The holidays aren’t really my favorite time of year.
Here in the US we have a holiday in late November. Many families traditionally get together on a Thursday and sometimes on a Friday. It’s a long weekend off work for many other than those in retail settings where there has been some busy holiday shopping.
I don’t mind the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s a nice break after a couple months of routine workweeks.
But during the Thanksgiving weekend each year I start to get a little stressful feeling. Things get a little off kilter during the month of December. Sure, there are some regular five-day workweeks. But then you’re getting into the Christmas and New Year timeframes and many people are taking off for a week or two. Even if they don’t it’s usually pretty quiet, especially in the B2B world.
Over the years I’ve always kind of looked forward to January. And maybe that seems weird for a few reasons. Many seem to have a holiday hangover. They kind of ease their way into January. Maybe part of that is due to poor eating during the holidays and traveling to see family and friends.
I really love January for that reason, getting back to a normal routine.
After getting jolted out of a routine in late November and December, I like resetting things in January. Back to a normal work routine. Back to a normal weekend routine. Back to a normal morning and night routine.
One thing I like to do every year is audit my routines at least twice. I usually do it during the time between Christmas and New Year. The working world isn’t as busy so there is time for self analysis. I’ll look at what my routine was from about August through November. Then I’ll see what happened in December. I’ll assess my goals for the next year and create a new routine for the workweek.
Then I like to check in on the routine at about June. I’ll assess what I’m doing each week at the present. Then I’ll go back and see how that has changed from my intention in January. And if it’s changed (it usually does) then I’ll make adjustments and try to finish strong for the year.
January is my favorite month of year.
Back to some normalcy. A chance to get back to better routines.