Lessons in Joyful Living from Holiday Traditions

by Susan Briggs in Blogs

December 16, 2014

Over the last 18 months I’ve come to believe that life really should be joyful and easy the majority of the time.

The holiday season of joy can actually challenge our feelings of joy due to the extra tasks and family traditions. In our household we’ve found the holidays to be a great classroom in keeping our cheery dispositions by finding the right tools and resources to help.

Bill is very obvious when he loses his cheer as curse words start flying! We both love having our front porch decorated with Christmas lights, but I came to dread the day each year Bill would tackle the task. Curse words would fly and multiple trips to the store for more lights would only deepen his frustration and dampen my holiday cheer. So one year I proposed that we hire someone to put up the lights on the porch.  So for the past three years we’ve outsourced the task of putting up our Christmas lights outside and merrily signed the check for the services.

We also put up a live tree in our house for the holidays which serves as a key decoration for Bill’s company holiday party that we host. As the party is held early in December we’ve had issues with our tree getting very dry by the end of the season. Last year I recommended that we cut off the bottom of the trunk as my dad had done during my childhood. Bill agreed and embarked on the task using tools from our garage and it was not long before the cursing began. An hour later we succeeded in our task and the tree was up, but our holiday cheer was definitely dampened.

Remembering last year’s drama I asked Bill the day before we were getting the tree this year if there was a better tool for cutting off the bottom of the tree. He quickly described a saw that he said would cost less than $20 for the job. My first thought was why didn’t we stop and go buy it last year; but kept quiet and put the hardware store on my errand list. I spent $15 on the saw and Bill spent less than 5 minutes trimming the bottom off the Christmas tree trunk. Another success, drama avoided and holiday cheer retained for tree trimming!

This year I’ve really started to be present and aware of the jobs and tasks I do, but don’t enjoy. Even simple annoyances go on my mental checklist for a tool or resource that will keep me in my joyful and easy life flow. I realized that plugging in the Christmas tree lights was an annoying hassle for me. The wall outlet was an arm’s length behind the tree and the light plugs blended into the tree and were challenging to find each day. I felt like I was standing on my hands for five minutes trying to get the lights on and would avoid plugging them in and enjoying the lighted tree. So when I headed out for holiday shopping errands I decided to check the shelves for a power strip or other switch device to make lighting the tree easy. To my delight on the Christmas electrical shelf was a remote control plug for lights that cost less than $20!  This remote may be my favorite holiday gadget and now turning on the lights actually brings me a little more joy.

Our lessons in maintaining holiday cheer by sticking with the right jobs for us and using the right tools is very applicable to our businesses and every day life. One of the reasons my life is more joyful is the shift I’ve made in being purposeful in spending my time in my “genius zone”. Working on the tasks I enjoy and are the best fit for me like creating content, teaching and setting strategy. I now outsource administrative tasks that are time consuming and annoying for me to perform. As business owners our independent and control traits can make us resistant to getting help from others, but this also limits us in what we can accomplish. You’ll find more success, ease and joy when you let others help you.

Technology has made finding good people that specialize in jobs they love to do easy to find and very affordable. Using the internet you can find people online to do almost any task imaginable. If this concept is new to you I highly recommend starting out by trying Fancy Hands. For $25 a month you get 5 tasks done for you online or by phone (as long as they take less than 20 minutes). This holiday season Fancy Hands has done a lot of shopping research for me that I know would have taken me much longer than an hour. I’ve also become a regular user of Elance a community of people looking to do work like format documents, edit video, create powerpoint templates, graphic design and much more.

Keep your holiday cheer all year with a new focus on spending your time on the right jobs for you…your genius zone. Also consider whether there is a tool or resource than can make annoying tasks you must do more fun. Fancy Hands can research anything and provide options for you to consider.

Decide now to start 2015 with the intention of living a joyful and easy life by taking advantage of the many resources at our fingertips.