Yesterday was the first time in over five weeks of having to get dressed (I mean, dressed up, for work), combat the commute into the CBD and have my first client meeting!
Man, I gotta be honest, it was a struggle.
See for the past five weeks, I have been chillin’. It’s why I LOVE what I do. I get to take the end of the year off and spend quality time with my little bambinos and family. This time was different for us. Instead of some crazy overseas holiday, jumping off sides of mountains on ski’s, we decided to stay home, explore and re-connect.
First stop, Canberra to spend some quality time with my bestie. Next, after all the Chrissy catch ups, was a few chilled days camping at the Basin in Pittwater with our fabulous neighbours (we clearly can’t get enough of each other).
Then it was a good old-fashioned road trip down the south coast to Bawley Point. WOW, what a gem of a place. As a family we walked, swam, connected with nature, relaxed with no wi-fi, read books, played board games (we all realised how useless I am at Pictionary, even the kid's version!) and just reconnected as a family, it was perfect. Finally, we just returned from a lovely extended Rowe family bush retreat to celebrate 50th Golden Years of marriage for my in-laws. Amazing!
Suffice to say, I am feeling very relaxed and re-connected with who matters most in my world, but man, it’s hard to re-focus on work! Just the thought of writing an article or god-forbid, a client proposal, hurts my head.
Do you ever feel like that?
Where you might feel re-charged in one part of your life, but consequently, you feel like you’ve lost momentum and your mojo in another?
The irony with yesterday, whilst at first, it felt like a lot of effort to get into the city, as soon as I’d met with my new client and we started connecting and brainstorming the upcoming conference, I immediately felt pumped and excited. I could feel my mojo coming back. I realised I had to give myself a break. It will come!
Given many of us are returning to work after our Chrissy break, I thought it timely to share three killer strategies to help re-focus after re-charging:
1. Choose a THEME for the year
Choose one arching ‘word’ that will encompass what you hope to achieve for the year. This theme or word will align your thinking and guide your actions, personally and professionally.
My theme for 2018 is 'STRONGER'!
- Stronger Relationships
- Stronger Brand
- Stronger Offers
- Stronger Body
- Stronger Experiences
2. Create a vision board
With your theme in mind, get a blank piece of cardboard and some magazines. Create a high-level picture of all the things you would love to achieve or experience, or attract, throughout the year. Cut out some cool images and words and stick these on your poster. Go crazy, think big & exciting, careful not to limit what you think you can achieve. Finally, place your vision board somewhere you can see it, to inspire you and get your brain focussing on what you want so it can filter in strategies for you to achieve it.
3. Start… Do something!
Don’t feel like you need all your mojo or the perfect strategies in place, before starting. Just do something. Something that is aligned with your focus for the year! Maybe it’s dropping a quick call or email to a client or stakeholder, or writing your first draft of a brief or perhaps, like me, it is a face to face meeting to kickstart you back into action (aligned with Stronger Relationships).
ACTION trumps ALL!
Even the littlest action will get the ball rolling, help you make some early progress and before you know it, you are on your way to a fabulous 2018!
I’d love to hear what your overarching theme for 2018 is, so feel free to drop me a line and let me know!
Take care, keep smiling!
BLYTHE ROWE & Her Life on Heels.
The founder and director of Human Incite, is widely recognised for her passion, energy and her ability to shake things up. Blythe is brilliant at revving-up productivity and performance in organisations. She is on a mission to rid our workplaces of toxic behaviours, build meaningful relationships, personally and professionally and create workplaces worth belonging. Her enthusiasm simply is infectious!