How to Keep Your Cool At Holiday Time and Still Get Everything Done This Year
It’s easy to forget January when it’s so far in the past… remember how much hope and drive you had? As we near the end of the year, it’s common to see colleagues, friends, and even ourselves pushing into that extra gear to close out the year strong. It’s also common to see those same people having some minor personal breakdowns due to what I call the “Dry Well Syndrome.”
Below are some tips to stay sane and successful at the same time.
1. Sort out the Work/Life Imbalance.
With added hours at work and pressures at home and nothing but the carrot of extended weekends keeping our feet moving forward, it’s easy for the most dynamic people among us to start feeling the exhaustion of running on fumes at work.
Right now, take a hard look at your “To Do” resolution list and try to see the correlative “To Be” goal that goes a little deeper. Pick a chore you really hate. For instance, Inbox Zero. What is meticulously cleaning out your email inbox setting you up to BE? Maybe more calm or relaxed? Would it be more relaxing to just simply archive everything and start fresh? How many hours could you save if you didn’t do that chore?
2. Create or Destroy
From a full well comes incredible creativity; and from a dry well comes incredible destruction. Destruction is an unwieldy mode. All you’ve built – your awesome relationships, your hard-fought successes, your accomplishments and precious stability – all of these become potential targets for your incredible ability to destroy.
Take a look around, are you being more creative or destructive lately? If destructive… the quickest way to turn that around is to get creative. This can be artsy-fartsy or it can be more businessy. Pick a fun and quick Resolution from your list and do it today! Maybe it’s creating a dart tournament for your buddies or maybe it’s making a Vine video with your kids.
3. Invite Help from a Friend Deadline
The quickest way to get something done is to tell all of your friends you are doing it. Give yourself an arbitrary deadline (4-6 weeks for anything kinda tough), and tell all of your friends on Facebook that you’re going for it. Tell them to hold you accountable if you don’t finish it… even invite them to participate or celebrate when you finish. This method helped me write my first novel and create my first public speech. It can help you cut sugar from your diet or sell all your old records.
BONUS TIP! Find a Mentor
If you’ve decided you have a specific project you want to master, you will want a mentor. This is where I can help you the most. Schedule a call with me to hone in on what you’re looking for and to see if I’m the right mentor for you in your goal-setting and life-planning.
Here I am on the Dr. Vibe Show, talking deeper about this piece…
Read other similar articles written by Dale at The Good Men Project:
- 20 Lessons From My Men’s Group That Have Improved My Life
- Who Is In Your Rowboat?
- Simple Wisdom from The Greatest Coach Of All Time
- Dry Well Syndrome
- The Myth of “Tomorrow”
Don’t forget to find me on Twitter.com/NextGent