Now that you have neatly packed away the holiday décor, tossed away the greeting cards, as you reluctantly look down at the scale wondering how you are going to lose the butter cookie extra pounds, you might not fee like you have time to even wonder what the future has in store for you.. It’s not about making those meaningless resolutions that always seem to make you feel more guilty than hopeful. It’s not about thinking about what you’d like to accomplish knowing full well that you are not ready to take any meaningful action against your intentions.

How do you manage your post-holiday hustle? Feeling pressure never helps. Your to-do list will never end and although it might feel great to check the boxes, know you will never be done. So stop making excuses about all the stuff you have to do in order to get to the stuff you want to do and take some productive action to make sure you don’t waste anymore of your valuable time.

Your efforts will not go unnoticed. You don’t have to make great strides in order to measure your incremental progress. Sometimes just thinking about what you want to happen is enough to make things move in your direction. Little angels of support are always waiting in the wings to assist- you just have to ask. Do you ever wonder when you think about someone or something you’d like to happen it miraculously appears? You just need to flex that muscle a little in order to get your career mojo in gear.

Your post-holiday hustle does not need to represent a sprint to the finish line. Small and deliberate steps will work when you start to plot your next career move. Maybe it’s as simple as making of a list of the people you would like to work with? Or, maybe you have an idea for a new business or product you want to test and you start to do some preliminary research. It does not take much to get your hustle on.

The only one pushing you towards your next result is you. You can either respond well to the pressure or decide it’s too much for you to have to deal with and go about handling all of your other busy work instead. Making lists is helpful, networking is always preferred but running around taking one meeting after the next with no idea what you want to accomplish could seem like a waste of time instead of a secret strategy towards career success.

You are not alone when it comes to putting pressure on yourself. That does not mean you have to respond by challenging yourself at every career corner. Take this time to not only count your many blessings but to also give yourself permission to succeed by not pushing so hard and to allow the good things that are headed your way to actually appear. You are able to move fast anytime you like. It does not necessarily mean moving fast will get you any closer to your desired result. You’ll still have time to get where you are going long after the holiday carolers have gone home-take time to relax into your next career move without the fear you will miss out on something if you don’t hustle ahead of the pack