Christmas is a coming!

  • By Sian Taylor
  • •
  • 19 Dec, 2017
  • •

Whose deadline is it anyway?

It’s coming.

Christmas.

 

So much to do.

 

I admit, I’m a deadline worker. If I don’t have a date by which I have to complete something… well it d r   i    f        t           s

Self-imposed deadlines work. But there has to be consequence if I miss it.

 

My to-do list is lengthening. The flutter in my stomach is coalescing into a tight ball. My shoulders have an iron rod through them. My mind fills with all the things I haven’t done.

 

There’s something peculiar about Christmas and the New Year. The idea of completing things, wrapping up outstanding tasks, having a clean slate to start the New Year, it really appeals to me. That sense of neatness, completeness, a fresh start as a new year begins.

I create a list and get everything on it. All the things that I want to complete and get done before the Christmas holiday. It’s long. Really long. All the little things that have drifted, slipped out of my sight, things that didn’t have an immediate consequence for not being done.

I start to plough my way through. I have too much to do. My mind is consumed by what I’m not doing, not what I’ve accomplished.

And in trying to do everything, I’ve stopped prioritising.

 

It’s the weekend and we’re visiting family, talking about work and about Christmas. I know that the people I work with will have leave between Christmas to New Year, and whilst I might get things done before Christmas, anything I pass on isn’t going to get looked at.

So if I end up leaving things, who’ll notice?

 

I reprioritise. I focus on the things that have absolute deadlines.

 

The New Year arrives. It’s quiet. Few, if any meetings. People start back at different times. I have just a few days – the quiet before the storm. And it’s just enough for me to concentrate, re-evaluate what stays on my to-do list and what is simply dropped, and I get good portion of that to-do list done.

It wasn’t easy to leave that to-do list unfinished and to stop. The opportunity to focus on things other than work, to relax, clears my head. It helps me unwind the tension within me. And when I then return to work I’m looking at things in a new perspective, focusing my efforts on the most important tasks.
If these experiences sound familiar and you'd like to talk to me about how I can help you, then get in touch

If these experiences sound familiar and you'd like to talk to me about how we could work together, then get in touch

sian@siantaylorcoaching.co.uk

07598 582787
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