Jingle Bells. I love them Christmas songs, and all the holiday spirit makes me so happy BUT, the holidays can also be such a stressful season. While most of us love all the holiday activities, sometimes they can be overwhelming.

The EXACT things that we planned to do with the intention of making the holidays more enjoyable, can actually turn out to make things much more stressful, and that leads to losing sight of the true meaning of the holidays. So today’s episode is for you if you feel this overwhelm from past holidays and want to enjoy the holidays this year better than the past.

I just took a 2 week vacation off holiday season to avoid crowds. But if you are planning on traveling during the holiday peak season, expect and be prepared for delays. If your flight is delayed or canceled for any reason, what would you be doing? Prepare enough clothing and activities for you and your traveling companions. 

So first off, make vacation time actually vacation time and avoid working at all. Make sure you have scheduled out your social media posts ahead of time, emails can be scheduled, work ahead and let everyone know you will be on vacation. Set those vacation auto replies and enjoy your vacation. 

Before the holidays start, set some rules and limits, use these rules as boundaries for your decision making to keep your holiday sane. You can limit the time you spend with certain people if they make you feel uncomfortable. You can limit the number of activities or events that you will participate in so that you don’t burn yourself out.

Keep things simple, holiday decorations do not have to be a certain way, beautiful  friendships and family relationships can still last a lifetime without extravagant gift exchanging. Years from now, no one will ever remember your food, your decor or your gift, but they will only remember the times that you shared together laughing and enjoying the holidays. Only focus on what’s important! Family togetherness, spiritual enlightenment and camaraderie with friends, these are far more important than the tiny details that are often focused on that drives us nuts. Do less and actually embrace family and friends time more. So keep things simple! 

I always say that my favorite quote is yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, that’s why we call it the present.  If something happened in the past that made your past holidays undesirable, let go of that feeling first. Don’t let past events pre-determine the experience you will have for the upcoming holiday. For example, if you had an unhappy experience with in-laws or other relatives from a past get-together, don’t pre-determine that your experience this year is already ruined. Today is a present, so focus on today, focus on the new you this year because this is a different chapter of your life and you are the author and you get to determine how to write your life story. If the holiday season makes you focus on a painful event from your past, start creating new holiday traditions.

Remember that your Christmas get-together is not a problem-solving working session. Deal with your family issues another time. Do not drown yourself in the negative stories of others. When someone is getting on your nerves, laugh it off, it happens to all of us. Feel free to excuse yourself to a private room or even the bathroom to calm yourself if you feel any overwhelm or anxiety. Close your eyes, take deep deep breaths, and restate your new intention for once you open your eyes. Do this reset for yourself as often as you need to.

You get to live your life the way you want to. Remember that saying no to anybody is ok, telling your parents that you won’t be going over this year is ok. Staying home for Christmas is ok. 

Guest featured in this episode:

Lois Koffi is a professional speaker, sales trainer, coach, Best Selling Author of Fearless Entrepreneurs, and Ironman Triathlete that has coached thousands of people in business and healthy lifestyles for the last 22 years.

She pivoted, like many in 2020, without having an email list or podcast or tribe online – having focused on face-to-face sales for over 20 years.

She went from 0 sales online to 5 figures a month in less than 6 months with permission-based lead generation online and now coaches, affiliate marketers, and speakers hire her to do the same – pivoting in 6 months guaranteed to live their best life. She now is at multiple five figures a month in 9 months of starting at ground zero online.

She loves affiliate marketing as well and is really passionate about sharing her story and resources through her top 20 podcast.

Things you will learn in this episode:

• • Story of going from Zero to 20k months in 9 months
  • What lessons learned
  • How she got started with zero online presence
  • What was helpful along the way
  • and much more…

Guest featured in this episode:

After 40 years on a diet, yo-yoing up and down the scale, Renée Jones had learned every diet – and every cheat – before finally stopping the comfort and stress eating to lose “those last 30 pounds” yet AGAIN in 2012 – and has not gained it back. Then she dug a bit deeper and found more freedom from the baggage she’d dragged with her for decades.

