How To Beat The Post Holiday Business Blues?
Are you back at work or in your business feeling unsettled after your holiday? Are you finding it difficult to motivate yourself? Are you finding being back at work very challenging? Having a break from your business can feel great at the time. However it can result in you feeling frustrated, unsettled, lacking in motivation and wanting to make changes when you return.
So what can you do if you are struggling with the post holiday business blues?
Get to the bottom of what is troubling you. Take some time out of the day to day of your business, stand back and get to the bottom of what is troubling you. It may be something in your business or your personal performance at work. Whatever it is you can't do anything about it unless you identify what it is. It is critical to get to the root cause of your blues.
Compare what is happening now in your business to before you took your break. Think about your business before and after your break. What has changed and what are you doing differently? Everything may be the same but you could be thinking about it differently. This may give you some ideas as to what your next steps should be.
Review what has gone well in your business over the last year. Consider your business over the last year. What has gone well? What successes have you had? What has worked? This will help you to put your business into perspective and to understand how to move things forward over the next year. It is easy to focus on what is not going well and allow that to overshadow what has gone well.
What has not gone so well in your business over the last year? Consider what has not gone so well in your business and what you are currently struggling with in your business and personally. If you understand what has not gone so well and why, you can use this as learning for the future.
Think about changes you need to make in your business and personally. What changes do you need to make in your business and personally? What have you been putting off doing? What are you worrying about? What are the changes that will have the biggest impact to you and in your business? A list of potential changes will be a good starting point for deciding what you are actually going to do.
Get creative and brainstorm. It may be time for some fresh ideas so get creative and brainstorm. Maybe get your team together to brainstorm the business and generate some new ideas. Also can you get some new ideas for your business from other sources e.g. your customers, your competitors, seminars, the Internet, business networking, contacts etc.
Spend more time working 'on' your business. One of the biggest challenges for business owners and those in senior positions is taking the time to work 'on' the business rather than always being drawn into the day to day. Decide what you are going to change so you can work 'on' your business on a regular basis.
Enjoy your work and running your business. Sometimes you can take life too seriously and let things get you down. What do you need to do to enjoy your work and running your business more? What will make the difference?
Use a business mentor to help and support you. Business mentors focus on your agenda, discuss your business with you, ask you questions to widen your understanding, listen to you, provide feedback, bring a different perspective, help you sort out the many and complex issues of running a business, share their knowledge and experience with you and support, motivate and inspire you.
Decide on what you are going to do to move you and your business forward. You should now have lots of inspiration but you need to decide what you are actually going to do. Look for some small quick hits first followed by some high impact actions. You don't need to spend ages doing a big and detailed plan. A one page plan of the key actions will be just as useful.
Take action, focus and review progress. Taking action is the key to moving forward, both for your business and personally. If you don't take any action everything will stay the same, you are likely to get the same results and you will feel the same. So now is the time to get moving, take action, stay focused and don't forget to review progress regularly and re-plan.
Hopefully the above will help you blow those post holiday business blues away!
The articles below may also help you:
What is the one change that will make the most difference to your business?
How can a business mentor help you and your business?
How to gain a fresh perspective on your business?
You can also read other business and stress management tips articles that will help you with your personal performance at work or in your business.
Author: Liz Makin
Published: September 2013
Makin It Happen has a range of personal development online courses to purchase, created by Liz Makin, including anxiety management, communication, resilience, soft skills, stress management, time management and coaching. Liz Makin also provides personalised business coaching, business mentoring and stress management services to business owners, directors, managers and professionals.
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