Latest / Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing / #99| Does Your Holiday To-Do List Steal Your Joy? Here’s What to Cut Right Now.
Transcript
- 0:00Michelle Gauthier: You can make your holiday season much simpler and more meaningful by following just these four tips.
- 0:04Michelle Gauthier: You're listening to Overwhelmed Working Woman, the podcast that helps you be more calm and more productive by doing less.
- 0:16Michelle Gauthier: I'm your host, Michelle Gothier, a former Overwhelmed Working Woman and current life coach.
- 0:21Michelle Gauthier: n this show, we unpack the stress and pressure that today's working woman and current life coach.
- 0:23Michelle Gauthier: On this show, we unpack the stress and pressure that today's working woman experiences, and in each episode you'll get a strategy to bring more calm, ease and relaxation to your life.
- 0:33Michelle Gauthier: Hey friend, thanks for listening today.
- 0:37Michelle Gauthier: It's great to have you here.
- 0:38Michelle Gauthier: The holidays are in full swing and while they can be wonderful and magical, let's be honest, they can also be overwhelming, especially for women who have a job and family responsibilities.
- 0:50Michelle Gauthier: So today I am sharing my top four holiday tips from over the years that can help you create a calm and joyful holiday season.
- 0:58Michelle Gauthier: Over the years I think past six or seven years I have done various things for the holidays.
- 1:04Michelle Gauthier: I've sent out email series, I've hosted classes, etc.
- 1:07Michelle Gauthier: And so I took a look at everything I've put out and put together what I think are my four very best tips to ensure that you can have a great holiday season, and that's what I want to talk to you about today.
- 1:18Michelle Gauthier: Before we jump into that, I want to remind you that one thing you can take off your list of worries is planning your 2025, because you can simply sign up and join my Your Best Year 2025 workshop, which is on January 7th.
- 1:34Michelle Gauthier: You can sign up for it now and then you just don't have to worry about planning next year.
- 1:39Michelle Gauthier: Come to the workshop and we will get it done.
- 1:42Michelle Gauthier: Okay, back to the holidays.
- 1:44Michelle Gauthier: So my first and best tip is choosing how you want to feel.
- 1:50Michelle Gauthier: What I mean by this is intentionally thinking about how you want your holidays to feel instead of just letting them happen to you.
- 2:00Michelle Gauthier: How do you do that, you say, so what, I just get to decide that I'm going to be happy, and then I'm happy?
- 2:06Michelle Gauthier: Well, there's a better chance that you're going to be happy if you decide you're going to be than if you don't think about it at all.
- 2:11Michelle Gauthier: Right?
- 2:11Michelle Gauthier: So here's what I recommend: think back on past holiday seasons, so maybe think about last year or two years ago, or even many years ago, and ask yourself what worked.
- 2:23Michelle Gauthier: When did you feel the happiest and the calmest or the most fulfilled or enjoy it the most?
- 2:29Michelle Gauthier: And what didn't work for you in past holiday seasons?
- 2:34Michelle Gauthier: What were some of the moments of stress or overwhelm that you'd like to avoid?
- 2:38Michelle Gauthier: If you think about that, like, for example, I probably was the happiest when my kids were little and they were so excited about the holidays and we really just could keep it simple.
- 2:50Michelle Gauthier: I remember one year all my daughter wanted was Play-Doh.
- 2:53Michelle Gauthier: There was literally nothing else on her list.
- 2:56Michelle Gauthier: So I got her like 36 cans of Play-Doh and piled them all up into a little pyramid and that was her Christmas and she could not have been happier.
- 3:05Michelle Gauthier: So for me, that's a clue that what feels good to me is when things are simple and planned ahead of time.
- 3:13Michelle Gauthier: And then what didn't work?
- 3:15Michelle Gauthier: What are the moments of stress or overwhelm?
- 3:18Michelle Gauthier: For me, that answer would always be when I say yes to too many things, or I can just take the enjoyment right out of something if I do something last minute, or to too many things going on.
- 3:29Michelle Gauthier: So think about for you what that is and then ask yourself these questions: what do I crave the most right now?
- 3:37Michelle Gauthier: So, when you think about the time between this moment, when you're listening to this podcast, and you know, like the 15th of January, what do you crave the most?
