Work-life balance can be a challenging aspect of being a working professional, especially during the holiday season. The demands on your time go up exponentially: There's far less time available to spend with family and friends throughout the holidays than you'd like, and the end of the year usually means meetings or events with related businesses or associates, as well as a host of extra work relating to the season.
So how does a working professional go about making the best use of their time during the busy holiday season? Below, seven members of Forbes Coaches Council share the way they try to balance their busy work and personal lives during the holidays, as well as offer valuable insight into how you can follow suit.
1. Invest In Planning
Pause now to block out appointments to attend to what you define as the highest priorities in the season ahead. Include time blocked to rest, as well as blocks for spontaneous activities you'll choose at the time in accordance with your mood. Work and celebrate—alone or with others—but allocate that time now, or else your schedule will be too difficult to navigate. - Dodie Jacobi, Dodiodo
2. Slow Down
When you die, is it really going to matter how many tasks you were able to check off in your life? Is it really going to matter how impeccably clean your house was? How high you climbed on the corporate ladder? Take a breath. Enjoy your family. - Dan Messinger, Cream of the Crop Leaders
3. Focus, Prioritize And Commit
The best approach requires three important elements, performed in this order. First, establish focus: Decide what is most important to achieve, in a specific amount of time, so that you can feel good about yourself and your desired accomplishments. Second, prioritize your actions: Determine what is required from you and others to help you achieve your goals, and establish an order of importance. Finally, commit to discipline: A plan has no value unless it is executed well. Stick to your plan. - David Liddell, Liddell Consulting Group LLC
4. Select Areas Of Your Life To Focus On Each Day
Be where you are when you are there. Of the top five to six areas of your life, pick three daily that you will focus on, and the next day choose three different ones. At the end of the week, you will have work/life integration. Taking time to be present and to take care of yourself and your needs is really important. Make sure that mindfulness is a part of everyday practice. Finally, say "no"—it's OK not be at everything or say yes to everything. - Christine Nielsen, Contrast Coaching & Consulting
5. Ask For Help When You Need It
The best approach is to ask for and accept help when needed. Even professional jugglers can only juggle so many balls at once. Stop putting unnecessary pressure on yourself by trying to be superhuman. The pressure creates negative energy that will be released when you least expect it, and on the people you love the most. Take a deep breath, create a to-do list, tackle the items that require only your attention and delegate the rest. - Crystal Khalil, Crystal Khalil and Associates LLC
6. Be In The Present
Try building into your daily schedule a practice that includes deep mindful breaths that bring your "self" back to the present moment. This, some planning and some self-compassion will do wonders! - Elizabeth Semion, Elizabeth Semion
Read more in There's No Time Like Today To Be Fully Present
7. Use The 'Daily Questions' Technique
Focus is important: We can reserve a specific time to do some tasks if need be. For it to happen, the best way is to use a “daily questions” practice. With this technique, you have to write down what you think is important and not important. Then during the day, decide what you will and will not do. - Márcio Silva, Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching Brazil
