Upcoming Holiday Tips

3 Upcoming Holiday Tips

I know what you are thinking…holidays already????

But, hear me out!

Haven’t you felt before that time just flies by? To me, it feels like it is still 2020! Holidays are fast approaching and while we are getting back into the grind of things after summer vacation, we can miss other opportunities to take time off. There is no such thing as “too much time off!”

As I have always said, taking time off is very beneficial to your productivity because your brain rests from your working tasks and you get to socialize with your family and friends! Which, could produce even more helpful and efficient ideas later!

I have here, 3 tips for business owners and families to help you prepare for the upcoming holidays so that you are less stressed (or completely stress-free) and are at your most productive-self!

Order Supplies

“Order supplies” is a different tip for business owners and families. But the general idea is the same. Ordering supplies before it is necessary helps you beat the rush and potential stress when you are very close to the day of.

Supplies for Business Owners

For business owners, order extra supplies that pertain to your business. Either supplies to make your products or supplies to help around your store such as cleaning supplies or decorations.

You might also want to decide ahead of time what holidays you will be recognizing as a company. Does it fit with your brand and messaging? Will your ideal customers expect you to celebrate it?

Family Supplies

For families, holidays could mean that kids are off from school. Do you have activities to occupy them? Will you be off from work as well? Is it a 3 day weekend – will you do something fun?

Just like business owners, you will need to buy supplies for these days. Supplies could mean cleaning supplies for the house, decorations as well, or supplies to keep the kids occupied such as arts and crafts.

However, knowing when these holidays are and what is happening leading up to and after the holiday is helpful when buying supplies.

Make Schedules and Delegate When Necessary

Planning your time via schedules can really help you decide if you need to delegate work. This applies to the workplace, if you are taking vacation, or for families, if you need to coordinate the kids.

Working Schedule

Knowing and creating schedules can really help with delegating tasks if:

• You are going on vacation

• Another team member will go on vacation

If you are going on vacation, you can see other team members’ schedules and delegate your tasks to them that won’t swamp them with more tasks or you can give them complimentary tasks that fit their current workload.

If a team member of yours goes on vacation, you will have your schedule already and can set your boundaries and limitations on taking on additional work.

Family Schedules

For families at home, having a schedule for everyone in the house can help when it comes to planning vacation time especially with older kids who have their own activities.

It isn’t that much different than a team setting in the workplace, actually.

Here are some questions that could help you set up a schedule:

• Which, if any, parent has the holiday (or future holidays) off?

• Can the family take a little vacation for that holiday?

• Does any kid have an activity, like a soccer game, during that holiday time?

• If no parent or older kid is available, are external family members like aunts/uncles/grandparents available during this holiday time to watch the younger kids?

Coordinate and delegate tasks and activities throughout the family in order to make sure activities are done efficiently and there is enough relaxation time for the whole family! This relaxation time is also for the children as well.

Just as us adults need a break from our working tasks, so do kids! They are quite energetic, but no human (of any age) can be work-focused 24/7.

Set Your Budget

Setting schedules and delegating tasks also correspond with budgeting.

Budgeting is going to be a big topic in my articles for this month’s theme “preparing for the grind.” There are many types of budgeting, which I cover below, and how they match with the upcoming holidays!

Financial Budgeting is Important

It is easy to overspend during the holidays especially around holidays centered on delicious food and gifts, but we also want to keep in mind our financial goals.

If you are a business owner, it could be tempting to give big promotions and discounts to celebrate the different holidays, but does it fit with your financial plan for that quarter/year? Promotions are great, but we also don’t want you to go out of business either!

For families, if you do like to jump into the holiday spirit, it is good to adjust your day-to-day or month-to-month financial budget to accommodate for this time. Make sure that what you spend coincides with your overall family financial plans.

Make Time Work for You

Besides, financial budgets, time budgets are a huge factor when it comes to the holidays. We cannot be in multiple places at once. In a way, budgeting your time is like creating a schedule.

Which task or side of the family will have your time?

When it comes to work tasks, it is good to set specific times for each activity. Not only does it give you a deadline, but also something to look forward to if you are not hyped on what you are doing.

For example, you can have answering emails as 15 minutes of your day in the morning. Or, you can have 2 hours to clean the house.

Your emails or the house might not be finished, but at least you did the most you can for that time. You can always schedule additional time later.

Just avoid leaving a huge time void: “I will spend all day cleaning the house.” This usually ends up with not one inch of house being cleaned because there was no time limit.

When it comes to family, I cannot give you a precise time budget. That is very much on you and your relationships! But, I will say, if you are expected to visit both sides of the family for the same holiday, maybe dedicate one day each or breakfast with one side and then dinner with the other.

The biggest advice I have here – communicate. State what the plan is to everyone so there will be no hurt feelings later.

Keep an Eye on Your Health

During the holidays, health is often a bit forgotten. Normally this is related to food (aka physical health), but it can also be mental health too.

I am not a health coach, but I do know that your body can feel bad sometimes after eating.

Listen to your body. We don’t want you becoming sick!

Holidays can be stressful for a variety of reasons and becoming sick due to overeating shouldn’t be one of those reasons! Make sure to consciously set boundaries when it comes to your physical and mental health.

A huge example I can offer is: taking a walk around the block when politics comes up at the dinner table. It is a 2-for-1, you get some physical exercise as well as a mental break from the political conversation.

This also stems into relationship health. We currently live in a tense political era, unfortunately. But we have to remember that our family is our family and we don’t want to cause a divide. Going on that walk, staying out of the conversation, can help.

Have Realistic Expectations Plus Some

However, I don’t want you thinking that everything will end in flames. My last advice is budgeting your expectations. Normally, people say this for having lofty expectations and not realistic ones, but this can also be for low expectations or expectations that things will be a disaster.

When thinking about success, either in business or for a family party, you will want to think it will succeed and everything will be great. But don’t set your expectations way over the possible.

This will help with feelings later on. Because when something didn’t meet our high expectations, we usually feel quite down. But, if we have really low expectations, it could give us inhibitions going into the situation and we end up not enjoying it anyways; therefore, meeting that low expectation.

Have realistic expectations with a dash of extra positivity and you should be all set!

As always, if you need a little boost in your productivity and or if you need a partner in your productivity journey, schedule a free 30 minute call with me!

If you aren’t ready yet, be sure to sign up for the monthly newsletter to receive free exclusive content!