Happy December!
I hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday with your families. It was our first holiday in our new house and I went a little bit crazy. We had 10 people and enough food for 20! It was great having the kids home, relaxing and spending time with loved ones. I admit, I’m not quite feeling ready for the craziness that is December!
Does anyone else feel like December is a month where you are behind before it even gets started? There are parties, parties and more parties, concerts, gifts, decorations, shopping, wrapping and yes, you still have a business to run!
About 9 pm on November 30th, I have an annual mini-panic attack just thinking about what is coming! Fortunately for me, I have a strategy for how to keep myself sane and productive during the month.
First, I don’t go shopping. My goal is not to set foot in a store. I usually do end up going to the store for some stocking stuffers, but that happens once and a little bit later in the month. I do still get Christmas gifts, but I do all of my shopping online. It saves me drive time, saves me time standing in line at the post office to mail packages, and saves me the stress of being around crowds of stressed out people. The presents for other people are mailed directly to them. It may not be as personal, but it’s the reality of what I can do. Which leads me into my next tip.
Second, I am realistic about what I can do! I would love to mail Christmas cards to all my loved ones, decorate every inch of my house, make home-made candy for all of the neighbors, crochet matching hats for all of my sisters, and host beautiful holiday parties. I would also be delusional thinking I could do it and would be setting myself up for stress, frustration, missing my business goals, and going into January feeling like a failure. Someday, I will get organized enough to work on all of those things throughout the year so I can do it all. But don’t hold your breath, it won’t be any time soon. For now, I have to focus on what is essential and what is doable. So we won’t have beautiful home made garlands over every door way. But hopefully we’ll have one!
Third, set work hours and honor them. I know that sounds like such a silly thing to do, but you’d be amazed how many entrepreneurs bomb in December because they are too busy to really get into their business. I’m working the same hours as any other month until my kids get out of school, and then I’ll adjust to holiday hours.
Last tip for you is to make sure you have a PLAN! Map out your holiday sales plan. Map out your budget and who you need gifts for. Map out your schedule of all of your activities and parties. Get prepared. Remember “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Benjamin Franklin