Hands up who’s knackered and wishing they’d taken more breaks over the Autumn? Yes? Me too!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard ‘If we can just get *this* out of the way we can make it to Christmas’. [For *this* insert your own particular brand of nightmare – budget / awayday / board session / performance reviews etc.]

Your growing to-do list is the Grinch that’s stealing Christmas right now.

It’s enough to make you retreat under a blanket and binge watch Elf until it’s all over.

But never fear, my tips for a more relaxing and doable festive season are here.

And it involves ‘making’.

But don’t worry, I’m not guilting you into making your own Christmas decorations (for goodness’ sake unsubscribe from the YouTube Christmas crafting channel with the annoyingly perky presenter). And don’t let Jimmy handy-bloke-who-lives-on-a-farm convince you that you have to build a new outside firepit to roast your Christmas turkey!

This ‘making’ is much less guilt-inducing. It’s the Make 3 recipe:

1. Make space
2. Make merry
3. Make it count

So, let’s tackle this delicious festive morsel one bite at a time.

1. Make space
Have a really honest look at your diary and to-to list for before the end of December and prune it with gusto. And that doesn’t mean shove it all into January and hope for the best (it’s still not a Magic Month).

Use your Holiday Hustle skills to be ruthless about what’s really going to get done before the sleighbells ring.

Why?

• Calling a halt on it now reduces stress for you and the team and creates more credibility than admitting on 22nd December that it just won’t happen.
• Focussing on doing high value work well is much better than trying to get it all done badly and having to revisit or unpick things in January.

2. Make merry
Take an actual step back over Christmas – whether you celebrate it or not – to allow yourself some much-needed re-charge time.

Turn the alerts off. Don’t doomscroll the emails. Put the tablet down.

Why?

• It’s been another tough and uncertain year and many clients I talk to are limping to the finish. You’re going to need all your energy to get next year off to a flyer.
• You may like to kid yourself that the salient and wise email you sent on 27th December is adding value. But it’s just disturbing everyone else’s Christmas and the advice will be out of date by the time you’re back in January anyway.

3. Make it count
Make January the best it can be. Plan for maximum impact now. Move operational meetings to make way for more strategic ones. Create time to think. To plan. To create.

Why?

• Next year is set to be a doozy for cagey uncertainty. You’re going to need all the ideas, scenario plans and quality time with the team you can get.
• Starting the year on a high will hopefully set the tone for both you and your team’s energy levels. Result: engaged and healthy leader = engaged and healthy team.

I wish you all the best for a fabulous, festive break and a fantastic new year.