It’s 158 days until Christmas! Now before you groan this could actually be important to you.

I was chatting to another member of WA a couple of weeks ago and was asking what progress he was making on his new Halloween site. Not much, he told me because he had other priorities. I don’t blame him. He’s currently enjoying a trip in Australia with his family and what with birthdays and wedding anniversaries and other celebrations his site is the last thing on his mind.

However, as someone who works with people who struggle with managing their time and setting and reaching goals, this conversation did inspire this short blog because it did make me think that by the time he finds the time to start working on his site he could be in danger of missing the boat.

Every year in the UK the tabloid press start moaning at the end of August because one or more of the major shopping chains will have opened their Christmas department. Inevitably they moan that it is too early. I say they’re killjoys. It is early, but you don’t have to visit them. The fact is there are lots of women (and yes it is mostly women) who like to start planning early, knowing that it’s not just Christmas that is going to impact on their household budget in the coming months.

So what does this mean for your IM activities? Well obviously it will depend on what your niche is. I’m not suggesting for a moment that you want to set up an online Christmas store by the end of August, but I would suggest that you have a look at the major celebrations that are going to be happening in the next 6 months and see whether any of these should influence what you’re doing. You may then want to review some of your goal setting, planning and scheduling.

If you want to check out dates for events and special observances you can do so here .

If you’re thinking of promoting your first ebook (as I know one member is for the Christmas market) – having it ready at the beginning of December just won’t cut it. You have to do some forward planning and the time to do that is right now.

In my niche, self help books are really poopular around that time of year so my Christmas store which is to be added to my coaching site is well on it's way. I also have a special promotion planned to take out some of the stress from Christmas which can impact on people's self esteem and confidence.

Time has a horrible habit of creeping up on us before we know it. Make sure that you don’t miss the boat because you have your eyes fixed elsewhere.