We all do it, find December comes round faster than we thought and then we think eek… I have so much to do before the big holiday event!

This adds to our increasingly busy weeks leading up to taking time away from our business over the holidays, which by the way, is good for us, time to reflect and refresh our inner energy.

So, how can we minimise these feelings which can ultimately leave us feeling frazzled and our poor adrenals working overtime? In the past, I’ve found that feeling usually meant I was grabbing for the nearest chocolate or glass of wine just to keep going!

It was a few years back now that I took planning December into hand and decided to be more organised (like I am in so many aspects of my life and business). I wanted to make sure I still kept going to the gym, that my food was wholesome & not just grabbed on the run, ultimately to have the energy to enjoy the festivities.

How many times have you found you’ve gotten to a holiday only to be absolutely worn out and in bed with a cold or illness?

Ok so how do we change this situation?

 

Here are the 5 steps I’ve found useful..

 

1. List out everything I need or want to fit in whether that’s business tasks or personal events, on a big sheet of paper. I love and use colour coding for everything in my diary! So grab your colour pens and put your business events in one colour and your personal ones in another so you can distinguish between the two. I like to segment my activities into 6 colours – business x 2, personal/leisure, family, uni work, and personal development. You can use whatever suits your lifestyle.

2. Plot in the default items. I use a planner, but you can use your diary if you have enough space or print the A4 blank planner I’ve got here for you.

Click here to download the monthly planner.

Click here to download the weekly planner.

I enter all the default actions or events (these are non-negotiable) I have to have in my week, for example working hours and business appointments (especially if not flexible), school runs, cooking meals, driving kids to activities, gym sessions and of course my all important sleep time. Colour code your activities on your planner and tick off the items on your list.

3. Look at the items left on my list and decide on my priorities. I look at how & why they’re needed or whether they are just a desire. I give everything on my list a number 1-3 in priority order, 1 being the most important and necessary and 3 being something that I’d like, if I have enough gaps left.

4. Add my no.1 items to my planner at the appropriate times for my schedule. I colour them and reassess the balance of my activities. I always make sure I have work, play, family and self care in order to maintain my ‘conditions for success’ (we all have these, I run a course on this very subject).

5. At a glance (seeing the colour helps) I decide what time I have left and what areas or types of activities are missing or I need to fit in. I go back to look at my no. 2 activities and add any that I feel are needed.

What I often find is that what I thought I had to do, by the end of the exercise, doesn’t seem as significant because I’ve had to really think about and prioritise my actions which either cancels some activities or puts them further down the list of importance.

I find this works at keeping me on track with my lifestyle goals rooted firmly at the heart of all I do, which I know is what allows me to live and work at my optimum and thoroughly enjoy the wonderful festivities with family and friends.

I’d love to help you plan an amazing December, if you have any questions feel free to drop me a line at sarah@smpoweronline.com

Happy festivities ?