Remember Last Year’s Holiday Stress? Let’s Fix That Now!

By Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO® | November 5, 2025 |

Remember Last Year’s Holiday Stress? Let’s Fix That Now!

 

Do you think it’s a little nutty to start planning this early for the holiday season? Hm, maybe not. Think about all those years where you’ve been a little frazzled, a little stressed, a little overwhelmed during the holiday season. A lot of that holiday stress can be prevented with a little bit of planning. Click the graphic to watch my recommendations or scroll down to read about how to avoid holiday stress (including my link below to my annual de-stress letter):

 

Remember Last Year’s Holiday Stress? Let’s Fix That Now!

 

Start by asking yourself what kind of holiday season do you want to have? What do you want to feel like and experience during the holidays? Do you want to have one where you’re not out and about all the time and you just want to relax for the entire season? Or is this the year that you want to pack everything in, visiting people, entertaining people (whatever it is)?

The right answer is the one that’s right for you and how you would like to spend your holidays, so start thinking about that now. Also think about your work schedule. While your personal life should be the most important thing, you still have to factor in work because you need that paycheck in order to pay the bills.

What is your work schedule typically like? Is this going to be your busy season and you need to make sure you’ve got that work time blocked in on your calendar for those longer periods of longer hours? Or is this not a busy season for you, and if you want to take time off, you need to start putting in requests right now to make sure you get the time off that you want?

Take a look at your calendar and begin placing placeholders on there. Do you want placeholders for the rest and relaxation you want to enjoy? Do you need to put placeholders in there for weekend getaways or short trips that you want to take? Do you need placeholders on your calendar for the work schedule that you will have or projects that you have coming due?

Take a look at that schedule based on the kind of holiday season you want to have and kick off your holiday planning by cozying up to your calendar.

 

Bonus: Here’s my annual holiday letter to myself…to help keep holiday stress levels lower.

 

 

For recommendations on how to regain control of your time during the holiday season (or any time of year), check out The Inefficiency Assassin: Time Management Tactics for Working Smarter, Not Longer.

Improve your time management

 

 

About Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO®

As The Inefficiency Assassin™, Time Management Fixer Helene Segura empowers professionals on the go with the tools to slay lost time. Personal inefficiency at work leads to increased stress levels, lower morale, higher absenteeism, more turnover – and rising spending on employee health care and hiring. Why not improve productivity, decrease stress levels, and increase profits instead?The author of four books – two of which were Amazon best-sellers – Helene Segura has been the featured organization expert in more than 200 media interviews. She has coached hundreds of clients to productivity success and performance improvement by applying neuroscience and behavioral modification techniques to wipe out destructive, time-wasting habits.Helene turns time management on its head by sharing both client case studies and pop culture examples to teach her mind-bending framework for decreasing interruptions, distractions and procrastination so that companies can spend more time generating revenue.

Leave a Comment