'At Christmas I no more desire a rose Than wish a snow in May's newfangled mirth; But like of each thing that in season grows.' > Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Love's Labour Lost

Christmas - that time of over-indulgence, added anxiety and sheer stress. Bah, humbug!

Actually, I love Christmas. But reality for so many people at work is that hidden beneath surface of jollity and bonhomie is that it is potentially most difficult time of year.

The four work stresses of Christmas.

1. Christmas has become a giant milestone in year. This forces everyone into an artificial mindset that demands that everything be completed 'before holiday.' As a result, weeks before Christmas are an absolute nightmare for many people. People who are already overworked are forced to pull extra hours to get work completed. Yet often, a moments thought by those demanding completion of jobs would show that nothing bad will happen if they are held over until early January.

If you are a 'holiday hurrier', spare a thought for what is truly urgent and what is simply being hurried because it is Christmas.

2. The social whirl. Just because it is Christmas, everybody has to get on. And on, and on. Festive parties seem to start as soon as shops start displaying tinsel - and that can be as early as September where I live! If you are prone to suffer from stress - as so many of us are these days - endless eating and drinking in smokey atmospheres (even if you don't smoke yourself) is just going to make things worse. Not only are you lowering your bodies resistance, but you are also severely limiting your ability to keep on top of heightened workload.

As French proverb says, "Between two stools, you sit on floor."

Like a great many people before and after me, I had to learn hard way to actively take control of my life. Prevarication is a poor master, but one that will rule you with a rod of iron if you don't chose to stop it.

Banish from your mind and your vocabulary words, 'I'll think about it.' You won't. Something else will take your eye and divert your attention. Unless you make a positive decision to do or not to do, right now, you are very unlikely to revisit.

Nobody ever became a success by hesitating. Success comes to those who jump in and have a go.

I am not by any means suggesting that you should embrace every hare-brained scheme or half-baked idea that you come across. Far from it. What I am saying is that you must develop skill to actively decide what to do in any given situation and not leave result to chance.

For example, I get about 200 emails a day. Whenever I go to my inbox I have to make quick choices about all emails waiting to get my attention:

Send it straight to trash Save it in a pending file Read it immediately Forward it to someone else Act on its contents

There may be other choices, but point is made. If I don't actively decide between these options I would very quickly get an inbox so full that I would never get chance to act on any of them.

Life and business is very much like that. In this twenty-first century we live in, only those who have mastered art of 'keeping up' can survive and thrive. There is no room for procrastination.

Very often only decision you need to make is whether to act or not. Once you have made that positive commitment to yourself, 'putting into action' part of equation follows naturally.

Don't over analyze.