Halloween is around the (very busy) corner, so let's create your game plan now to avoid haunting last-minute scrambles later

(Updated with comments from smart women from last year!)

Grab your calendar, and let’s reduce the Halloween last-minute scrambles.

And before we do, two things:

• You don’t have to do any/all of this. Just pick and choose what makes sense to you given what you want to do!

• Schedule whichever activities you decide to do on a repeating annual basis so you get the benefit of doing this front-end work for years to come! Remember: Future You can move these around to fit her schedule. Each year, as you see them coming up, feel free to move them to a day or time that works better for you that year!

Okay, first up…

Work Availability

• Do you want to block any work meeting availability on Oct. 31 now? (E.g., no meetings after 2pm to get out of there on time.)

• Consider also calendaring something for Nov. 3 as a full-day event, “DON’T SCHEDULE DEADLINES HERE - HALLOWEEN FRIDAY BEFORE.”

• If you have kids and their school/daycare does anything for it (e.g., party, parade), do you know when that is? Consider emailing to ask so you can block work availability now. Sometimes, that info is circulated a little later than we’d like to block work availability.

Costumes

• Late Sept: Calendar ~30-60 min to think through costumes for you, kids, and/or pets

• Late Sept: Calendar when you'll buy the costumes or supplies to make the costumes

• If you're making costumes, schedule times when you'll do that (overestimate)

• If you buy, schedule time to try them on beforehand (with time to reorder if necessary!)

Candy or Alternatives

• Around Oct. 15, schedule time to buy/order candy or alternatives (e.g., glow sticks, temporary tattoos) (even “Add candy/XYZ to the shopping list”)

• Around Oct. 20, calendar “All set with candy for Halloween?” as a backup

Planning Halloween Night Itself

• Early October: Schedule two 30-min blocks about three days apart to think through (and follow up on) the logistics of Halloween night. During those times:

  • Figure out where you/kids are trick-or-treating & any commuting.

  • If you have kids, is one parent trick-or-treating with some kids while the other (or someone else) stays home with tiny kids and gives out candy?

  • Do you want to leave a bowl out and stay inside or leave?

  • What are you doing for dinner that night? If you want to have takeout/delivery, schedule when to order it. (Thank you to the woman who shared this last year! Great addition!)

  • There's no right or wrong – just decide what you want to do & schedule help if you need it!

Halloween decor (if you do it)

(Thank you to another woman who shared this last year! Another awesome addition!)

• Whenever you do: Schedule when you want to put decor up and take it down. If you want pumpkins, etc., schedule when to buy them.

• If you carve pumpkins, schedule when you’ll do that (you can always move it around, but this just helps you not forget until it feels too late and you scramble)

Do you see how cool this is?

I hope this helps you see how “calendaring everything,” which sounds so rigid and micro-manage-y, weirdly actually lightens mental load, gets work off your plate, and helps life feel easier. Here’s why I love sharing this:

• 🎃 It’s such a great example of how “one thing/event/project” – like Halloween – sneakily comes with a LOT of to-do’s that take up a fair amount of time, depending on what you decide to do for it. Always understand that the scope is probably much larger than it sounds at first blush.

• 🎃 Getting clear on what’s involved and what you want to do on the front end helps lighten the mental load because you make a lot of the load no longer only mental because it’s not just in your head anymore – you can see it, evaluate it, and play with it.

• 🎃 Laying it out ahead of time helps you delegate out the work so you don’t have to do it all yourself – and get support earlier (e.g., asking a friend to take an older kid or asking a sitter or parent to stay at the house with younger kids).

• 🎃 Laying it out ahead of time also helps you see when maybe your initial plans are more time-consuming than you want – and you can adjust. Realizing that now is wonderful because you can, e.g., eliminate now and save your time, energy, and peace of mind – versus realizing it was too much halfway through, having to finish because of, e.g., things you already told your kids, etc. This front-end work allows for more informed decisions and breathing space throughout your life – and less overcommitting and scrambling.

• 🎃 By putting it all in your calendar and repeating it annually, not only do you benefit this year, but you gain that benefit every single year from here on out. As with a lot of what I teach, this front-end work has a big long-term payoff.

If you love this, you’ll love the Bright Method, the time management system I came up with as a new attorney, which took me from overwhelmed to someone with far more clarity and less stress. You can try it out in my free 5-day program.

🌲 Want this for Thanksgiving & the upcoming winter holidays?

You got it. You can get your free holiday guide here.

New here? Welcome!

I’m Kelly Nolan, an attorney-turned-time management strategist and mom of two. I teach the Bright Method, a realistic time management system designed for professional working women.

After experiencing overwhelm as a young patent litigator in Boston, I figured out a time management system to help me show up in the ways that I wanted to at work and at home – without requiring my brain to somehow magically remember it all. I now teach other professional working women how to manage their personal, family, and career roles with less stress and more calm clarity using realistic time management strategies. My system, the Bright Method, has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, and my work has been published in Forbes, Fast Company, Business Insider, and more. Learn more on my website, come learn bite-sized strategies with me on Instagram or on my podcast (the Bright Method podcast), or jump into my free 5-day program.

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