HOLIDAY HACKS FOR THE BUSY PROFESSIONAL 4 Tips for a Less Exhausting Holiday Season
Take frequent breaks. When you have a lot going on, frequent 5–10 minute minibreaks can go a long way in easing the mental pressure. Do not hesitate to take brain breaks throughout the day. Go for a quick walk around the building or neighborhood. Read a chapter of your book. Play a quick game on your phone. Say no to the kitchen. When your time is precious, why spend a lot of time in the kitchen? While some find cooking a joy, others find it burdensome. If you are in the latter group, it’s okay to go the boxed or prepared meal route when time is short. Boxed meals can still be prepared with love, and you can get high-quality frozen dishes or freshly prepared meals from your favorite grocery store. The time and energy you save is worth the investment. In 2020, we have more options than ever to make life easier. So, enjoy the holidays a little more by doing the things you love and using these tips to make the most of your time and energy this season.
The holidays are an incredibly busy time of year. Between work and home, it can feel like there is not enough daylight to get everything done. We have projects to complete, emails to answer, dinners to plan, gifts to buy — and family is coming in from out of town. Is it possible to take care of everything and not be completely exhausted by the end of it? While we cannot answer that definitively, we can share a few “holiday hacks” to help you get more out of your time. Put work aside. Give yourself blocks of time to focus on one thing at a time. You may be tempted to multitask, but for your mental health, do not do it. Focusing on one thing at a time produces better results (this applies equally to cooking as it does to client work) and you’ll feel better through the process. Delegate — at home! You delegate assignments at work, so why not do the same at home? Start with your immediate family and work your way out. Give everyone a task: Someone does the grocery shopping. Someone is in charge of a main course dish. Another is on side-dish duty. Others get dessert. Do not forget to assign a clean-up crew. Save yourself for the tasks you REALLY want to do.
Wait! Do You Really Need to Do More Christmas Shopping?
Christmas is the season of giving. But what does that really mean? Purchasing gifts for your friends and relatives, wrapping them in shiny paper, and placing them under the Christmas tree? In the eyes of Eagle & Fein managing attorney Brian Eagle, giving should extend beyond our immediate circles — and perhaps we could do with buying fewer Christmas and Hanukkah presents, particularly this year. “A while ago I heard a great speaker, Nathan Dugan, talk about how in America we are taught to spend, spend, spend,” Brian says. “But he had a different philosophy regarding what we should do with our money, which put spending in third place: share, save, spend.” Dugan is the founder of the money management and education company Share Save Spend, and its lessons live up to its name. The philosophy that captured Brian’s attention teaches that once we acquire wealth, our first priority should be to share it — to give back to our communities with our treasures and our time. Then, our second priority should be saving money for life’s emergencies and opportunities, including traveling and retirement. Lastly, once sharing and saving have been taken care of, we should consider spending. During the holiday season, we each have a unique opportunity to put these lessons into practice. Rather than buying an excess of presents and the latest must-have decorations, we can show our friends and family that our
community comes first by donating money to good causes, volunteering, or giving back in other ways. This is particularly important this year because many people have fallen on hard times. If you have the resources to give, this is an ideal moment to do so. “It is so important for children to learn at a young age the diligence of sharing and saving more and spending less,” Brian says. “Society is always focused on what you do not have and how you need to spend money to obtain those things, but in reality, we often have everything we need and more.” This holiday season, consider joining us in embracing the “share, save, spend” philosophy. Together, we can bring our community closer and usher in a bright new year.
2
EagleandFein.com
Published by Newsletter Pro • www.NewsletterPro.com
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker