Podcast Transcript
00:00
Even though they are the holidays, you’re still working, whether it be at a nine to five, your business, or whatever you’re doing, you are working, and you’re not slowing down because it’s the holidays.
00:18
To everyone, hopefully, everybody’s having a wonderful week. And if you celebrate the holidays, you’ve got that squared away, and there is no stress, and all you’re doing is enjoying yourself with your family. Also, you’re able to take some time off. One thing that seems to happen during every holiday is that the clients wait until the last minute to ask for an important request. So while they go on vacation, you’re working like crazy. And it’s been happening to me for years. And as I knew it would, it’s happening this year.
I wanted to discuss that because even though they are the holidays, you’re still working, whether it be at a nine to five, your business, or whatever you’re doing, you are working, and you’re not slowing down because it’s the holidays. And I know that it also depends on what part of the country in the world you’re in. Because in the US, some places are a very “hustle and bustle” mindset. Places like the DC area, where I live, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and other major cities. Different places have a slower pace of living. And so maybe they don’t deal with the amount of stress as people who live in those very busy, I want it today type of places. But if you live in those types of places, or you’re just feeling overwhelmed with the busyness of having to do everything, you feel like it’s a never-ending to-do list.
I want to tell you to take a step back and take charge of that to-do list take charge of that feeling of overwhelm. What happens during the holidays, I said in a previous podcast, but during the holidays is one of the periods throughout the year that people get depressed, whether it be due to loneliness, feeling just that they have nothing to be happy about, or grateful for. This is a time where they feel very, very depressed. And they think just sad about everything. It also could be because it’s the end of the year, and people tend to reflect on their lives.
If they have families and friends, they also have to deal with the gift buying and the decorations if you celebrate Christmas, and I assume that the other holidays also have some preparation that needs to be had. So I wanted to give you all some ways to tackle that busyness during the holidays and get to a place where you’re not feeling super stressed and burned out.
Outsource Your Life
The first thing I would say is to outsource. If you’re able to outsource, please do so. I did a YouTube video on the different areas that you can outsource your life. And I’ve decided to outsource parts of my life, and I have thought about it, and time is worth more than money and spending time doing things you dislike. On top of the fact that you are wasting that time doing that equated to how much your hourly rate is, and you’re wasting time doing that and outsourcing it for half of that hourly rate is worth the investment. I have outsourced cleaning. I used to do the cleaning in my house, and I was fine with it. When the baby was born and I was doing my MBA, I was so stressed that my house wasn’t looking the best. I decided it was time to hire a cleaner, and I now have her coming every week because I am selling the home. I want to make sure that I keep up the date Cleaning that she did and that I am exhausted, and I don’t feel like cleaning. So I do the spot cleaning, but she does the overall cleaning. And she is coming today, which I’m very, very happy about.
I’ve also outsourced going into the grocery store and picking up my groceries. On Saturday evening, I do my groceries, schedule the time, and go pick them up on Sunday. And that has helped me a lot. Because the older I get, the less I like being in groups. It just is too much for me. And one of the grocery stores, the main one that I go to, is the most overwhelming grocery store you will ever encounter. People are just pushing; it feels like it’s like Black Friday at a store for some reason. So I love the fact that I can schedule my groceries and drive up, pick them up and go on my merry way. And that saves me time as well. Because before, I would do the meal planning and make the grocery list to go along with that. And then I would have to go into the grocery store for another hour or two. So I’ve reduced that hour or two that I have to do that, especially in the holidays, I do that a lot. I do a lot of curbside pickups, whether it also be my groceries, it is going to target Walmart, whatever. I tried to take advantage of the curbside pickup, and believe me, that will help you with that overwhelm. So
06:33
if you are cooking a huge holiday dinner, order the groceries. You don’t have to deal with all the other people doing that as well. Think about hiring a cleaner. So you don’t have to worry about that either. If you have things to do around the house, hire a handyman. Find someone to watch the kids for a while. Those are things that have helped me. In the YouTube video, I also have found free alternatives to get these types of services without paying a lot if you aren’t making the amount of money that can’t afford to outsource these types of things. So there are ways that you can do that. But yes, definitely outsource as much as you can; that will help you.
