4 Tips for Staying on Track through the Holidays

As a Holistic Health Coach who specializes in Strength Training and Behavior Change  (Habit Coaching), I heckin’ LOVE the holiday season. While most people dread it and get anxiety just thinking about trying to stay on track towards their goals during the months of November and December, I’m over here in my coaching-corner getting STOKED about how strategic we can be during these stressful months and how much our habits can actually save us stress during this time. Before you think I’m crazy, check out these 4 tips I have for staying on track through the holidays: 

1. Be REALISTIC with your goals, plans, and actions. (smart goal worksheet for BONUS coaching)

Most of us have heard about making SMART goals- or making sure that your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. During the holidays, it is especially critical to hone-in on the REALISTIC and attainable parts of that goal-building strategy. This is because November and December are two months of the year that almost all of us are radically out of routine and more subject to other people’s needs, schedules, and demands than normal. Jobs get busy as we try to meet end-of-year deadlines, athletics are kicking up for kids in school, we travel, have family in town, and there are parties and gatherings that seem to never end. Not to mention,  then we have holiday “breaks” where our routines are basically trashed as we (hopefully) settle in to celebrate the season of Thanksgiving, prepare to celebrate our Christmas or end of year traditions and holidays, and as we prepare to ring-in the New Year. If you struggle to know HOW to make sure your goals, plans, and actions are realistic in these seasons, you might start with one of the things listed below. 

2. MAKE time for mindfulness each week (or even better- every day). 

Without a mindfulness practice, it will be extremely hard to set SMART goals and to navigate the holidays in general without extreme stress. “Mindfulness” has become a bit of a buzz-word in the health industry, so just to clarify, this is what we mean by “mindfulness practice” at LET: 

Practicing mindfulness means taking a non-judgemental inventory of yourself- mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, environmentally, and socially. An effective mindfulness practice helps you keep inventory on what you are experiencing, why you are experiencing it, and what needs you have that aren’t being met properly. The goal of a mindfulness practice is to accept what you are experiencing without judgment, and to do so without getting lost in guilt, shame, or unproductive thought patterns so that you can take action towards meeting your needs and reaching your goals.

During the holidays, making room in your schedule- even for just 5 minutes a week- to practice mindfulness can make a HUGE impact on your ability to stay consistent with your goals, recognize where your efforts/priorities/strategies may need to shift, and make sure you are tending to your own needs and managing your stress responses as things get crazy. 

3. Don’t punish or blame yourself for things outside of your control. 

Once you get really good at practicing mindfulness and setting SMART goals, you will learn to better recognize what IS in your control and what IS NOT in your control. As a Behavior Change expert, one of the biggest roadblocks to progress I talk with people about is the inability to recognize our sphere of control (click here for a worksheet that will help you identify what is in your control and what is not). During the holiday season especially, it is extremely easy to get lost in the things that are outside of our control and end the season feeling responsible for all the things we didn’t get done. I want to take a second and encourage you to really challenge yourself this season to become hyper-aware and mindful of what you ACTUALLY control versus what you don’t. You will likely find that you are doing better than you think. 

4. Remember that meeting your own needs is the best form of stress management, AND it is the best way to constantly support your motivation levels. 

If you can remember back to grade school, you might recall a graphic called “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.” This pyramid illustrates this psychologist's theory of motivation- showing the theory that in order for someone to be motivated to pursue self-actualization- which can include/lead to things like performance or self-development goals- there are other categories of innate human needs that need to be met in order to support that motivation. There have been numerous studies done to test this theory, and there have been conflicting results. While there has been a lot of research and evidence to suggest that our needs don’t really follow his “hierarchy” (or pyramid) style of order, we do know that we have deep NEEDS as human beings that drive our desires, thoughts, and behaviors. Our critical needs for food, safety, water, loving socialization, and a general sense of balance in our lives drive more of our desires and behaviors than we are ever fully conscious of. 

In busy seasons like the holidays, paying close attention to your basic human needs- like food, water, stress management, sleep, community, and movement (AKA the 6 Habit-Based Fundamentals of Health)- can shed a lot of light on why you may struggle in certain seasons. Practicing behaviors that help meet your needs in these 6 categories can drastically improve your stress management skills and help boost your consistency AND motivation during challenging seasons. 

***One last word of encouragement:

Just because in past seasons the thought of making progress towards your goals brought on anxiety and stress, it doesn’t mean that stress must exist to see progress.

During these busy seasons, the habits, strategies, and mindsets that SAVE us stress will be the ones that help us keep building habits, help us stay consistent, and that boost our motivation to keep moving forward. Whatever you are working on during these next two months, aim to work on them in a way that is simpler, more realistic, and more attainable than ever before and enjoy the benefits of a season spent well.

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