Hello you all. Let’s dive right into this one.
You may or may not celebrate Christmas but typically, this time of the year can be beautiful and also incredibly stressful for small business owners.
Your staff is going away, you are expected to be present for family, and everyone is in a mad rush to finish everything off before we close.
As I reflect on how I feel about this time, I thought it would be kind of cool to play with some ideas with you.
A tiny survival guide on how to get through this time.
Here we go:
The biggest opportunity for inner work
Let’s be honest. There is possibly no other time of the year where we will be triggered more, exhausted more and pushed more than during the Christmas season.
Spending lots of time with friends and relatives is incredibly effective in showing you all of your crap. Your rage, your insecurities, and your recurring patterns.
And because I believe a strong Brand is created by a stronger mind and heart, how about we walk into this last bit of the year with the full intention to learn, to grow, to heal and consciously re-shape?
We’ve been warned, we know it will happen. So what will be the practices, the inner contracts or the boundaries that can help us shift old stuff, forgive and once and for all, move on?
Take stuff off the list
This is an invitation to be ruthless.
Because most of you are perfectionists like me. I challenge you to take some stuff completely off the end of the year, get done list. Really ask yourself, is it the end of the world if I simply don’t do this? Will my customers notice? Will my profits suffer?
Feel the relief…
Ahh….
Remember who you came here to serve
Like me, most of you spend lots of time in your business bubble. Your tribe, your Instagram conversation, your strategies, and sales. But during Christmas, we get to come out of that bubble and meet the uncle that still doesn’t ‘get you’. Or the cousin that asks you once more, when are you getting a real job.
So for this one, my advice is a bit different. Right before closing off for the season, read some of your best testimonials, spend a tiny bit of time remembering the difference you make. Connecting with those who you came here to serve and know that your work matters and makes a difference on its own terms.
Amplify a simplified Self-care
I’m not going to get complicated here. Really simplify your self-care survival routine, but do it no matter what!
Meditate maybe only 5 minutes a day, cut your walks to half the time, keep your tapping routine for every toilet break, carry some oils in your pocket and take a few deep breaths.
Create small but precious containers of care in the midst of the speed around you. Just a few tools to get you through. This is not the time to give ourselves a hard time for not continuing with our everyday rituals, or staying strict with our routine.
Loads of self-love, self-awareness and very deep breaths.
Be strategic about the type of tasks
It is a fact that we waste tons of time switching from creative work, to invoicing, to contacting last-minute client requests. For this period, being incredibly aware of the flow, or area you are working in and batching every single task with similar ones on your list can give you a productivity edge.
Group your to-dos. Keep it simple. Something like:
-people
-admin, numbers
-creative
Observe which time of the day works better for each and focus just on those!
There you have it.
We’ll get through this.
One bit at a time,
Good luck,
Cris
