In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. One of my best Self-Care tools is to forget about the enormity of what must be done. Rather than expect to take a giant step to completion, I simply use baby steps to reach my goal. It works at home and at the office for both activity and attitude!
When working in management at PotashCorp, I found that if I came in and said, “There are going to be a lot of changes around here” people froze. Making big changes scared them into immobility. But if I said ‘”I think we can improve by making a few small changes”, everyone nodded comfortably in agreement. They were all anxious to try.
On a personal basis, this experience became a basic plank of my weight loss program. I learned that my greatest success came when I forgot about the big number I had to lose (it was especially daunting when it was over 100 pounds!). By instead focusing on one pound at a time, I was able to take all those little successes, build on them, and eventually reach my big goal.
It’s the same with Christmas. Forget about viewing your various responsibilities as a monumental task, and consider whether there are some things that don’t even need to be done. Focus on doing small parts of it, and doing them well; you’ll be surprised at your ability to accomplish big things by concentrating on these small tasks! Just as children find pleasure in the smallest of things, life is made up of little pleasures. And the best way to enjoy the holiday season is to take it in small measures and enjoy each tiny “baby step.”
Here are some suggestions:
Once a day between now and Christmas, take a minute each day to ask what small Christmas activities you could cut out.
Then mentally run through the process of completing the tasks that you have decided to do. Maybe you could make them even smaller?
Choose to do the holiday activities that energize you, and ask others to fill in the gaps.
Take pleasure in the things that you choose to do, doing your best to enjoy the moment. Polishing silver can be very gratifying if you choose to do it with gusto!
Take a moment to give a small compliment to each person at your Christmas celebrations.
Incorporate a moment of gratitude for each of the traditions that you choose to keep and each of the people at your table.
Fulfill yourself in a small way by savouring your senses. Don’t just hear the bells, really listen to their sound.
The pleasures of the holiday season are there for the taking this Christmas if we are ready to accept the baby steps of tiny delights. Experiencing how this rings true at home will motivate you to try it at the office as well. By using baby steps to build on small successes the first thing you know you’ll have reached one of your bigger goals!
After a highly successful career in business, including 26 years with
PotashCorp where she was Senior Vice-President, Betty-Ann retired in
2007, the same year that she was named to Canada‘s Most Powerful Women:
Top 100 Hall of Fame™. She now works as a speaker, author and mentor and
is committed to using her personal and professional experiences to
inspire and empower other women. A firm believer in the value women
bring to organizations, Betty-Ann explores changing perceptions of male
and female roles including candid observations about what she calls
"Good Gender Physics” on her blog at www.stillettochick.com.
She helps both men and women understand the primary energy of their
gender but also accept and appreciate the strengths of their opposite.
