How the hell do I get back to work?!
It’s Monday. I’ve had a long weekend, and depending on where I am, I’m either screaming at the top of my lungs or in my head. How do we always find ourselves in the position of zero motivation and agony as we look to our week ahead?
As someone who is extremely familiar with this state of mind, I decided to take a minute to dissect what exactly is plummeting me into this feeling. For me, it boils down to three things:
· Stress: this is a big one for me working on a start-up, but the stress of the jobs seems to affect everyone across the board. Sitting in my chair early Monday morning, mind wandering in a thousand directions of what I need to accomplish with my week, it can get overwhelming!
· Distractions: I can’t help but notice that my generation’s tendencies seem to be bleeding over into the workplace, and beginning to include people of all ages. By this of course I mean the obvious: Facebook, Twitter, Candy Crush. I could go on for hours. We all fall into these escapist modes once we begin to feel that stress, letting ourselves believe that taking a quick (it’s never quick) Facebook break will help us relax. Social media and games are a very dangerous thing once Monday morning hits.
· Exhaustion: If I spend all week busting my ass, working each day till my brain hurts, you better believe I’m making my way downtown during the weekend. Getting home at all hours of the morning and waking up late the next day always set me up for a rough Monday morning, waking up early and expecting to just bounce back into the swing of work. (I’m really hoping at least one person catches that loose Vanessa Carlton reference up there)
After talking to family and friends, this seems to be a pretty familiar experience to most. I’ve been asked time after time how I push through this and stay on task. This, of course, is not a simple question to answer, as it really depends on the person asking the question. I wanted to address this, walk you through what my get-the-hell-back-to-work routine looks like, with the hopes of at least sparking some thoughts on how you could do so yourself. Here it goes, not necessarily in exact order.
1. Breathe. I close my eyes, take three deep breathes, feels fantastic.
2. Take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour to learn. Step back from the tasks at hand, and learn about something relevant that gives me that boost of motivation and get the ideas flowing. I’ve personally been into Bloomberg Studio 1.0, watching interviews from industry leaders talk about their work and thoughts are definitely inspiring.
3. Break my week into separate tasks. Looking at all that I have to do during the week makes my head spin sometimes, so taking the individual tasks one at a time can de-clutter my vision.
4. Get some sort of physical activity in. Better if it’s outside, but any sort will help get that blood rushing and my brain working much clearer. I prefer to get a good rock climbing session in as early as I can so that I can get my day going earlier.
5. Talk to one of my coworkers, whether it’s about business or on a more personal level. Good conversation sparks great ideas.
6. Coffee.
7. Last but absolutely not least, take a second to think positively. If I’m getting stressed, overwhelmed, angry, I sit back and think about what I have. I’m usually sitting in my house with a hot cup of coffee staring out at the beautiful Rocky Mountain range, doing work for a company that I founded with three of my best friends. We all have positives in life, and we all could use a bit more time thinking about those, instead of wallowing in negativity so often.
I really hope that this gets the ideas flowing; I know motivation is a huge factor in both happiness and success at work. Please feel free to let me know how this list works for you, or if you have other ways to get yourself back into it. Good luck!!
