09 Sep Six Steps To Banish The Holiday Blues This September
The end of the first week in September brings the close of summer and the holiday season – schools, colleges and universities have started their new autumn term. It’s the beginning of a New Year!
We may have the holiday blues, but we should remember we have an established mindset of learning new skills, facts and habits at this time of year, and so it is a great incentive to tap back into dendrites and strengthen them again!
Be positive! Be bold! Be daring! Be the best you can be this September and invest in your potential for your future.
Reevaluate your goals, your affirmations and time management on reflection of your work during the holiday period. The holiday period is a break from the routine, and we created new habits to cover while our peers were on holiday. Examine the changes you made while at work – did you add new behaviours which enabled you to complete your tasks more efficiently? How did you prioritise differently? Did you manage your time more efficiently to add new tasks – and which other tasks proved to be non-essential or even unimportant?
Set yourself post-holiday goals based on your changed behaviours and habits.When we are on holiday in a different environment and have a different schedule our behaviours are changed. We develop new habits which enable us to feel happier, calmer and more appreciative of life. Think about the activities and holiday habits which you can continue after your vacation is over. Include the activities which gave you most happiness and satisfaction, and improved your well being within your home and work routine. Take a daily mindful walk and appreciate your local nature. Continue to learn the language you experienced on holiday. Cook with new fresh ingredients. Delete those apps you didn’t use on holiday!
Start a Success Journal for the new season. A Success Journal can be your place to focus on the goals you are pursuing, your achievements as they happen, and a place to highlight any of your behaviours that you would like to change. By making a physical note of any issues you can look back at this record at any time, and it can provide an excellent working tool. It is your record of ideas, thoughts, inspirational quotes, triggers, issues, and achievements, the place to note how and where you can improve. It is your personal record, the place where you can be completely honest with yourself. There are some beautiful journals available online as well as blog sites or journal apps you can use if you prefer an electronic journal. Remember to make this personal and positive – to inspire you on your achievements and to be your best self.
Set up a Book Club network with your colleagues and work peers to inspire each other, discover new research and leadership ideas and find new skills. Network meetings are ideal places to share and bounce off ideas with peers you do not work with on an everyday basis. Sharing books which inspire, motivate and enlighten you in your professional environment can be an excellent way to link to different individuals, and discover strategies and ideas you can adapt to your own role. Set up a book swap table at your next network meeting – or ask individuals to join a new Book Network to swap books and discuss the ideas. Autumn is a wonderful time to start reading again as the nights draw in and the publishers release the new hardbacks in October in time for Christmas sales.
Establish an improved sleep and waking routine. Over the summer, our body clocks adapt to the lighter evenings as we eat later and go to bed later. Holidays may result in sleeping in longer or becoming used to working a different routine to fit in childcare. When September arrives, and it’s back to school, college and work, the sudden change in routine can be a shock to the system. Preparing a new sleep routine is vital to help strengthen dendrites. Maintaining a set routine for sleep is proven to help us to have more energy, better concentration and more effective cognitive skills. Establish yourself your new sleep and waking routine:
Write in your Gratitude and Success Journal, listen to a bedtime story on the Calm app or an audiobook, do some mindful breathing exercises, and turn off your technological devices before going to bed half an hour earlier each night. And set your alarm half an hour earlier each morning – you can give yourself time to add a calming mindful exercise, read your inspirational quote from Advance, eat a healthy breakfast, and take time to talk with your partner, family or housemates.
Join a new exercise class, or a college or university course and improve your professional qualifications and skills. Join a local course at college or university – or arrange to start in January for the 2019 courses and meet like-minded individuals who are pursuing similar goals and can motivate you. Broaden your horizons by looking online at the huge array of courses available from many universities run online courses – you can study with Oxford or Yale or Stanford from your laptop, phone or tablet!
September also sees the start of new exercise classes, so visit the websites of local sports centres, gyms and sports clubs. Then make that step and join! Ensure that a new exercise class will fit in your routine so you can give your best chance to maintain your goal. Build that new habit of exercise – try a Zumba or spin class and achieve a new exercise goal while meeting new people!
September is the start of the autumn, a new term, a new academic year, and can be a new start for you so take advantage to set your SMART goals, maintain positive thoughts to strengthen your dendrites, and establish new habits of effective behaviours to empower you to be your best self this season.