How to Achieve Your Goals During an Epic Holiday Season

On December 13, 2021
By Chaya Ben-Shabat
0 Comments

How are you staying true to yourself (and your goals!) this holiday season?

Now, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or you’re getting ready for the Chinese New Year, there are tons of holidays this season that we all have to plan for and plan around regardless of your personal beliefs.

So here’s the big question.
Can we really have it all as high achieving women during the holidays?

And the answer is an emphatic YES…if we plan properly.

My ears are burning through the screen as I hear you all.

“Nooooooooo. Not planning…again!”

Wouldn’t it be so much nicer if everything just magically aligned itself into place without having to do anything?

Sigh.

But that’s exactly what planning is. It gets you exactly where you need to be for that magical alignment to happen. Think of it as your secret key to your success and sanity.

If you’re sitting there wondering if you can make money AND cookies during the holiday season, tune into today’s vlog for my secret recipe.

#1 DO A MINI-REVERSE

We talk a LOT about reverse engineering your life plan here at Digging Deeper, and now, we’re going to scale it for the Holiday Season.

What does this mean practically?
First, you want to take a look at your goals specifically for the holidays. Maybe you have health and weight loss goals, or income goals, or are working on producing a new product. Perhaps your goals are family oriented.

Whatever they are, we’ve got to be extremely clear on exactly what they look like. Now, more than ever before, it’s critical to be crystal clear and write down exactly what those goals are.

This is also the perfect time to ask yourself:

“Are these goals still important to me? Right now, even during the holiday madness?”

If the answer is yes, then Mama, you’ve got to hold your ground and really lock in on those boundaries.

You can “have it all,” but you don’t need ALL the things.

This is something we all get a little lost in. After you’ve recommitted to those goals, you have to take a look at what’s not important.

The overwhelming majority of holiday madness is complete commercialization. It’s marketing, commerce, social media, and big corporations that spend millions in making us think that we need ALL the things.

Do you want to live as a consumer or a creator?

At the end of the day, you’ve got to decide which consumerist propaganda you’re going to sift through, ignore, or delete, and which of these things are ACTUALLY really important to you, like family and faith.

For a lot of us, it’s easy to get sucked into holiday party after holiday party after holiday party. (Ok, maybe some of my introverts out there are immune and are cozying by the fireplace with a good book and some spiced cider, but for the rest of us it’s hard to say YES to staying in.)

And so we drag ourselves from event to event. I get exhausted just thinking about it! At the end of it, all we have to show for ourselves is some extra pounds and extra debt.

Is that what any of these holidays are all about?

Make the choice, right now. Are you going to be programmed as a consumer who is swept away and sucked into all of the marketing madness? Or are you going to stand clear and create the experiences that really matter to you.

Begin by identifying what your personal priorities are during the holiday season. Maybe you want to cook yummy foods with your husband or children, or do the traditional holiday customs, or spend some time at a soup kitchen and collecting toys for children in the hospital.

List your holiday priorities. Then take out your calendar and add in the big things first. Whether those are your goals, faith, or family…schedule those priorities first. That way any other invitation or marketing whim that comes your way, you have the clarity and power to accept or refuse with intention.

It all feels nostalgic and fun, but at the end of the day, wouldn’t you rather be true to yourself, your goals and your finances?

Women of vision can always see past any one specific day on the calendar. And the way you do that is to get clear on your life purpose and mission. You make a decision whether you’re going to stick to those goals and be true to yourself.

Or, if you’re just going to press PAUSE, let a month go by and then pick it up next year.

If that’s what you choose, rock on with your party self, but just make it a mindful decision.

If you make the choice on purpose, rather than getting swept up in the madness, you avoid guilt and shame, because you’re aware and taking responsibility.

You are proactively choosing to let loose and buy all those LOL dolls for your eight year old and attend every party that comes your way.

And that’s okay. p

The guilt, shame, and self judgment only happen when we make those decisions reactively out of self sabotage, when we subconsciously actually want something else. Not because we’re choosing proactively to press pause on that goal and to be present in some other area of our life.

Remember, time invested in one area is time away from another.

So here’s my holiday wish for you. Be purposeful with your time. Whether you pause or play, just don’t waste those precious days exhausted and dousing fires, flying by the seat of your pants.

If you are purposeful and clear on your goals and priorities, you really can have it all, do it all, and experience that dream that you’re working so hard to create.

Happy Holidays!