Dwarfing Santa

As the countdown to the holiday season gathers momentum work commitments speed up, family expectations heat up, calendars become full and choices must be made! At least, that is the smart thing to do.

Sometimes though, the Santa season tends to invoke a frenzy of eventful activity that sensible people wouldn’t entertain any other time of the year! The resultant emotive activity has the potential to wear out the most energetic of people before the actual family events take place.

As a result some may take on personalities akin to the seven dwarfs. Some starting off as Happy, some party resistors are Bashful, too much indulgence send them Dopey, as a result becoming Grumpy, Sleepy and if sufficiently worn out they become Sneezy and have to see Doc!

Throw Snow White into the mix and they are all in a decidedly poor state to meet and influence new people at the myriad of cocktail events and certainly in a dangerous mood to mix with family. This includes mixing with family who are close and loving as well as those they must see and don’t particularly want to.

Now you may be wondering what the Seven Dwarfs and Snow White references have to do with Santa? You are right, not much. They are just as out of place as bad moods and bad behaviour, when the intention of the season is peace and love. Bad behaviour has the effect of dwarfing Santa and that is a bad look in anyone’s terms, one that is often talked about for generations.

So why do perfectly sensible people behave badly and how can you ensure you are not one of them? After all, it is far more useful to be a good elf than a bad dwarf.

It is usual that the lead up to events of a festive nature evokes excitement as well as dread and can set up a potential emotional and all too familiar pantomime.

There are however, ways to ensure you are more likely to enjoy the performance rather than feel performance anxiety… it is all a matter of perspective.

The top 3 ways to enjoy the performance are:

1. Plan to be wise and you will be – a sage is a good listener with an open rational mind. Focus on the other person and their message. No matter how well you think you know a person, you will change the relationship for the better.



2. Plan to enjoy people and you will – There is no benefit to you or anyone else by coming to an event with past prejudices or dread about some person or issue. Just be your best rational self and remember as you show respect you may very well get it.



3. Plan to be curious and you will be calm – Adopting a perspective of curiosity ensures you think and behave from your rational brain. You become interested in others, their stories, their perspective and you potentially connect with them in a genuine and open manner. You may even learn something about them that you actually appreciate.

Noelene Dawes leads people through the pressures of evolving within a business environment of continuous change. This means Being Decisive, Being Influential and Getting Results.

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