some extra stretching while you’re watching that holiday classic. Shopping at one of the malls? Deliberately park farther away and walk at a brisker pace than normal. Help someone with their packages or help a neighbor with their Christmas lights. Get creative and then remember to acknowledge yourself for having found a way to adapt to change. Ninja secret: remembering to give yourself credit for even small accomplishments can be the thing that really moves the needle and builds lasting confidence and momentum.
- OUTER GAME: Rather than a “to do” list, try taking 5 minutes at the start of your day to create a mind map for the day ahead. Make decisions early on a fresh mind so that you don’t bump up against “decision fatigue” later in the day when your mind is getting tired. Visual mind maps allow you to group things appropriately so that you can be more efficient and get a real sense of how to organize. And always plan to need some time for the “unexpected”. Ninja tip: some of my clients love to use different color highlighters to then circle tasks based on the time that it takes to do them. That way, if a colleague is late for a meeting, they simply pick up their map and find something designated to take “15 minutes or less” and knock it out. Booyah! Adaptability can be your new favorite game! Bring on the dopamine!
- INNER GAME: Remember that it’s your thoughts that build the story and your story impacts how you feel about any experience. When you feel the panic and overwhelm begin to loom, take a breath. Remind yourself that this time of year is temporary. Rather than allowing your mind to (out of habit) feed your thoughts about what an exhausting time of year this is, try deliberately shifting your focus to things that DO please you. Where are the opportunities that are unique to this time of year? Love lights? Take a moment to drive around and consciously tell yourself how much you love this moment/ experience. Give yourself permission to pause and consciously experience the present (double entendre intended). Ninja tip: Deliberately commit to finding evidence to support that this is an “exciting”, “exhilarating” time of year. Allow yourself to appreciate the whoosh of being fully alive with an abundance of opportunities. Search out those “positive triggers” and give them your focus and attention. Share your appreciation with others or in a post or journal. Be more deliberate about the thoughts that you choose to focus on.
The message here?
This is the perfect time to remember that you — not your triggers — write the lines of your story. This can be the most exhilarating time of year or it can be the most stressful and inconvenient.
None of us will ever have the opportunity to live the moments of December 5, 2022 again so do we wait for the clouds to part and the stars to align — or do we dive in, allow ourselves to remember the joy that we so loved as children and commit to finding even that one thing that we can celebrate or discover?
Savor the whirlwind. Some moments in life are indeed hard, so why would we not absolutely embrace the moments in life when we have the potential to find/create such joy that its memories carry us through the challenges?
Stay fearless! Booyah!
Hope this helps! Let make it an EPIC holiday 2022!!
xoxo
Meridith
