At some point in my childhood, I noticed that by late afternoon on Sundays, the carefree fun of the weekend would simply disappear, replaced by butterflies in my stomach that signaled a brand new week was about to begin—a week for which I had done nothing to prepare. A Monday morning which would be a miserable scramble to get myself and my stuff together and off to school—usually late and with mismatched socks. It was a lousy way to start the week. Even worse, I had to suffer the pre-traumatic-stress syndrome of a lousy week before it had even started. While I hated to spend a minute of my precious weekend time readying myself for the week ahead, I hated the alternative even more.
Like Sundays, December has been served up as a time when we have an inalienable right to shop, hang out, and party. While it is a great time to kick back and coast, it’s also a golden opportunity to prepare to hit the ground running in the new year. If you make use of your down time in December, you will not only wake up in January feeling focused, in control, and ready to zoom right out of the gate, you will radically increase your chances of success in 2009.
Consider elevating these to the top of your list of December goals:
- Clean up
- Rest up
- Gear up
Clean up your stuff.
Have you noticed that stuff comes at us at an alarming rate these days? So as the year draws to a close, you will likely find that you’ve collected a ton of paper as well as a slew of electronic clutter on your computer and sundry handheld devices. December is the time to weed through it so that you can feel the joy of being on top of your stuff, not buried by it. Nothing like having clean, never-used file folders at the ready to evoke the sweet memory of a brand new pencil-box! And while you’re at it, why not get rid of some of the other stuff you’ve amassed—clothing, furniture, tchotkes of every conceivable stripe. In the spirit of giving, consider handing your stuff over to an organization that will get it to people who can actually use it!
If you’re on board conceptually, but the thought of actually doing this makes you feel lightheaded, start small. Do a manageable chunk, something you can start and finish in one sitting—for example, clean out five folders or re-arrange a drawer. If you’re not naturally drawn to the organizational arts, consider the following to help keep you honest:
- Make an appointment to do it. Yes, literally, put it on your calendar. This is every bit as important as getting highlights at the salon, isn’t it?
- Tell a friend that you are committed to doing this and ask her/him to hold you accountable. The peer pressure thing never goes out of style.
- Give yourself rewards for your progress. Even if you don’t believe you deserve them, getting them will simply make you more effective.
Recharge your battery.
It’s easy to find yourself schlepping from one December celebration to the next, eating and drinking with abandon, mistaking fun for relaxation. Be mindful of using your time this month to interrupt your routine in ways that will restore your energy and strength.
- Take time out to rest your body. Get some sleep. I’m not a healthcare professional, but I don’t believe it’s possible to overdose on this.
- Do something different. It can be anything from driving a different route to your mother’s house to taking your first, good old-fashioned bungie jump. Nothing quite like shaking things up to give you a fresh perspective and a boost of energy.
- Feed your head and your spirit. Take time for music, art, yoga, a Sudoku puzzle—whatever exercises your brain and nourishes your soul.
- Connect with people who really matter to you. Allow yourself time to nurture and be nurtured by those you love.
Make a plan.
Let me state it unequivocally: nothing will make you feel better, nothing will make you do better than spending the time in December 2008 to set goals for 2009 and craft an action plan—a written action plan—to meet them. If you think of a plan as a roadmap, I can imagine few things scarier than waking up January 2, revving up the car, pulling out of the driveway, and having no clue as to which direction to drive in.
At its most basic level, the process of planning allows you to choose where you want to go in your professional and personal life. (Yes, you can choose it, instead of it choosing you!) By knowing what you want to achieve, you will know where to concentrate and what is merely the distraction of pretty lights. Having a long-term destination in mind provides short-term motivation and allows you to see forward progress in what might otherwise seem a long, pointless grind.
If that’s not enough, research has shown that people who practice goal-setting benefit in the following ways:
- They perform better.
- They suffer less from stress and anxiety.
- They have more self-confidence.
- They are happier and more satisfied.
So what’s not to like?
There is no shortage of ways to set goals and create plans to achieve them. I believe the best ones must include the following elements:
- A clear assessment of where you are starting from
- A detailed vision of where you want to go
- Well-crafted goals (specific, actionable, measurable, realistic,
- deadlined)
- The work of implementation is broken into manageable chunks with clear milestones
- A system for keeping you motivated and accountable
I think it was Dorothy Parker who said, “I hate writing but love having written.” While this may seem like a lot of work, just think about how great you will feel having done it. Now isn’t it worth giving up a little bit of your December for that?