Avoid Holiday Burnout. Here’s How To Enjoy The Season In Balance.

Avoid Holiday Burnout and Exhaustion From The Season. Here’s How To Have A Healthy, Fit, and Meaningful Holiday You Actually Enjoy.
The #1 thing my coaching clients struggle with over the holidays? Feeling overwhelmed by their calendars and overextended on their commitments.
We all want to feel joyful, positive, and present this time of year. Yet so many of us feel exhausted by our schedule. From the end of Halloween until New Years, we race through the season in a flurry of champagne and sparkles. But it only leaves us feeling frazzled and burnt out. If overextending yourself during the holidays has been a problem for you in the past, then I invite you to change how you head into the season so that you can have a different outcome result. Here’s a simple exercise that will help you find a balance for yourself with your holiday commitments. All you need is a few minutes to try it.
My # 1 coaching tip to avoid holiday burnout? Be INTENTIONAL about how you move through them and goal set for balance success. Here’s how:
- Sit down and take out a piece of paper and a pen. Set a timer for 5-10 minutes (this will help you take the time to do this!)
- List your challenges. When it comes to finding balance during the holiday season, what has been a challenge or obstacle for you in the past? Write all of your past roadblocks down.
- Describe your ideal holiday vision. Look at the holiday season ahead of you. What would be YOUR ideal for how you want to move through this month? What do you want to say YES to? What do you want to say NO to? How do you want to feel? What do you want to experience? Describe in detail what your ideal holiday looks like for you. (Notice I said, “ideal” not “perfect” because we all know life is REAL 🙂 WRITE IT DOWN.
- Define your holiday priorities. Review your vision. From what you wrote down, what are your top 1-3 priorities? Is it being with family? Maintaining your 3x a week workout routine? Booking extra traveling time so that you can feel less rushed? Having more time for yourself? List your priorities for the season. Mine would be 1. Health, 2. Family, 3. Enjoyment. Define your priorities then WRITE THEM DOWN.
- Set specific goals. This step is ESSENTIAL. Use your priorities as a guide. What specific actions can you take to help you meet your ideal holiday vision and honor your priorities? Do you need to set aside time to pre-plan each week, so that you don’t have an event EVERY night? Do you need to practice saying NO to non-essential commitments (and work on taking out the GUILT when you do it)? Do you need to find unique ways to exercise while traveling over the holidays so that you stay consistent? Do you want to try setting a goal around alcohol and how much you drink at events so that you don’t end up with the hungover snowball effect? Write down 3-5 SPECIFIC goals for the holidays. Make them SMART (specific, measurable, action-based, realistic, and timed) you could also make them (specific, MOTIVATING, action-based, realistic, and timed). Remember: your goals need to be specific to work – make them REAL.
- Ok you’ve got your list of goals! GOOD JOB. Now look back on that list. On a scale of 1-10, how confident do you feel about reaching those goals? How likely is it that you will be able to meet them? We want our goals to be challenging, but NOT impossible. If you feel doubtful about making your goals real, then go back and re-write out goals that stretch you but are POSSIBLE. Small wins are essential to success.
- Double check. Double check to make sure your goal list helps you HONOR YOUR TOP PRIORITIES. If you don’t feel they do, re-work them until what you have down helps you honor what’s MOST important to you.
- Make a top priority holiday goal list you feel confident about then TAKE A PHOTO OF YOUR GOALS. Use this photo as an iphone backdrop or print it out and hang it somewhere you can see it. Put your goals somewhere you can look at them often.
- Tell someone else! Accountability is often the secret to success. Share your goals with someone you trust. Ask them to hold you to it.
- DONE. You completed the exercise! Good work. Now you have a plan to be mindful of your commitments and schedule this season so that you can beat holiday burnout before it starts.
Now that you’ve taken the time to become more intentional about how you move through the season, how do you feel? Friendly reminder to let your goals HELP you, not hurt you. Goals are GREAT guidelines. Keep in mind you don’t need to be “perfect” at them for them to work. Moving in the direction of what you want is the secret. Want more tips on beating holiday burnout before it starts? Watch this:
How To Avoid Holiday Burnout To Enjoy The Season In Balance
Hopefully this simple exercise gave you some time mindfully move through the busy holiday season and live well. I’d love to hear from you: what is one goal YOU have for yourself this season? Let me know in the comments below, I’ll hold you accountable 🙂 If you need more support in feeling your best and accomplishing results you want, contact me for coaching at carolinejordanfitness.com and let’s make you a success.
Happy Holidays my friends. May the season bless you with health, happiness, and meaningful moments.
Love,
Caroline