Lead Yourself First this Holiday Season | | Lisa Martin InternationalLisa Martin International

By Lisa Martin

For leaders and emerging leaders, the holiday season can be a time of great joy and stress. Personal circumstances and intense work demands, can leave you, and your colleagues at all levels, feeling 360° pressure at this time of year.

Here are three ideas you can use to lighten up and help yourself, and others, ease the demands of the season.

1. Identify ‘recharge’ tools It’s easy to become so preoccupied with taking care of the daily urgencies of the holidays – the working, the visiting, and the organizing – that no space, time or energy is left for you. When your needs and self-care fall to the bottom of your list, this is a one-way ticket to a tired, cranky, impatient…and less productive you.

Give yourself permission to put the quality of your own life at the top of your holiday wish list. To do so, identify three holiday recharge tools you can use to take better care of you, such as practicing meditation, going out for a walk, reading your favorite book, renting a video, sleeping in or hitting the gym.

Write these ideas down and when you feel like you are reaching the edge of comfort, make a pledge to engage in these stress-relieving activities.

2. Ask for help Asking for help can seem extremely difficult. But if you don’t request assistance during the holidays you may find yourself at your wit’s end. If you think you need to do it all, think again.

Acknowledge that support will ease your load and make things happen faster. Resist the temptation to go it alone or take on more than you can reasonably do. Draft a list of activities, professional and personal, you want to commit to this season (nothing more) and write the names of the people you’d like to help out. Then start making calls.

3. Say “yes” to what matters You know what and who they are – the physical and emotional demands that consume a lot of your holiday energy and space. It is your choice to say “yes” to the things that fulfill you and make your holidays happy, and “no” to your “shoulds” and “have tos.”

This season, take a few minutes to think about the things that may be a source of stress and sort which really matter and which do not. If you know hosting a traditional dinner for 25 is not high on your list, don’t commit to it this year. Either say no, ask another family member to step-up or prepare that seafood buffet you always wanted to experiment with.

By letting go of the unimportant and focusing on what matters most, you choose what you want ensuring you lead yourself first and experience the best of the season.