INSIDE: It’s Day 1 of the 30 Days to a Stress-Free Christmas challenge! Are you excited? I know I am! This Christmas planning challenge is going to help you make this Christmas your BEST Christmas yet. Want to know what the first challenge is? Keep reading because all is about to be revealed!
Welcome to Day 1 of the 30 Days to a Stress-Free Christmas challenge!
Want to have Christmas planned BEFORE December starts? Want to enjoy the mulled wine and mince pies just like everyone else without having to worry about everything else you need to plan and organise? This is THE challenge for you!
Over the next 30 days I’m going to show you how to plan and prepare for a Christmas that’s LESS stressful and MORE enjoyable. I’m going to show you how to plan Christmas like a pro and nail all of your Christmas planning. Come December 1st, you’re going to be able to sit back and enjoy the run-up to Christmas just like everyone else because guess what? All of your Christmas planning will have been taken care of!
No worrying about what gifts you need to buy. No worrying about what food you’re going to cook and serve. And no worrying about what’s happening when. Why? Because you will have planned and prepped it all already! Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?!
So, what’s the first Christmas planning challenge?
Now I know you can’t wait to get started…heck, I’m excited to get started too! But before we do, before we kick off and I reveal the first challenge, before we dive into all the Christmas planning, there’s something I want you to do.
I want you to make a promise to yourself.
A promise that you’ll keep your eye on the bigger picture. That you won’t push yourself to organise a Christmas that stresses you out.
Why?
Because a great Christmas isn’t determined by the number of presents we buy our kids. Or by how amazing the tree looks. Or whether that Christmas dinner is Michelin Star-worthy – no matter how many hours we’ve spent slaving in the kitchen.
Christmas is about spending quality time with the ones we love.
It’s about being thankful for what we already have and enjoying the festivities with friends and family.
And that means it doesn’t need to be a perfectly executed military operation for it to be great. Nor does it have to be Pinterest perfect!
If you want to have a happy, stress-free Christmas you need to be realistic about what you take on and what you can plan with the time you have. You also need to look after yourself too so that come Christmas, you’re not so exhausted from all your Christmas planning that you don’t have the energy to enjoy it.
And so, I want you to promise me that you’ll breathe. That you won’t take on too much. That you won’t let yourself get overwhelmed by all of the Christmas planning, that you’ll keep your eye on the bigger picture.
So, do you promise? Good!
And with that out of the way, it’s time to reveal the first challenge…it’s time to start nailing your Christmas planning and get this party started!
Challenge #1: Mind dump your Christmas planning…
That’s right! I want you to write down EVERYTHING you can think of. Every Christmas planning related task you’ve been trying to remember. EVERY thought, idea, gift you want to buy, thing you need to do, arrangement you want to make, food you want to eat… Just write it down. Don’t start worrying about doing any planning yet though….for now, I just want you to get everything related to Christmas out of your head and onto paper.
Why?
So that you can think more clearly!
By writing down everything you’re trying to remember you’re freeing up your mind so that you can focus on the task at hand. We all know that thinking straight becomes a whole lot easier when your brain isn’t full of a million and one other things you’re trying to remember. So, write down everything to do with your Christmas planning that you’re thinking of. Get it down on paper and free up your brain!
Don’t worry if there isn’t any order to your notebook, there’s not supposed to be just yet. For now, it should just be a random list of ideas and to-dos that we’ll come back to later.
Congratulations! Your notebook is now your new best friend! Carry it around with you and keep it somewhere safe. Every time you think of something new to do with Christmas planning that you need to make a mental note of, write it in your notebook.
Notebooks not your thing?
Don’t fret! If a notebook doesn’t work for you when it comes to keeping all your Christmas planning thoughts safe, use the notes app on your phone instead. It doesn’t matter how or where you record your notes, the important thing is you’re offloading your thoughts so that your mind is free. So, use that Notes app to your advantage. Whenever you think of something, add it to those notes so that you can come back to it later.
Want to take your Christmas planning one step further?
Colour-code your notes! It sounds crazy organised I know but trust me…it works! I colour code my notes and to-do lists ALL the time. It really does help you to see the wood for the trees! So, grab a few highlighters, go through your notebook, go through every bullet point you’ve made and highlight each one according to topic. For example:
- Use a yellow highlighter for everything gift-related…
- A green highlighter for all things food and drink…
- An orange highlighter for all the things you need to remember to do…
- and so on…
It might seem like a lot of unnecessary extra work…but trust the process. You’ll be able to see everything related to your Christmas planning – whatever the topic – right away.
That’s it for now!
Good luck with your Christmas planning mind dump – and diving into the first Christmas planning challenge for this 30 Days to a Stress-Free Christmas challenge! I’ll be back tomorrow with challenge #2. I can’t wait to share it with you! In the meantime, happy off-loading your Christmas planning thoughts onto paper!
That’s it for this post! Did you enjoy this first Christmas planning challenge? Are you excited to get started on planning all things Christmas? Let me know in the comments!
Until tomorrow…
P.S. Get all of the Christmas challenges by email!
Want a little more accountability? Don’t forget that you can sign up to receive each challenge by email! Every day for the next 30 days I’ll land in your inbox with the next Christmas challenge. A great way to remind you to take action, you’ll also receive my FREE Ultimate Christmas Planning Checklist too!
In it, you’ll find checklists for your Christmas budget, Christmas shopping, meal planning and prepping, family traditions, planning your travel and so much more. With every Christmas planning step you can possibly think of listed, no stone will be left unturned and nothing will be forgotten!
Simply enter your email address below and I’ll send it to you right away along with the first challenge!
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