All winning teams are goal oriented.  Teams like these win consistently because everyone connected with them concentrates on specific objectives.  They go about their business with blinders on; nothing will distract them from achieving their aims.

-Alexander Graham Bell

As we move into winter holiday season, it may be "the most wonderful time of the year," but it's also probably the most distracting time of the year.  Outside of work, there are an infinite number of things to do from shopping and decorating and cooking to making travel plans to attending holiday special events.  And while many of these things are fun, those can all take up a lot of our mental bandwidth.  Inside of work, this time of year also has its own distractions like special promotions, high customer traffic volumes (and stressed-out customers, to boot), year-end sales goals, and preparations to start the next year off right. Blending all of these things together can quickly lead to a "holiday burnout." 

Luckily, balancing all of your year-end tasks is much easier if you, like the high performance teams Alexander Graham Bell describes, have clear, specific goals and you continually focus on them to block out any unnecessary "noise."  So take a moment now to revisit your own goals or to go over objectives with your team so everyone can try to keep their eye on the ball and sail through the holiday season with success.