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Can you feel the wonder? It’s a season of miracles, light returning, birth, and celebration. It’s also a time of dying, of letting go, of finding the quiet within.

As I’ve been contemplating the end of the year, I feel deeply touched by how much there is to celebrate.

Finding the celebration

In this second year of Inspired Home Office, over 500 people have joined the conversation through my newsletter and an additional 1,500 hearts through Facebook and Twitter. These connections have allowed people struggling with order to find some peace from knowing that disorganization is simply a symptom of creativity. You’re not broken. There is a way through that honors all of who you are.

This year, participation in Inspired Home Office classes has blossomed. Monthly Office Spa Days had over 75 in attendance for the year – many of whom were confessed repeat addicts fans. A record number of people completed the Inspired Organizing program this year. I feel humbled and honored to walk with these courageous, passionate souls – and delighted to hear of the successes they’ve found as a result of our work.

On a personal note of celebration, the successes of Inspired Home Office this year have allowed me to eradicate almost $6000 of credit card debt. This accomplishment brings me a whole 20% closer to my goal of being debt free. Eeeyoop!

Travelers on the journey

If you’re self-employed, you know well that these accomplishments don’t happen without a team of supporters. So many people helped on my path this year, I’m just overflowing with gratitude and want to thank them publicly:

• Mastermind buds: Jenn Givler and Lisa Hunter
• Extraordinary helper friends: Marissa Bracke, Sharon Roemmel, Theresa Cornwell, Havi Brooks, Kitchen Tablers, Joanne Scharer, Kathy Hofmann (a.k.a. Mom)
• Joint venture divas: Jen Louden, Charlie Gilkey, Molly Gordon, Ariane Goodwin
• Teachers that made all the difference: Mark Silver, Lori Cegon, Marcia Bagnall, Scott Sadler, Ann Anderson
• Soulful tech queens: Allie Towers Rice, Wendy Cholbi
• Inspired Spouse: My one and only.
• You. Thank you for showing up, commenting, sharing ideas, and being 100% true to yourself. This wouldn’t be a business without you.

The next mountaintop

In January, Inspired Home Office turns 3 and exciting developments are on the horizon. The business is growing up. She tells me regularly that she wants to tie her OWN shoes and walk to the bus by herself. I’m learning to step out of the way of her growth so that miracles and healing can continue.

However, to push ahead today would deny an essential piece. The business still needs me to show up alive and engaged. As I send this, I’ll be entering the longest vacation I’ve taken in the last 10 years. 17 whole days. Some of which I’ll be on retreat.

While I’m away, I’ll be filling up any empty corners in my heart, surrounding myself with quiet, and coming back to the world renewed. I’ll be thinking of you and holding you in my prayers.

I’m wishing you peace, connection, presence and love this season. I look forward to connecting with you in January. Thank you for an amazing year.

Warm thoughts,
Jennifer

It’s totally human to just keep piling on the “yeah, sure, I’ll do thats” without checking to see whether they line up with reality. Unfortunately, this habit also makes you a pre-holiday spaz.

See, overwhelm is a product of being unconscious about your agreements with yourself (and others). If you create awareness, the overwhelm can dissipate.

Shed a little consciousness on the next week.

Feel like doing a little activity?

• Grab a piece of paper or use the comment box below
• Write down how you’d like to feel this holiday (peaceful, happy, calm, etc.)
• Write down the things you want to accomplish before Christmas Eve (business, personal, etc.)
• Look over the list
• Cross off anything that doesn’t bring you closer to how you want to feel this holiday.

This may seem harsh, but it will help you prevent the overwhelm of having so much to do in a short period of time. It will also prevent the collapsed feeling that often follows.

Tomorrow begins my 16- day vacation. Soon, yours will begin too. What will you consciously cut out so you can have the kind of holiday you truly want?

“You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” — E. L. Doctorow (via @artcetera)

If you’re frustrated by the amount of email you have, or the amount of work, or the volume of paper on your desk, or the frazzled nerves in your brain, or the lack of time to do things…

Just remember that you don’t have to do the whole thing. You only need to do the next thing.

• If you have boatload of work to do, pick one thing – even the easiest thing – and start with that.
• If you have a ton of email to read and reply to, start with the one on the bottom.
• If you haven’t had time to write a single Christmas or New Year’s card, don’t do all of them. Just start with one.

It’s the season where you can knock yourself flat, deplete your spirit, and snarl at loved ones.  Not because you want to, but because there’s just so much happening at once that it’s hard to decide where to start.

Just like the quote says, shine your light on one thing. Start with that. You’ll still get to your destination – and you might even feel lighter and more peaceful when you arrive.

For me, that means clicking “publish” on this post so I can share it with you.

What’s the next thing for you?

Shall we explore why? Let’s start with a fun little pie graph.

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Let’s say that this is an image of what an ideal day looks like for the average creative person. You might not agree with everything there, but it’s a stand-in for the kind of life you’d like to have. Balanced, fulfilling, sane.

