Holiday Planning Starts Now: How to Protect Your Time Before the Season Fills Up

By Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO® | September 10, 2026

You can watch my video by clicking on the graphic below or read my thoughts beneath it:

It’s time to start planning for the holidays. Is it too early? No way. If you ever experience stress around the holidays, make sure you do these things immediately.

First, decide what kind of holiday season you want to have. Do you want to go to every single party that you’re invited to, or would you prefer to host the parties? Or would you prefer to just stay at home and relax? Or a combination?

No matter which ones you choose, make sure you put placeholders on your calendar now – something with an event title of “Party?” or “Host a party?” or “Relax?” with the question marks included. That way, as you get closer to the dates, you can decide how you want to spend your time.

Also, if you do any kind of holiday prep around your home, make sure that you put placeholders on your calendar for that now. Do you want to spend all day the day after Thanksgiving decorating, or would you prefer to spread it out? That way it’s a lot more enjoyable instead of feeling like a drudgery.

And when it comes to work, if you know that you’re going to have projects due at year end, then make sure you’re putting placeholders on your calendar now for the time that you usually spend working on those projects. That way you don’t end up missing a party – or having to stay up all night to get ready for hosting your own – because you won’t have to work all of those extra hours when you plan ahead.

So is it too early to get ready for the holidays? Never!

Want more practical strategies for protecting your time through the holiday season? Check out The Inefficiency Assassin: Time Management Tactics for Working Smarter, Not Longer.

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.

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