I’ve
mentioned before how one of my favourite aspects of planning is that
once you’ve detailed a plan you can run on autopilot, just checking in
on the plan to tick off a completed task and look at the next one. For
me, this works particularly well in the lead-up to Christmas. With so
many functions to attend and preparations to organise, I can have my
10-week plan stuck prominently on the front of the fridge and work my
way steadily through the list and not feel out of control.
Not everything that has
to be done is written in the plan, but the main tasks are all included.
By following the plan, I can balance my workload evenly instead of
enduring the mad last-minute rush of some previous Christmases. The plan
also provides flexibility. I can rearrange the order of tasks for most
weeks, depending on what comes up family-wise during a particular week.
For example, if the kids are sick in the week I planned to make the
Christmas cards with them, I can make the Christmas tags instead. Table 1 gives an example of a 10-week Christmas plan.
Table 1: a 10-week Christmas plan
