The Circle Must Be Broken

“Circling back” is a terrible way to prepare for 2024.

It’s the Monday after Thanksgiving, which means we are in that bizarre time where everyone seemingly wishes to delay any decision-making until after the new year. Usually, this manifests itself in the phrase, “Let’s circle back over the holidays” – a phrase that has many meanings, including:

• I don’t want to deal with this now.

• I don’t want to deal with this ever, but perhaps they won’t circle back.

• I will coast my way through December and clean everything up in January.

It’s time to break the circle.

We’ve all seen it or, possibly, even experienced it: we work as little as possible after Thanksgiving, move every decision to January, then come into work on the first day of the new year overwhelmed by everything that’s piled up. When you add the big shows in Orlando and Las Vegas, this is a terrible approach to getting things done.

Instead of pushing as much work (and people) off to January 2, 2024, why not have a solid 3 – 4 weeks of work, take a break over the holidays, and come into January ready to go? I love the holidays just as much as anyone. I don’t, however, love them so much that I have a desire to simply walk away from work, planning, or decision-making until the calendar turns to 2024. It’s just bad business.

So, as you pretend to work today while looking for Cyber Monday deals, I invite you to join me in breaking the circle.