How to Avoid the Post Holiday Slump

I love holidays, and by holidays, I mean all of them. Our family celebrates every holiday, including a family golf outing followed by a party on US Independence Day at my sister in law’s home, dinner with 50-70 family members on American Thanksgiving at the same sister in law’s house, an evening with 60-80 family members on Christmas Eve at a different sister in law’s home, and Easter with 60+ at our home. Holidays are a big deal in our family, and I love it for the most part. What I don’t love is the post holiday slump.

What is the post holiday slump?

It took me years to realize that the post holiday slump wasn’t inevitable. After every big holiday my life ground to a stop, sometimes for a week or more. My house started looking like feral dogs lived there. My laundry piled up, paper piles erupted everywhere and my energy dried up. For someone who loved her high energy, it was incredibly frustrating. The worst part was feeling like I recovered from one holiday just in time to gear up for the next one, and I never seemed to catch up. As I got older, that got even scarier because my energy reserves before the holiday were less and less every year. Fortunately I learned a few simple changes that made a huge difference before, during and after the holidays.

The first step – make a list

Duh, right? Everyone knows to make a list when they have several things to do. The challenge is to follow through and do what’s on the list, but guess what? Creating a daily list before the holiday madness starts staves off the holiday slump later, especially when you make the list manageable on a daily basis. Before the holiday zaps your energy invest fifteen minutes per day for a month or two before to avoid the holiday rush, stress and possible meltdown of crisis cleaning, staying up too late and seeing your list get longer and longer. If you don’t think fifteen minutes can make a difference, read The Magic of Fifteen Minutes and give it a try. I organized my home and my life this way without stress, and I love it so much I teach it to other people. The blessing is that after the holiday I can take things slower and keep my post holiday list smaller. The first year I did this, I kept waiting for the overwhelm, and it didn’t come. It was like magic.

The second step – create goals a different way

Another thing that helps me with holiday planning is breaking my year into quarterly goals.  That might sound crazy since the holidays don’t necessarily line up with a 12 week cycle. What I learned, though, is to effectively create momentum 12 weeks at a time with the book The Twelve Week Year.  You see, I have a habit of thinking I can do much more in a day than I can but much less in 12 weeks than I can.  This book helps you create standards that stretch you without breaking you so you don’t get discouraged and quit. It fights the post holiday slump by showing you how small steps and little bits of progress make a huge difference over time.

This book details the process of breaking big goals into weekly and daily goals to make more progress in your life than you ever have.  A word of warning; it takes a cycle or two to get the hang of doing this well.  I saw success in the first cycle but made several adjustments along the way.  In the second cycle, I saw more success than I thought possible. Each cycle gets easier, and I get better at creating a plan I can stick to and be successful with. It’s like having a magic plan book made just for me.

More magic plan resources

Whether it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter or some other holiday, you can have the best holiday season ever by joining the Moving Toward Better community. Every article and email is dedicated to helping you live a better life based on your unique personality. The Moving Toward better philosophy is that everyone is born with gifts and talents and the best way to live is to empower people to use those gifts and talents well. Ever been told you are bossy, flighty, overly sensitive, overly critical? What if those very traits are the ones that make you special, and when you understand yourself, you can maximize your strengths and let others shine too? Doesn’t that sound like a great way to live?

Your personalized plan to avoid the holiday slump

Everyone’s journey through the holidays is different, but that journey can be more fun, more organized and easier than ever before. We can improve holiday success even more when you embrace your unique personality. To do that sign up below for the Moving Toward Better email community and learn to live your best life powered by your personality. Start with the article Which of the four personality types are you? Check out Positive Personality Profiles and sign up for your own personality assessment and consultation. As always, thanks for being you and have a great day. As always, thanks for reading, thanks for being you and have a great day!