🎩 Are you ready? 🥳 Here come the festivities! 🎉

Well, here we are - in the throws of another holiday season, with only 14 days until the new year is upon us! How time flies! 

I'm ready to savor these next few weeks and create moments to renew myself, so I can start the year nourished.  

Here's the thing:

I think it might be hard to come out of these next few weeks - Nourished! I'm typically more exhausted than I started, so I have to make some changes!!!! 

What about you? Do you come out of the holidays rested, exhausted, or somewhere in between? 

I've packed a lot into these next few weeks. 🎉🥳🎩 I'm planning to focus on 'maintenance' as a way to sustain my energy. Here's what I mean by maintenance. 

Sleeping - Stretching - Walking - Breathing - Drinking Water

I go for easy wins, 😅, these are all basic habits I know, but they are the minimum I need to stay centered. 

What's your 'maintenance' system?

How do you keep yourself fueled, focused, and relaxed during high-event-times?

One thing I do that allows me to mentally relax and be present when I'm going to take a break that is longer than a weekend.

Before I shut down work, I will focus on closing all the open loops I can. Plus, I will set my priority-matrix for when I return to work. 

WHAT?! I hear you. That was lingo. Let me explain….

I don't like to-do's hanging around; they niggle me. I call them open-loops - I don't know why this is what I call them…😅. But yet I do. I find my brain nags me about them not being done, so I knock out anything I can do in under 15-20 minutes and cross it off the list. 

During the last hour or so, I set myself up to return to work. 

I consider what I'll need to focus on first when I return. I capture my top, pressing matters and add them to my calendar, including setting aside the time. I like to protect that time so I don't get sucked into other priorities - I call this my priority-matrix. I can trust that when I sit down to work, I know what I need to do and already have the time set aside. Now you might call this ‘eating the frog' or addressing the 'elephant in the room' or using the Eisenhower matrix - whatever you call it, it's about setting the space aside to return with intention. 

I want to work - first - on the task that is in my 'important to future-self' section of the matrix. 

I don't like to sit down after a break and think, "Ok, now what?" Because then I focus on email, slack, and asana management. Which leaves me scattered and wondering where to focus. If I make the 'where-to-start' decision before I close shop, I'm calmer and more relaxed the entire break. 

When we had the store, I would arrive an hour or so before anyone else, so I had that uninterrupted time. If my big task was to ship out the orders that came in or clean up the returns, I could do that work with my coffee, music playing, and just bang through it. I eased myself into the return to work. 

What will be your first task when you return from your break - whether the gap is short or long? 

How will you tell your brain that it's ok to enjoy and relax? 

Happy end of the year to you! 🥳