I enjoyed giving a presentation Wednesday to a group of professional women at Houston Healthcare in Warner Robins. The presentation dealt with reducing the stress that comes with the holidays. I asked the group to first identify the triggers that in the past have caused stress. I next asked them to envision what their perfect holiday would look and feel like. One of the main thrusts of the presentation was time management. While we are all pretty good about putting the major events on the calendar like parties and programs, we usually do not put down the times we plan to do holiday chores and rituals. As we went through the common rituals like shopping, decorating, sending cards and gifts, baking, parties at our home – I put on the calendar all the dates this would take place. By the time that was complete the calendar was pretty full – and the day to day living events like weekly grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, choir, children’s activities, paying bills, going to work, etc. was not on this calendar. I believe it was an eye opener. What could be dropped without losing the Christmas vision? What was on the list that eats a lot of time and causes stress – could it be dropped? The positive side of having all of these events on the calendar was that you could see how much time was devoted to the tasks and you did not have to worry about when you were ever going to find the time to do a task, because the task was already scheduled. This would allow you to go shopping with your children at the time you scheduled and really be in that moment with them without worrying about what else you should be doing. This allows you to throw a party and enjoy the party stress free because you have planned every task leading up to the party and have written those times on your calendar. We also covered tips on how to keep the clutter low and use the time wisely when decorating, writing cards, gift wrapping, and baking. The women were very responsive and I enjoyed the experience.
Jonda S. Beattie Professional Organizer
