KBJ Writing is celebrating Spirits of the Season beginning December 13th on Instagram! Interested in learning more about the favorite spirits of the world’s best loved writers? Love imbibing during the holidays? Me too! Check out the KBJ Writing Instagram account for 12 days of fun and festivities.

Concerned about falling behind the next few weeks as the holiday season kicks into full gear? You are not alone. Many business professionals dread this time of year. Not only are there family and personal obligations galore, there seem to be a lot of loose ends that need tying up before the calendar year runs out. Though there’s little advice I have concerning cutting back on eggnog and merriment, I can provide a few tips for keeping your workdays under control over the next five or so weeks.

Make December a “wrap-up month” as much as possible

Consider all of the gifts that need wrapping, you might as well take advantage of the wrap up spirit. The year’s end brings an opportunity to put a nice big bow on your recent goals. Take a quick glance at those goals and see where you stand. Use your status to punctuate what you do this month. Let’s say you issue a monthly newsletter and you are feeling swamped by everything you have to do in December. It might be tempting to postpone your newsletter until the busy days pass, but your shirking one of your best marketing tools. Instead of searching for newsletter content, give a year end summary to readers. Cull your best material from previous newsletters and summarize your goals. This puts your year into perspective for your and for your readers.

Work the holidays into your work themes

This is a great time to launch a series related to the holidays. Many of the events and activities this time of year offer built-in ideas. In some ways this allows you to put your creativity on auto-play and coast along without neglecting your business. Looking for ideas for your blog? Address the holiday rush or how to handle holiday stress. Wish you had more content for your December newsletter? Share a few favorite holiday traditions or offer a collection of photos related to the holidays.

Consider outsourcing a few things on your to-do list

Though it might be tough to find a freelancer willing to go to your office holiday party, you can find someone to take care of a few simple, but time-consuming tasks. Need to finish writing a report by mid-month? Want to get up a few blog posts before leaving for a holiday vacation? Hiring someone to do these tasks for you is affordable and can help you save our sanity. There are even people willing to run errands and handle personal tasks for you!

Look forward into the New Year

Use December as an opportunity to get clients excited about the New Year. Once you’ve given a wrap-up of the previous year, you can begin to focus on what is ahead. Offer special benefits for those who enroll now for programs next year and encourage people to take action before the year ends. This provides a great kick off to your year and gives you something simple on which to focus as the year ends. Looking for more ideas to take the work burden out of your holiday season? Tap into your human resources. Many people are looking for ways to make a little extra money for the upcoming holidays and are happy to help out with what you cannot fit into your schedule.