Don’t sweat the small stuff

“Perfect” is a word which crops up a lot in December, how often do we hear the phrase “perfect Christmas” on our radios, tv’s and in magazines and newspapers?

If you feel under pressure at this time of year because you have ‘perfectionist’ tendencies regarding your own family’s Christmas, take a few moments to try the following exercise:

1. Write a list of all the jobs which you feel need to be done before December 25th
2. Prioritise this list
3. Grade each job from A – D in terms of the importance it means to you and therefore the amount of effort you are happy to expend on it. For example, if a fully home cooked Christmas dinner brings YOU a lot of pleasure, give it an A. If you are prepared to substitute partly-prepared elements, it may get a B and if you are happy to buy everything ready just to pop in the oven, perhaps it warrants a C.
4. Concentrate your energy on the items with an A, the B’s and C’s can receive proportionally less effort and you can try to think of ways you could cut some corners, whilst the D’s are probably things you do every year on autopilot and which nobody except you would notice if they were cut out completely.

Good luck!