- 3:46Michelle Gauthier: Is it peace, is it connection, joy, simplicity, like I said, and what's been missing in past holidays that you want to bring in?
- 3:57Michelle Gauthier: So were you missing that connection?
- 3:59Michelle Gauthier: Were you missing relaxation, because you were running around the whole time?
- 4:03Michelle Gauthier: And what kind of energy do I want to bring into the season?
- 4:06Michelle Gauthier: Who do you want to be?
- 4:08Michelle Gauthier: Do you want to be like the mom who's calm, or the boss who displays gratitude to their employees?
- 4:15Michelle Gauthier: Like who do you want to be?
- 4:16Michelle Gauthier: And then, taking all of that into consideration, just experiment with a couple of words based on all the thoughts that just went through your head.
- 4:25Michelle Gauthier: So some of the ones that people have come up with in the past when I've done a class on this are peaceful, connected, grateful, light, joyful, rested, relaxed.
- 4:39Michelle Gauthier: You can have it be any words you want, but, as I was saying those, if anything stuck out to you like, yes, that's it for me.
- 4:46Michelle Gauthier: For me, it's simple.
- 4:47Michelle Gauthier: I'm going with simple for this year.
- 4:49Michelle Gauthier: So then, what to do with that?
- 4:51Michelle Gauthier: So my goal is just to feel calm and simple.
- 4:56Michelle Gauthier: So then there's the question of what to do with that.
- 4:59Michelle Gauthier: So let's say that you have chosen your word as connected, choose that word and that feeling that you want to have and then make it tangible so that you remember the feeling that you're going for and use that as a filter throughout the holiday season.
- 5:15Michelle Gauthier: For example, you could write connected on a sticky note and put it on your mirror, or you could put it on the dashboard of your car, or you could save connected on a sticky note and put it on your mirror, or you could put it on the dashboard of your car, or you could save it as your phone wallpaper or on your computer home screen any of those and it will just keep that word and that intention going.
- 5:32Michelle Gauthier: And then you can ask yourself questions as you're making decisions throughout the holiday season.
- 5:37Michelle Gauthier: One thing that my ex-husband used to always do right before Christmas was say, I just don't think we have enough presents, I feel like we just didn't get enough things for the kids.
- 5:47Michelle Gauthier: I think I'm going to run to the store and get them something else.
- 5:50Michelle Gauthier: And so for me, if I ask myself that question, will it help me have a more simple Christmas if I run out and go get more gifts on Christmas Eve?
- 6:00Michelle Gauthier: No, it will not.
- 6:01Michelle Gauthier: Will it help you feel more relaxed if you sign up for that breakfast with Santa?
- 6:07Michelle Gauthier: Maybe it will, maybe it won't.
- 6:09Michelle Gauthier: But using your intended feeling as a filter for what you decide to do and not do with your holiday season will really help you and kind of steer you.
- 6:19Michelle Gauthier: And, by the way, this whole exercise that I'm talking to you about is also something that you'll do for 2025.
- 6:27Michelle Gauthier: If you join that 2025 Your Best Year workshop, you choose an anchor word that will be your go-to word to help you filter how you want to feel for the whole year.
- 6:37Michelle Gauthier: So this will be great practice to choose one and use it through the holiday season.
- 6:51Michelle Gauthier: Okay, my next tip is to delete and edit your to-do list ruthlessly.
- 6:52Michelle Gauthier: Not everything needs to get done.
- 6:53Michelle Gauthier: Not everything adds value to your holidays.
- 6:55Michelle Gauthier: So look at your to-do list.
- 6:56Michelle Gauthier: Even if that to-do list is just in your head.
- 6:58Michelle Gauthier: I definitely recommend you write it down, but even if it's just in your head and you're driving right now and you just want to think about this, think about what really needs to happen in order for you to have a joyful, connected, whatever your word is,
- 7:14Michelle Gauthier: For example, I have probably four or five bins of Christmas decorations and I got them all out and I brought them all upstairs from the basement and I opened them and some of them I was like I just don't feel like putting all these out, so I just chose the basic ones that bring me the most joy and that are easy to put back away and I just took everything else back downstairs and it is not going to reduce my joy this holiday season.
- 7:40Michelle Gauthier: In fact, I think it's going to increase it because it's going to take less time for me to put it away, which is one of the things about the holiday season that I do not love.