Now she helps others do the same. Renée has a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Counseling and a Clinical Residency in Pastoral Care to guide her international counseling and coaching practice of traditional and contemporary models as well as relaxation and horse-assisted methods. Her book, What’s Really Eating You: Overcome the Triggers of Comfort Eating, is an Amazon best seller, and her TEDx talk helps her reach people around the world.

Things you will learn in this episode:

• • What is emotional eating, and how do we manage it?
  • Why do diets fail?  
  • How do you manage holidays/family feasting?
  • How to navigate a “snack-filled” home?
  • After 40 years on a diet, what made the difference for you in 2012 and through to now?
  • How do you make a resolution – New Year or otherwise – work for you?  
  • The real secret to losing weight and maintaining it?
  • and much more…

Guest featured in this episode:

Ashley Graham, Your Brandista, is a publicist & people-relations coach that works with conscious thought leaders in elevating their voices through storytelling, PR & conscious communications. Your Brandista is bringing awareness to the aspects of the media that might be missed. Ashley’s goal with her story and message is to consciously bring together communities for impact and improvement, to become better leaders and communicators within their spaces. Both Ashley and Your Brandista’s influence reaches a loyal audience who are craving the right conversations.

As a publicist and thought leader in the PR space, Ashley has landed clients in a variety of media outlets such as Forbes, Refinery29, Entrepreneur, and BuzzFeed. Ashley as a thought leader herself has been recognized in the media on BossBabe, Thought Catalog, Business2Community, Authority Magazine, Thrive Global, PRNews, and was recently announced as a potential candidate for the Forbes Next 1000 List.

Ashley believes that every brand has a story. In the competitive landscape of agencies around the world, Your Brandista is on a mission to break the disconnect and cut-throat agency dynamic in order to create a more holistic, cohesive, and heart-centered approach to branding and business development.

As a ‘Jill of all trades,’ Ashley is a serial entrepreneur and content strategy maven who channels her passions, talents, and personal values to make a difference in the creative space. Pioneering the belief of building personal brands, Ashley is on a mission to work with conscious-minded brands and businesses in all stages of their journeys.

Things you will learn in this episode:

• • What is Conscious PR or Conscious Media?

  • What is the wheel of authority?

  • Other tips for people’s relationship

  • and much more…

I am a woman who is high achieving, high performance and highly motivated towards my true goals. But I wasn’t always this way. I used to be an OVERachiever. 

Let’s look at some of the downfalls Of Being An Overachiever:

1. You expect too much. it guarantees that you will never be satisfied with anything you do. Because perfectionism is not attainable and because you want the perfect outcomes all the time, therefore, you are doomed to be disappointmented. 
2. You always want to be the best. Not being the best gives you negative feelings. Then those negative feelings trigger more negative thoughts and then those negative thoughts are more likely to influence you to say negative things and take more negative actions. And we all know, negative attitudes will lead to undesirable results. So stop overachieving, stop being so hard on oneself if you are not THE best. You are the expert at what you do and you are the best for your clients and family and friends. There’s no need to ever put shame on yourself for not feeling like you are the best. 
3. You are trying to be a superhero to others. You don’t say no, you are overbooked, overwhelmed, stressed out and we don’t want that. Create an easy life, live life in the moment, be confident that an easier life is possible. You are the superhero for yourself but you don’t need to be the superhero for everyone in the whole world. Your people are out there yes, but don’t kill yourself for not being able to help EVERYONE!

So let’s review what to do to stop being an overachiever and avoid burnout:

1. Don’t expect too much, we do our best work so that we know the best possible outcome, but never expect so high to let your expectations ruin your day. It’s important to be mindful, if things don’t go as planned, don’t blame, don’t sabotage yourself, adjust and improve for next time. 
2. Practice empathy, this is true for yourself and others. Be compassionate to yourself. Give yourself credit for all that you’ve already accomplished. Don’t minimize your own work. You are remarkable!
3. Always put yourself first. It’s not selfishness, but always remember that you always put on your own oxygen mask before putting it in for a child. You are worthy of all the luxuries of life. You are worthy to invest substantially in yourself. Your personal and business development is significant. You are here on earth for your purpose and you have a great purpose to be here. You be you and this ex-overachiever talking right now is rooting for you.

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