With the last turkey leftovers about gone, and the Black Friday shopping out of the way, now is a good time to perform a Thanksgiving postmortem. No, I’m not talking about ways to use a turkey carcass! This is all about another way to use your planner and organization skills to make your life easier in 2016.

How did your Thanksgiving work out this year?

Were you a relaxed and calm hostess as you sat down to a perfectly cooked meal at your lovely table? Did everything get done but you were so exhausted by dinner time that you weren’t interested in food? Or was the entire affair a complete train wreck?

What is a Postmortem?

Postmortem is a Latin word meaning “after death”. In a business context, a postmortem is a look back at a completed project or event to identify what worked and what didn’t work. It is an essential part of basic project management used by successful team leaders to improve their business.

If you are the one who plans and executes holiday events like Thanksgiving Dinner, then you are a project manager and will benefit by a look back at your holiday dinner plan while it is still fresh in your mind – even if there are parts you would rather forget!

Gather Your Data

Breaking a big project – like Thanksgiving Dinner – into steps is the most basic element of project management.

If you are already a planner gal, you probably organized your Thanksgiving plans into steps for shopping, cooking and cleaning and put those tasks into your planner or calendar. (Not yet using a daily planner? Oh, Honey … stick with me anyway. The planner community is a wonderful place to be!)

At the very least, I bet you had a to-do list or a grocery list on paper or in your head.

So grab your planner or a calendar, whatever notes or lists you used to get ready this year, some paper and pencils and sit down in a quiet place with your beverage of choice.

Do a brain dump. If you didn’t make a task list before Thanksgiving, make one now. Jot down everything you did to get ready, including cooking and cleaning.

Write down what worked and what didn’t work for you. You will sort it out as you move into the analysis part, but for now try to quickly get everything down that readily comes to mind. Don’t spend too much time on this part. You will probably add more later.

What made you smile? A new sweet potato recipe that everyone raved about? Your kid’s pine cone turkey as a centerpiece? Hubby vacuuming all the floors the day before?

Anything not so great? Were you too worn out to enjoy your guests? Did the mountain of dirty dishes make you want to cry? Was the turkey overcooked or under cooked? What would you do differently?

Get Real With Yourself

Remembering the highs and lows for your brain dump probably raised a variety of emotions. Pride, embarrassment, amusement, annoyance to name a few.

Holiday family gatherings can bring on all kinds of emotional reactions that can lead to overwhelm if we let it.

We tend to want to make a good impression, and sometimes set impossible standards for ourselves to do it. Worse, we expect our immediate family members to help us achieve those standards and we get upset when they resist!

I married into an Italian family of eight children. To be specific, I married the baby of that family and he has five older sisters! Not only did I truly want to make a good impression on this huge family, the older me can admit I also have a teensy competitive streak.

So, take the desire to make a good impression, add a competitive streak and season with a liberal splash of perfectionism and you have the perfect recipe for an exhausted and overwhelmed woman. Does any of this sound like someone you know?

Was your goal to serve a delicious meal to comfortable and happy guests? Did you wear yourself out trying to dazzle and amaze everyone with your Pinterest-worthy home décor, tablescape and gourmet meal?

Be honest with yourself and your motives as you review the pre-holiday and T-day chores from this year’s celebration.

Look At Each Step

You are going to review every single thing you did to prepare before, during and after Thanksgiving dinner.

Look at your planner or calendar to see when you did the task. Would it have been better to do it two days earlier? A week earlier? How early could the task have been done? If you had thought of it sooner, could you have delegated the task?

Ask yourself: Was this task really necessary? Was this task joyful? Did I do it the hard way? Could someone else have done it? Was it worth the time and trouble?

Start from the very beginning. There is no judgment here but yours. This review is to figure out what worked best for your current situation and what did not work so well for your current situation.

For example, let’s say you spent several hours polishing Grandma’s wedding silver and hand-washing heirloom china.

Was this task really necessary? No. You could have used disposable or dishwasher-safe dishes and utensils for dinner and dessert.

Was this task joyful? Yes, if you have fond memories of helping your mother and grandmother each year. No, if it is a painful reminder of a loved one who has passed or if you just hate polishing silver!

Did I do it the hard way? Did you get this chore done weeks in advance, a little at a time? Or did you frantically polish and wash dishes late into the night because you were running out of time?

Could someone else have done it? Or at least part of it, like hand washing the china and silver after dinner?

Was it worth the time and trouble? It was if you had plenty of time and love hand washing fine old dishes. No, if you are currently working full time outside the home and/or have health issues and/or are caregiving for others, and …… you see what I mean.

Considering these questions, take an honest look at everything you did this year, from cleaning and decorating to your menu selection to the desserts and clean-up.

Planning For Next Year

Keep in mind that you are not being “lazy” or a poor hosterss if you scale back some of your decorations or substitute prepared foods for traditional homemade versions during busy times of your life.

You are being a savvy CEO who wisely reallocates resources and revises workflows in response to changing conditions! You are an amazing woman!

Following your postmortem of this year’s Thanksgiving, you will now have a better idea of what you can change or rearrange to make your next holiday event less stressful.

Be sure to put reminder notes in your 2016 planner with your ideal holiday To-Do list and timeline!

What was your biggest challenge this Thanksgiving? What do you think you will change next time? Please share your questions and comments on holiday planning in the comments below!