- 7:48Michelle Gauthier: While we're still on this, tip number two, to delete and edit your to-do list ruthlessly, I would challenge you right now, today, to think of one thing on your to-do list that you can just simply cross off.
- 8:00Michelle Gauthier: I dare you to delete one thing today.
- 8:03Michelle Gauthier: Okay.
- 8:04Michelle Gauthier: Tip number three is to ask, what's best for me?
- 8:08Michelle Gauthier: It's totally easy during the holiday season - and I think really fun and important - to be thinking about other people, because you get to get them presents and tell them how you appreciate them and all of those things.
- 8:20Michelle Gauthier: But if you can just pause and ask yourself, what's best for me right now, you will be able to, instead of being resentful, feel like you're in control of how you're feeling and what you're doing, instead of just running around and trying to do everything for everybody else.
- 8:37Michelle Gauthier: For example, maybe the best thing for you right now is to say no to hosting a big dinner or to take a nap instead of run an extra errand.
- 8:47Michelle Gauthier: Just think about the things that you really truly want to do and the things that you really don't, and prioritize yourself without guilt.
- 8:56Michelle Gauthier: Speaking of that, this is my last, fourth and final tip, which is to think about what is your very favorite holiday tradition and make that a priority.
- 9:07Michelle Gauthier: When I get information from my clients and people who have taken my classes about what their favorite tradition is, it's usually not even something big.
- 9:15Michelle Gauthier: It's usually something like watching a favorite holiday movie or making, I don't know, special hot chocolate or decorating cookies or whatever it is.
- 9:25Michelle Gauthier: But whatever that thing is, make that your number one priority.
- 9:29Michelle Gauthier: Put that on the calendar and tell your family or friends or whoever you get together with this, that you're doing it and make sure that you do just that.
- 9:39Michelle Gauthier: Number one thing for me, that's always getting hot chocolate - or last year my kids wanted to get chocolate peppermint shakes from Chick-fil-A, which sounds counterintuitive in the winter in the Midwest.
- 9:51Michelle Gauthier: But okay, that's what they wanted, so that's what we did.
- 9:54Michelle Gauthier: And then we drive around and we look at Christmas lights and they are certainly old enough that they could be bored by this and say no to this, but they do it for me.
- 10:03Michelle Gauthier: And then you know what, they end up having fun too.
- 10:06Michelle Gauthier: And this year I invited our niece, who's five, so we'll even have a little kid with us to share in that Christmas joy.
- 10:13Michelle Gauthier: So, whatever your favorite tradition is, get that one on the calendar.
- 10:17Michelle Gauthier: Okay.
- 10:19Michelle Gauthier: So in summary, you can make your holiday season much simpler and more meaningful by following just these four tips.
- 10:25Michelle Gauthier: Number one: choose how you want to feel, pick your word, and make that your filter.
- 10:29Michelle Gauthier: Number two: ruthlessly edit your to-do list.
- 10:32Michelle Gauthier: Number three: ask what's best for you.
- 10:36Michelle Gauthier: And number four: make your favorite holiday tradition a priority.
- 10:40Michelle Gauthier: Even if you just only do one of those, I promise it will improve your holiday season.
- 10:54Michelle Gauthier: Okay, and here is this week's Do Less for More Success tip.
- 11:02Michelle Gauthier: A lot of times, as women, we end up trying to do everything perfectly, both during the holidays and just in regular old life, and so my suggestion for doing less for more success is to let done be good enough and to let go of perfection on just one task this week.
- 11:23Michelle Gauthier: So now I've challenged you to delete one task and then do one task to not perfection, but just done.
- 11:31Michelle Gauthier: Okay, that's it for this week.
- 11:33Michelle Gauthier: I hope you have a fantastic week and don't forget to sign up for that your Best Year 2025 class.
- 11:40Michelle Gauthier: I'm excited to see everyone there and help you create some wonderful goals so that you can have your best year yet.
- 11:46Michelle Gauthier: Thank you for listening to the Overwhelmed Working Woman podcast.
- 11:53Michelle Gauthier: If you want to learn more about my work, head over to my website at michellegauthier.
- 11:57Michelle Gauthier: com.
- 11:59Michelle Gauthier: See you next week.