Day 81 – Smugness

11 Dec 2019

I dread to think how many people have started the panic buy process already, delivery dates before Christmas are getting tight and there are the smug people out there telling you, I’ve all presents and wrapped ready to go! I have a confession, I used to be one of those annoying people, who had it nailed in November! Christmas cards sent 1st December and presents pretty much sorted by first week in.

This year, with juggling so many balls, I am less, well, self-righteous. This doesn’t sit terribly well with the perfectionist Virgo inner voice but then I’ve had a lot on, I still have the end of the build project going on, the business is ramping up and the school calendar is actually off the scale. Today is Christmas Jumper, nativity, Christmas dinner AND a panto in the afternoon all of which has to be paid for and organised beforehand. Seriously, getting them to school, clean, fed and on time ready to go is sometimes a challenge without the ‘extras’.

The energy levels of the little people are waning but as a grown up, this isn’t allowed. I am working on Christmas Eve so need to stay focused and still deliver. There are so many articles in the HR world around motivation at Christmas, managing festive parties and the rights and wrongs of how to manage it all. December to me is still a month in which I would expect all employees to work and deliver, ok, have fun on the way but still focus on the day job. That might be a little scrooge but in certain business this is the busiest time of the year. Most payroll is equal across the year so you get paid the same this month as any other, so if you were to be ruthless, this is the month to up your game while your competitors are having long lunches and eating mince pies and stollen.

Being a one (Wo)man band this year means I don’t have a Christmas party to look forward to, but I am hopefully that Christmas 2020 will involve a P&M outing of a collection of some fabulous individuals that will contribute to the adventure that awaits….!

#challenge #100days #HR #hope