It is one week or so before Christmas and I am reflecting on the holiday season...The reality of my life right now is that the Christmas season generally coincides with a lot of decidedly non-Christmasy activities, including:
- Helping to develop next year's operating budget;
- Guiding the Compensation Committee through the minefield of raises, promotions and bonuses for a lot of people;
- Developing annual scopes of work, cost estimates and contract renewals for key clients;
- Drafting and overseeing fee schedule notification letters;
- Trying to complete project deliverables by year-end;
- Completing performance reviews and conducting year-end discussions with employees;
- Leading our strategic planning meetings, and, last but not least;
- Trying to think about Christmas and get "in the spirit".
It's not all cubes and offices - there is always a huge, beautifully decorated tree and school kids playing holiday concerts in the Crystal Court during the lunch hour. We get a ton of cards and thank-you gifts from clients and companies the work for us at this time of year, and generally the project work slows down a little as well. But still, the day-to-day reality of this time of year can really get in the way if you are trying to enjoy the season.
This year I am going to do what any self-respecting, busy executive would do - I am going to be super-efficient! I am going to fit my family visits, holiday reflections and some much anticipated time off into a glorious two week X-mas orgy. I plan to focus on that (almost) exclusively (the "be here now" principal) and let the office run itself for awhile. My theory is that if I can focus more fully on just relaxing, slowing down and enjoying things, that might be more rewarding than bleeding out the Christmas cheer a little at a time.
Who knows, I may very well turn into Scrooge on Christmas morning - we'll have to wait and see about that.
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