Celebrate Your Success

I’m sure most of you are in holiday mode right now. I certainly am. Things are winding down for a few days over the holiday period, so I’ll keep it brief this week and probably next. Take the opportunity of having customers and clients on holiday to tidy up lose ends for the end of the year and put things in order for the beginning of the next. Or perhaps you’re as busy as ever in the last few days of the year.

Now is the time to take a look back at what you’ve achieved this year and what you’ve learned from your experiences – good and bad. Although it’s hard to think of it at the time – there’s no such thing as failure, merely an opportunity to learn from our mistakes.

So have a look at what you’ve learnt, how close did you get to meeting or exceeding your goals? What unexpected challenges presented themselves, what great opportunities did you take advantage of?

Give yourselves a pat on the back for what you’ve achieved, no matter how big or small. It doesn’t matter what anyone else has achieved – they’re not you and although it’s good to have something to aim for and to aim high, don’t beat yourself up if you’ve fallen short. Life happens. Perhaps with a little more support, knowledge or guidance you could have done more but what you’ve done is good enough.

Have a great holiday – wherever you are and whoever you’re with.

Take Time To Make Time

A lot of people think that when you’re busy you don’t have time to stop and start doing things differently. But when you are busy and rushed off your feet with too much to do is often the best time to stop and take a step back and look at what you’re doing.

Have you been doing the same thing, the way you’ve always done it and not surprisingly getting the same results i.e. working long hours, reacting to the demands of your clients or customers, always playing catch-up?

If you’re like most people, you probably are. You’re just happy to get through each day and hope that at some point things will slow down long enough for you to catch up. Well, it doesn’t have to be that way. While it might seem hard, take time to make time. Find time to refocus and get motivated.

You’re probably busy right now getting things finished off in the last week before Christmas. Don’t wait until you’re no longer busy when you likely to forget how hectic things were and then fall into the same pattern when it happens again, do something about it now.

A problem shared is a problem halved – talk to someone and see if they can provide some insight and give you a different perspective so that you can find a solution quicker and actually save yourself time.

Just In Time

No matter who you are, at some time or other you’ll have found yourself putting things off. Usually it’s something boring, mundane or routine. Something that doesn’t particularly excite us but something we know we really need to do or else …

This topic came up again with a client last week. They were stuck – always leaving everything to the last minute and then piling on the pressure as they scrambled to get it done in time, working late and generally putting themselves under stress every time.

Now, we all do this to a greater or lesser extent, so don’t beat yourself up about it but you can get yourself out of this habit. Start by planning what needs to be done. How much and when i.e. how much work is involved and when do you have to do it by? Now, assuming this is something you want to do, there’s a purpose in doing it and a reward of some sort when it’s complete, start by breaking it down into chunks. Whether it’s a year’s course of study or a project at work – it’s easier when you can see it in small pieces rather than one huge piece of work. Spread the ‘chunks’ across the time available and each week look at the specific actions you need to get done.

That way you know what to expect and have less of an excuse to put it off. You can check your progress and you can avoid leaving it until the last minute.

Make Do And Mend

I read a blog today by someone who had just fished out their favourite jumper – now the days are definitely getting colder and discovered holes in the elbows. There question was repair it or dump it. Now one benefit of the credit crunch is that people are trying to cut back and the old mantra of ‘make do and mend’ is coming back into vogue. We should now be reluctant to just chuck things out because they don’t’ work any more or are slightly worn.

During the war, there wasn’t the luxury of buying new and along with everything else, clothes were rationed, so it was necessary to make do and mend. I think people have forgotten how to use a needle and thread or a sewing machine these days and in the throw away society that we live in, we’d never consider repairing anything electrical. It’s cheaper to buy new and just stick it on credit … and pay more for it later. Actually a whole industry of repairmen could now arise out of the ashes of burning credit cards.

That other old adage – waste not want not will also come in to play. So talk to your grand- parents, get their best tips on making things go further. We’ll be a less wasteful, throw-away society. See there’s an upside to even the impending depression.