3 Tips to Cure Holiday Overwhelm at Work
Nov 26, 2023
Is it just me, or did you also notice that the holiday decorations and advertising started earlier this year? Like before Halloween?
My first reaction was like one of those cartoon characters who gets surprised and his eyes bug out about three feet.
My first thought was about everything I have yet to do this year.
My first feeling was overwhelm.
How about you?
Yes, it’s “the most wonderful time of the year”…and yet all of us are susceptible to missing the wonder of it all due to overwhelm that accompanies the holidays.
Check out these 3 Tips to Cure Your Holiday Overwhelm at work:
Focus on Positive Strengths
First, focus on positive strengths.
You are shoved toward an impending sense of lack during the holidays from Madison Avenue to Your Street. This scarcity mentality afflicts you at work as well, shifting your focus to the negative.
Choose to focus on positive strengths. Make a list of what’s going well at work right now. Note the strengths of the year so far and include financials, significant product developments, additional team members, customer problems solved, and new referral relationships.
Then begin each work day by reading your list. This single strategy pivots your mindset from negative—what I don’t have—to positive—what we’re doing well. Since you see what you’re looking for, you add to your list daily as you discover more positive strengths.
Focus on Positive Situations
Next, focus on positive situations.
Overwhelm produces anxiety which shuts down your strategic ability to focus on positive situations. You see Mt. Everest in its entirety instead of the first step that leads to the second step which gets you to the summit. Rather than focusing on what you can do, you shut down because you can’t do it all at once.
Do One Thing (DOT) today. Working off a list of those action items that you can do. Think of them as positive situations from which you leverage the kind of forward motion your work culture needs to reach your goals.
Focus on this list and prioritize it. Pick one activity and Do One Thing (DOT) to check it off. Build on the positive momentum you gain from this activity and move forward some more.
As you achieve more, your focus on these positive situations sharpens like a laser. You discover more positive situations and your attitude shifts from overwhelm—“what I can’t do”—to achievement—“what I can do.”
Focus on Positive Signals
Finally, focus on positive signals.
Your feeling of overwhelm emerges during the holidays more as a reaction to the realization that the year is about to end than anything else. Your mind goes to what isn’t done, how little time there is left to do it, and the impending sense that it’ll be undone as the new year begins.
Instead, honestly evaluate what you’ve already accomplished toward next year’s goals. Then strategically act on the positive situations you can now, using your positive strengths accrued through the year. Determine what barriers prevented further growth.
Then assess the positive signals emerging as this year nears completion. These signals are your springboard to positive growth for next year. What are the positive strengths? What are the positive situations? How do these project more positive signals in the new year?
Focus on these positive signals and cure your holiday overwhelm. Discover excited anticipation for the upcoming new year. Prepare to truly enjoy this most wonderful time of the year!
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