With me so far?

Okay, good. Let’s say that you have this balanced schedule in mind most of the time as your ideal in life.

Lots of perfectly intelligent people believe they can keep the same schedule while also entertaining, traveling, shopping for gifts, etc. It’ll all work out somehow. “Oh, I’m planning to work on my So-And-So and finish it over the holiday break.” (Sound familiar?) And then January 1 rolls around and they’re internally thrashing themselves for not having completed anything.

Forgetting reality

Time is kind of like the Pauli exclusion principle: two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. You can’t be working 100% on your business when you’re trying to relax and visit.

The chart above is a circle to represent the fact that there are a finite number of hours in the day. 24 to be exact. In that first wheel, the “work” slice of time has 8 hours. Now, in the big holiday celebration scenario, watch what happens:
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There’s still balance, it’s just different balance. Work goes down to a measly 3 hours. Instead of solid productivity, those work hours might be an hour here, 30 minutes there checking email.

The trade-off? All the other fun things like more time with family and friends! More yummy food and hanging out snacking on hors d’ouvres! Yay for holidays!

Then why does it feel so not-fun?

Holiday stress comes from not knowing how you’ll fit it all in. From rushing in blindly with a can-do-attitude. You can’t have all those activities and a normal work life. Or you’ll spend half of January recovering.

You can’t. You can’t fit it all in. There isn’t enough time.

So, let’s suppose that you want to enjoy your break and work less (or not at all). If that’s true, then lower your standards. Cut in half (or more) whatever it is you’re planning to do work-wise over the holiday break.

This way, you actually get a chance to be where you are. You can actually enjoy the people you’re with. You might be truly present (what a gift!) and even relax for a change.

Holiday “breaks” don’t happen by themselves.

You have to treat your holiday break like a pie. (Mmmm. Pie…)

Imagine your ideal work day as a yummy pie – and then imagine using a lovely silver serving utensil to cut out a slice. Decide how big a portion of spaciousness you want. Go ahead.

Decide now what work and to-dos are optional before it starts getting crazy. Then set that slice of work aside. It’ll keep. When the holidays are over you can munch on it all you like.

Persuaded?

What will you cut out over the holidays so you enjoy them more? And for bonus points, do share what kind of pie you’d like to have!

It’s the first Monday of November, folks. (How on earth did that happen?)

Now that there’s a mere 9 weeks until the end of the year, many self-employed business owners are doing an end-of-year cram session – trying to finish everything they hoped to do in 2009. Admittedly, I feel tempted to do the same. I get this feeling that I’m running out of time.

You too?

If you’re feeling end-of-year panic, take a breath or two or three. Good long slow ones. None of us is really running out of time. December 31 is just a day – in a long string of many days.

This time of year there’s a focus on the home fires, of gathering and connecting. It doesn’t mesh well with attempting to push through tons of work. So finding a balance is key.

Setting end-of-year goals for 2009

What is currently working well for me:

Being kind to myself. A while back, I made it my intention to treat myself (in my business) the way I would a paid employee. Would I ask an inspired helper to cram? No. Would I ask them to work holidays? No. Would I encourage them to take time off? Of course. So that’s how I’m treating myself. Hard? Yes. : )

Having realistic expectations of myself. I’ve learned over the years that I don’t focus well on my work when I’m preparing for the holidays. So I’m dialing back on the work load for Thanksgiving and taking almost 2 weeks off over Christmas and New Years. That’s a huge shift for me.

Choosing only one end-of-year goal. Truthfully, I have many goals but I wrote all of them down and just chose one for the end of the year. The others I put on the back burner. There’s no point in forcing them all. And I may actually have a chance of getting that one done.

Giving myself permission to rest. This is probably the hardest thing because somewhere inside me is this belief that if I have free time, I “should” be working. But as I found out in September, taking time to rest actually filled up my heart and spirit and gave me all kinds of energy and creativity.

I know this resting stuff is a hard sell for you diligent worker bees – especially if you’re strapped for cash. You think, “I can’t stop – or everything will fall apart.” But consider it.

What I’m currently working on:

Setting aside the time. The only way I really honor my need for rest is by actually putting it in my calendar. By blocking it out, I literally cannot make appointments with others. It’s that visual reminder that I need.

So, I’m going to block out the holidays/breaks I’ve chosen today – before it all runs away with me.

My goals for 2009

• Business: Release the new top-secret product to my newsletter subscribers.
• Business: Continue blogging and writing the newsletter.
• Business: Prepare for my time off so I can really enjoy it.
• Personal: Take off Thanksgiving week and December 21 – Jan 3.
• Personal: Fill up. Be silent. Journal. Pray. Meditate. Soak in all the love.

How about you?

Please share:

1. What’s going well in your end-of-year goal setting ?
2. What are you working on that you’d like to be better?
3. What are your actual goals for the rest of 2009?

Your comments on your own process are welcome. House rules: Give advice to me or others only when it’s specifically requested. This makes exploring safe and learning possible for every reader.