December President's Message
Posted by Communications2 on Dec. 13, 2023 / President's Message / Subscribe 0
Juggling Snowflakes and Other Holiday Challenges
Written by Matt Rich | SMPS Utah President
Navigating the delicate balance between an overflowing workload and the glittering allure of holiday festivities can be as difficult as trying to juggle snowflakes. Picture this: like every other workday, you’re systematically tossing a cacophony of deadlines flying overhead, catching them as they descend and then rhythmically heaving them in the air again… you know… juggling… when… from out of nowhere… WHAM… someone tosses in some giant jingle bells! One minute you’re crafting compelling content and strategizing a winning capture plan, the next you’re trying to decide which ugly sweater you should wear to the engineering eggnog extravaganza! That’s the holidays in the workplace. It's a yuletide tightrope walk where every completed task feels like unwrapping a gift, and every holiday gathering is a cocoa-sipping chance to collaborate. Balancing productivity and holiday cheer as we frantically try to finish out the year is an art – a seasonal holiday card painted with broad strokes of productivity but littered with distracting tinsel. After all, 'tis the season to be multitasking!
It's a challenging multitask, but with the right tools, skills and resources it’s a challenge that can bring a sleighful of possibilities as well (see what I did there). I’ve gathered up some of my favorites to help us not only get through the holidays but enjoy everything about them along the way.
Multiply Your Time
Tips and tricks, tools and technology, calendars and checklists, it’s all logical. But time management isn’t just logical anymore, time management is also emotional. In fact, there is no such thing as time management. You can’t manage time. It marches on whether we like it or not. The phrase itself is an oxymoron. There is only ‘self’ management. Rory Vaden's TED talk goes beyond the limiting one-dimensional concept of efficiency. We carry computers in our pockets but we’re still no more “caught-up” than we were 50 years ago. It blows through the concept of the two-dimensional idea that defining our activities as a combination of ‘important’ and ‘urgent’ will provide a system to prioritize our activities. But prioritizing still doesn’t “create” more time. Those ideas are yesterday’s thinking and Rory explains that we can’t solve today’s time management problems with yesterday’s time management thinking. He teaches us how we can go “next level” and become a “multiplier” by employing three-dimensional thinking and adding the vector of “significance” to our prioritization. Adding this dimension leads us to the question, “What can I do today, to make tomorrow better.” Watch to find out how.
Enhance Your Day
Multiple research studies show that our mood and our cognitive abilities do not stay the same throughout the day. They go through a cycle of peaks, troughs and recoveries. They change in ways that can be dramatic but they change in ways that can be predicted. In this Talks at Google, and in more detail in his book, Daniel Pink explains the best timing to make better, smarter, shorter decisions and introduces us to the science of “Timing” in “When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing.” This one’s a little longer listen but if you break it up you should be able to find the time (oh man… I crack myself up).
The Talks at Google - https://youtu.be/zUhnzxrNpCc
The book - When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing
Leverage Your Anxiety
Anxiety is the crown jewel of human evolution. Yep… you read that right. At least that’s what neuroscience professor and clinical psychologist Dr. Tracy Dennis-Tiwary explains in her podcast with Simon Sinek. It’s not stress; it’s not fear, and it’s not automatically a disorder; anxiety is actually an emotion. That means we evolved to have it. It makes us sit up and take notice. It’s a nervous apprehension about an uncertain future. In that uncertain future, it’s not all bad, there is also extreme amounts of hope attached to anxiety. It puts us in that space between where we are and where we want to be. It helps us plan and take action to avert disaster and make all our hopes and dreams come true. Understanding our anxiety and using its benefits can be a powerful tool as we finish out the year and get ready for a new one.
The Wisdom of Anxiety with Dr. Tracy Dennis-Tiwary
But Take Care of Yourself
The holidays can be really enjoyable! But they can also take a heavy mental and physical toll. With so many ‘extras’ demanding our time, some of the things we do to take care of ourselves might get nudged out of our schedule or, more likely, never even make the list!
1. Physically
With jammed-up calendars and overflowing plates of holiday food, Americans are five times more likely to report increased stress levels rather than lower stress levels. If you have a fitness routine, keep it up! Exercise increases dopamine receptors in the brain allowing us to feel more joy. It also neutralizes stress-causing hormones. But what if you haven’t been exercising or maybe you don’t have time for that two-hour pilates/yoga/FIIT/WhateverTheLatestTrendIs class? This NY Times article gives you some ideas about using exercise “as needed” in the same way you might take an Advil for a headache and includes some easy suggestions for what you can do to get up and purposefully move to boost your mood.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/well/move/holiday-stress-exercise.html
2. Mentally
This is my last, favorite and most powerful tip. Don’t just take care of your body… take care of you. How are YOU doing? Periodically take a minute to take a breath and assess, “How am I?” In this super short read from the American Psychiatric Association, they share seven ways to cope with holiday stress. From taking a second to practice mindfulness to giving yourself permission to say, “no”, these easy but effective strategies can give a huge mental health boost!
https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/seven-ways-to-cope-with-holiday-stress
As we wrap up the year, I encourage all of us to embrace a holistic approach that considers both productivity and personal well-being, making each day a step toward an exciting new year… even if we have to juggle a few things… like snow flakes… along the way.
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