Learn to Say No
The other thing is just saying no. When my kids were growing up, especially in elementary school, there were tons of activities. They were in the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, they did extracurricular activities, and tons of Christmas parties and holiday events were constantly coming up. And I did not say no. And then I was so tired and burnt out after that. But I had no one to blame but myself because if I didn’t want to do it, I should have just said no. And I didn’t. And so learn how to say that if you get, let’s say, five events, and you have the energy to go to one. Just go to that one. One thing I have learned about having an 18-year-old and 20-year-old is that if you’re not happy, they’re not happy. You sometimes, especially if you are a mother, feel this huge guilt of “Oh my gosh! Am I doing the right thing? Am I doing the wrong something?” I will let you know right now that as long as you’re happy and at peace, your kids will be okay, you can do things at home. One of the things that we always do every year is that we build a gingerbread house, which is very enjoyable than going to the 1000 parties that my kids were invited to. So really think and pick and choose what you want to do.
Keep Your To-Do List Simple
The other thing too is during the holidays when you’re making your to-do list, and this is something that is good practice even throughout the year, but especially in the holidays, don’t overwhelm your to-do list every day. Keep it to three to five. I have this pad that I bought from Amazon, and the reason I love it is because it has been listed as super important. So those are the things that I have to get done, then it has. If you complete this, then make this list. And then the third area is chill. This can wait. And that is helpful because there are some times that you put so many things on your to-do list, and they weren’t things that you had to get done. So really, during the holidays, especially be very mindful of what you think has to get done that day. If it’s a doctor’s appointment, of course, you have to go to your medical appointments, if it’s something that needs like, you know, don’t have to go for a certain reason. But if it’s something like, I don’t know, like, decorate this part of the house or something that can wait. Or guess what, it doesn’t get done at all. It won’t affect you this year because I had the huge issue of that bathroom renovation and repair, and they had to do the floors and all that the ceiling. It was a three-week job. I had to get the house ready for pictures. And then after that, I was like, You know what, I’m not decorating the home this year. I’m tired. I have a 19-month-old who is like a cat and will keep trying to rip the ornaments off the tree constantly. And even if you tell him no, this boy is stubborn. I don’t want to deal with that. And this year, even though I’m someone who religiously decorates my tree and tries to decorate the house with all this Christmas stuff, I didn’t do it. And my dad commented yesterday. He’s like, Wow, you have nothing decorated or anything this year. And the old me would have been feeling guilty and like, oh my god, what am I doing wrong. That’s the other thing too. Just take the feedback, take the comments. But don’t feel the need to feel any certain way of it. If somebody wants to criticize or comment on a decision you made, you can thank them or ignore it. And that’s what I just did this year, I don’t want to decorate, and I’m not going to feel bad about it. I have all this stuff at work.
Pick and Choose What You Want to Deal With
Then I’ve also learned how to pick and choose what I want to do at work. If I don’t want to go to a meeting, I have 1000 things to do. I will focus on those 1000 things other than going to this meeting that usually meetings are a waste of time. So I’m not going to waste my time going to a meeting where I’m optional. And that’s one thing that I’m going to make a podcast episode or a YouTube video about meeting etiquette because man people and email etiquette. Don’t put me as optional. And then when I don’t show up, why weren’t you there? I was optional. So I decided, and that’s where the Learn to say no to things comes to play. I chose not to go. And you shouldn’t be mad about it because you made me optional. And so that’s one thing: take charge of your life and learn to pick and choose what you want to attend what you want to do, say no to the rest, outsource and be true to yourself, and decide what will make you happy. You don’t need to decorate your house like crazy. You don’t have to buy all these gifts to feel like Christmas. And that’s something that I have learned. I even told my family because it seemed like no one was even thinking about the meal. I’m like me. We just cater that. And of course, like my family is more the type that they continue the tradition. So they balked at the idea. But whatever I contribute to that meal, I’m going to buy it at the store because I don’t have the energy to do it. And I will tell you. It feels so amazing to feel bad about things. Because you are taking care of yourself. And it just feels amazing.
So I just wanted to say that to people because I feel like sometimes a lot of us do things just because they were done that way or because we feel guilty or feel like our kids are going to miss out or we’re going to miss out. The majority of the time. It won’t. And if let’s say there is something that you felt was a mistake at the in, like later on, acknowledged that, learn from that and make sure not to do it again. So that’s all the little tidbits of advice that I can give you on dealing with the holiday, especially when you have a crazy amount of five or business and you have kids you’re dealing with and all the other stuff that goes along with that. Take care of yourself first. Think about what you want, and everyone else will be okay. I’ll talk to you soon. Bye.
Thank you so much for listening to the productivity pod podcast. Be sure to visit productivitypie.com to access the show notes, check out the videos, check out the other content. And also, if you can, please subscribe, give it a five-star rating and a review, and I will talk to you next week. Bye for now
