10 Things Successful People Do During The Holiday Season To Improve Their Careers

It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving Day is this week. In no time at all, it will be Hanukkah, Christmas, then the New Year.

This is a season where it’s easy and socially acceptable to coast. Many of your co-workers and clients are going to be out of the office taking their vacations. The mood in the office is generally upbeat and the pace of work appreciably slows down. Most people enjoy the season but pay scant attention to their jobs and careers. They put themselves on autopilot and glide through the end of the year. They’ll say that they deserve a break and promise to get their act together and into high gear once 2020 commences.

People who have achieved great success in their lives and careers look at this time period very different than the rest of us. They recognize that there are less than two full months until the year ends and there is still so much yet to accomplish. For them, there is enough time to take proactive steps to improve themselves and enhance their careers and lives. They’ll enjoy the holidays, but won’t frivolously squander their precious time.

Here is what successful people do over the next six weeks.  

1. They don’t procrastinate. Instead, successful people wrap up any and all of their important, outstanding projects. It’s easy to push things off and blame the holidays. They get things done right now—without any excuses.
2. Successful people start a list of goals for what they desire to achieve in the next year. They don’t just hope and pray that things will work out. They’ll write down an action plan that focuses on all of the daily steps needed to accomplish their objectives. By writing down their ambitions, it becomes real and they hold themselves accountable to it. If you tell someone about your aspirations, it motivates you further to intensely focus on the game plan, as there will be someone you respect checking in on you.
3. Motivated people purposely block out all of the extraneous distractions that arise over the next bunch of weeks. They’ll attend parties and family functions, but won’t eat and drink excessively, as they know they need to stay clear-headed and on top of their game.
4. Smart, fast-track and career-oriented people actively turn up the heat on their job search. The vast majority of job seekers put their search on hold during the holidays, as they don’t want to be bothered with ruining their fun. If you are aggressively looking, you’ll stand out with much less competition.
5. Use this time to refresh your résumé and LinkedIn profile, contact recruiters, check out job boards and invite people out for coffee or a cocktail to pick their brains about potential job openings.
6. Take advantage of the holiday season’s shopping sales to pick up a couple of new interviewing outfits.
7. Intelligent people start preparing for their annual review. They’ll gather a list of all their great accomplishments and carefully practice what they’ll say to their boss to secure a raise and promotion.
8. Forward thinkers contemplate where they are in their lives and what they want to do next. This may entail going back to school, pivoting to a new career or completely reinventing themselves. This time is perfect to seriously contemplate the next chapter of your career.
9. Successful people are not afraid of constructive criticism and are self-aware. Engage in self-reflection about who you really are. Think about whether or not you’re happy with your life choices. Maybe you will decide to lose five pounds, become more optimistic and positive, treat people better, give to charity or work toward becoming the best version of yourself and the person that you know could be.
10. Those rare, successful people have a certain mindset. They give thanks to all of the wonderful things they have in their lives. Show appreciation to the ones you love. Express gratitude for everything good that’s happened to you. Forgive, forget and let go of all the past regrets, slights, indignities and bad decisions.

This is just a start and you can continually add to this list. You are now prepared to start the holiday season and enter the new year feeling happy, confident, productive, both mentally and emotionally strong and successful.

Originally posted by Jack Kelly

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