Tips for Relieving Holiday Deadline Stress
Christmas is meant to be enjoyable, but it can be stressful time of the year if you are a rushing to get everything done before the holiday. We have some tips to helps you to get through this period, so you can ease into a restful break this year.
Make a List
There is so much to do before Christmas! Book summer holiday accommodation for family and pets; school holiday arrangements; Christmas functions to attend; product orders to pack, process and dispatch; Christmas presents to buy; social media blogs and posts to set up; work rosters and holiday payments to organise. IRD is chasing up taxpayers who haven't lodged their 31 March 2024 income tax returns. GST returns for November to be done.
The list seems endless, when it keeps rolling around in your head. It can feel less daunting, just by writing it down.
Use Cards or Post-It Notes
Take 5-10 minutes to list all the tasks you think need doing before Christmas. Set a timer. Write one task on each piece of card, Post-It note, or use a planning tool like Asana, Trello or Monday.com.
Prioritise: Sort Them by Importance and Urgency
Use the Eisenhower Matrix[i] to sort your cards into urgent vs not urgent, important vs not important. Now you will have four stacks that you can label: Do – Schedule – Delegate – Delete/Park. Put the Delete/Park tasks into an envelope in your drawer. If you have time later, you can refer to these. Look back at your other three piles and critically analyse them, using the guidance below.
Choose Your Language Carefully
Changing your words and thoughts from “I HAVE TO…” to “I prefer to…” or I choose to…” can make a huge difference in the way you approach your tasks. If a task is seen as an obligation or a chore, then we can imbue it with negative feelings and be more likely to procrastinate. If we focus on the positive feelings associated with completing a task, we are more likely to do it. For example, compare “I have to tidy the lounge before the family arrives...” with “I get to enjoy relaxing on the couch with my family on Christmas Day.”
Manage Expectations
Adjust the expectations of people around you and your own expectations. “Let’s agree not to have Secret Santa presents...” a month before Christmas may appear to be a Grinchy move on the surface, but it makes a lot of sense in many ways. Not only will you save time spent in a busy shopping mall carpark, but you’ll have less stress from trying to find the prefect gift for someone you barely know, or appearing grateful for some cringeworthy ornament, tasteless clothing or plastic gimmick which breaks as soon as you look at it.
Self-Care Matters
Taking time to look after your health is a must, for dealing with holiday deadline stress. Mindful practices, meditation, exercise, making healthy food choices between Christmas feasts and getting quality sleep will all help your resilience over the pre-holiday season. For more ideas check out this Heart Foundation blog[ii].
Take Action!
Make a start! Schedule time at the start of day to work on a task that will have a big long-term difference. Set aside a time to talk with your delegate about the jobs you want them to take over. Do a couple of quick urgent items to get them off your list.
Quadrant 1: Urgent and Important – Do
These tasks require your immediate attention. If you spend too much time in this quadrant, you can feel the stress of constantly fighting fires. At the start of the prioritising exercise you may think that everything is urgent and important. But when you apply some critical thought, you can reduce this pile significantly.
Put due dates on your task cards or Post-It notes. Are the due dates fixed, or can they be delayed? Is it a task that you must do yourself, or can someone else be taught what to do? Can you adjust your expectations to reduce the pressure?
If a task is urgent, important and quick, do it first, such as handling a customer complaint. You can tick something off your list, bank a quick win and get some momentum before you tackle some bigger tasks.
Quadrant 2: Not Urgent and Important – Schedule
Tasks which are important for long-term success and have longer time frames need to be scheduled. If they are not scheduled, then they may quickly become urgent as a deadline approaches, or they may hinder future productivity. These might be tasks like strategic planning, a longer client project, employee training, or making decisions on capital expenditure or a new hire.
If you have a few important tasks to schedule, tackle the biggest and hardest one first, as Brian Tracy says “Eat That Frog!”[iii] Schedule time to work on the task early in the day, so the rest of your day goes more smoothly.
[i]
https://asana.com/resources/eisenhower-matrix
[ii]
https://heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/holiday-stress-try-our-top-5-tips-for-a-healthy-holiday-season
[iii] https://www.briantracy.com/blog/time-management/the-truth-about-frogs
Quadrant 3: Urgent but Not Important – Delegate
These tasks need doing soon but can be done by someone else. It can be challenging to delegate to others, particularly if you are concerned that quality may slip, but it can lead to long-term benefits. The person you delegate to can benefit from new skills and experiences, career progression, job satisfaction, a feeling of empowerment and being part of the team.
For instance, I delegated the task of vacuuming the family car to my two children, then aged 10 and 7. It took them three times as long and they didn’t get all the sand out of the seat creases. But they enjoyed the autonomy and responsibility, they learned how to use the equipment, gained a useful skill and they had fun vacuuming while singing along with Taylor Swift. Each time they vacuum the family car, they get progressively better and faster at it.
Delegating involves setting aside time to talk with the person you are delegating to, ensuring that you have a mutual understanding of the scope and goals of the task. You need to check that the person has adequate training, resources and time to complete the task. If there isn’t someone in your team or family that you can delegate to, consider hiring a professional. My mother recently hired a company to clean her Venetian blinds. Not only did it save her time and her back, but they did it quicker and more thoroughly than she could have done. I know of a toy store in Christchurch that will choose, wrap and send presents to children for you. You just need to advise the age and interests of the child and your budget.
Quadrant 4: Not Urgent and Not Important – Delete or Park
When you have dealt with the first three piles, you can open your envelope in the drawer containing the fourth pile. Some of these tasks you can delete straight away as they are time wasters, such as browsing social media without a purpose, or attending meetings that don’t add value. Other tasks may be slotted in as a rest break, before refocussing on a longer task, such as reading a trade magazine.
Meetings should have a clear purpose and agenda, should only involve the people that are impacted, and should lead to better understanding of an issue or lead to a decision. Consider replacing unnecessary meetings with project management tools, a brief one-to-one conversation or an email.
Enjoy the Holiday Season
You have made your list, checked it twice, done, delegated or scheduled your tasks leading up to the holiday. Nice! Your action planning not only helps you manage your holiday deadline stress, but it also helps you to focus on what matters to you. Embrace the festivities and happiness of the holiday season, knowing that you have a clear plan. Take time to relax, celebrate with loved ones, and enjoy the festive spirit without the burden of stress. Here's to a productive and joyful holiday season!
- Serena Irving
Serena is a director in JDW Chartered Accountants Limited, Ellerslie, Auckland. JDW is a professional team of qualified accountants, business consultants, tax advisors, trust and business valuation specialists.
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An article like this, which is general in nature, is no substitute for specific accounting and tax advice. If you want more information about the issues in this article, please contact your adviser or the author.
