How many of us will find ourselves still awake at 1:00 or even 2:00 in the morning still assembling Christmas presents and getting them wrapped and putting bows on them? How many of us will be tired and worn out instead of feeling relaxed and rested so we can enjoy this holiday week?
There is a great lesson to learn from that experience – The lesson to take away from it is to do better next year at being prepared in advance…far, far in advance…as opposed to preparing at 1 or 2 am in the morning the week something is due…ouch…preparing way in advance will allow us to avoid doing that last minute rush of trying to pull things together…and preparing in advance allows us to get to bed at a reasonable hour and get some much needed sleep!!! And when we prepare in advance we have that peaceful feeling of being relaxed and assured because we know we are prepared.
Not being prepared creates HUGE stress that just looms continually before you as this big ugly task that really needs to get done….it’s like a green slimy monster just sliming toward you every day, getting closer and closer….not the best image to carry around with you all the time. And certainly not one that gives us confidence and comfort!
No compare that to when we track things in advance and set a goal to have things prepared days or even weeks before they are due – we suddenly create this feeling of “aaawwwwwww” like taking a deep breath and letting all the air out…..we can actually exhale with a smile!
This is something I really want to get better at doing this coming year – I am going to work hard to get ahead of the game rather than just treading water every day just trying to keep up on things. It is a BHAG for me – which stand for BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOAL for those not familiar with the term BHAG. I know it will be hard, but I am committed to really trying to do better because I know that if I can pull it off the results will be a happier Amy with less stress to carry around all the time. And that is an end result well worth my effort.
So for those of you that will be up all hours of the night this week doing last minute Christmas preparation, maybe you should consider setting that BHAG for yourselves too! After all, the end result will be worth the effort…
~Amy
