Work at Home Productivity Tips –

Christmas stress, or finding ways to reduce it, is always on my mind at this time of the year.

For too long I plunged in every Christmas season, holding my breath and waiting to come out the other side.

And then I realized that there were some things that I could do to make it easier.

OPERATING IN BASIC 

Have you ever had your computer shut down and received a message to restart in 'safe mode'.

Or if gmail won't load, they give you the option to reload it in 'basic'. 

It occurred to me this morning that during the Christmas season, I operate in basic.

I pare things down to the bare basics of 'must do's', sacrificing of few of my regular routine items for other activities that I need to do during the Christmas rush.

There is so much to do and only so many hours to do it, a few things have to go.

Otherwise, I would be completely overloaded and a stressed out mess.

Been there, done that.

This way is better. 

RETAIN THE BACKBONE BUT CUT THE EXTRAS FOR NOW 

It's a little like decluttering, taking the things you don't need at the moment away so that the things that you do need, or in this case want to do, can shine.  A little like putting your summer clothes away until you need them so that you can find your woolies in the winter.  

This ensures that you don't find yourself doing things that don't really need to be done, and then finding a pile of must do's undone at the end of the day or 2 days before Christmas.

Bad scene, jelly bean! 

So, while I look forward to having them back when the New Year gets here, until then, I opt for stress relief and operate in 'safe mode'.

How about you?

Are there things that you can consciously cut back on while still retaining the backbone of your routines?

MAKE A CONSCIOUS CHOICE 

The trick is to make the conscious choice to do it. That way you feel like you are in control and even taking the smart road.

Finding out that you don't have time even though you are doing your best to fit it in just makes you feel out of control and like a failure.

A stressed out failure to be exact. 

Choose to succeed.

Take a few minutes to have a look at your schedule and see if there is anything on it that is not a must do for now. Sometimes we do things without thinking much about them. Some of those may be able to be bumped for a little while.

A CAUTION

Be careful that you don't remove too many of the things that make your day a success. Remember that right now you need all of the energy, time and stress releaser's that you can get. Think Stephen Covey and sharpening the saw. 

You need to keep your edge during the Christmas season or bust! 

Here is a method that you can use that I call Stepping. 

STEPPING IT UP A NOTCH

If you still are finding that you don't have time to do everything, you can do what I like to call 'stepping'. 

All you have to do is schedule the important things in every other day or as you see fit rather than dropping them or doing them sporadically as you can.

This not only gives the feeling of control, but it also keeps you on track until things get back to normal.

A controlled fall is a much better option than a splat! 

If you're having problems keeping up and your stress level is rising, take a deep breath and switch to basic mode. 

Want to switch into high gear?

The New Year is coming, and we'll all be rarin' to go when it gets here.

Learn to take full advantage of your time with the 1,000 Hours Project, coming in 2009.

Don't be late!