It’s that time of year again and now that the holiday season is in full swing, things are getting crazy. This is the time of year when things (and people) get insane, it becomes harder to manage everything there is to do and the overwhelm conversation begins in your head. Let me stop you right there. “Tis the season, but not necessarily for what you think. ‘Tis the season to delegate and say “no”!
The holiday and its madness don’t have to be synonymous; they do not have to coexist, but they will if you let them. Some people get wound up just at the thought of the holidays and become exhausted just at that point. Although it may be hard to manage your usual work day so that your business can keep running and fit in your holiday to-do items, it doesn’t have to be crazy. This is a good point to step back and look to see what you can delegate to someone else. Figure out who’s a good for for the task, give great instruction and a deadline and give it up. This is also a good point in time to start saying “no” if you’re not already in the habit. Before you agree to take something on, look to see if it fits your focus and if it fits into your schedule. If it doesn’t, the answer is “no”. When it comes to the holiday stuff, take inventory and reconsider the things that you always do that you don’t necessarily want to do. Give those things up and if the list of things you have to do gets too long, delegate some of the things on it as well or ask for some help.
Take a long look to see which things make sense and which ones don’t and if something’s not important, get rid of it. This includes those things that you consider to be tradition too. Do they make sense? Make the time to take that long, hard look at your usual holiday season and make some choices to get yourself to the point where the insanity isn’t part of your holiday festivities. Your holiday season can be a sane one, but you have to be the one to make it that way.