Try not to feel guilty about the downtime you had over the summer months. You earned it! It was good for you and now you should be refreshed, energized and ready to do big things. Start by getting yourself mentally prepared.
No more summer vacation brain. It’s easy to get relaxed and enjoy the summer season and your vacation and hard to get back into full work mode again with emails, deadlines and meetings. However, it can’t be avoided, especially if you want to be your best for the last and important quarter of the year.
Go to work with a new set of eyes. Maybe you were frustrated with a task before you went on vacation because you couldn’t make it work. After being away from it for a while, you can look at it differently and offer a new perspective. Sometimes you just need time away to get a little jumpstart on your work. You can also inspire and excite others in your workplace with your attitude and actions.
Hopefully you did some planning for the start of the fall season. It’s nice if you can hit the ground running and get back into your work easily without much down time. If you did not, start making your list of priorities ASAP and get to it. Don’t try to tackle everything at once. Your list will help you stay focused. Try not to get stressed or fatigued during this period. Do your best to keep the calm you felt over the summer months as long as you can. We are far more productive when we don’t stress.
It can be easy to get overwhelmed by work to-dos. As soon as your brain starts listing things you need to do, it can be like a dam breaking. If you try to manage all those in your head, your brain can’t differentiate between priority levels – everything will feel like it needs to be done today!
To tackle that deluge, sit down with blank sheet of paper and just scribble down everything that comes to mind. Once it’s out on paper, it’s easier to sift through and pick out the most important things. (There are often fewer than you think.)
Before long you will back to normal and operating at full steam. You’ll be ready to conquer all that is ahead of you and make great things happen for your business in the last quarter of the year. Also, you can start thinking about 2020 and your ideas and plans to start the New Year.
By Eleanor Togneri
Eleanor Togneri is the owner of Business ExSellence, Consulting Services and Employee Training. She has over 35 years experience in the business world. In addition to the WIN group she manages a group for business men and women called BEN that has a network lunch each month at Woodside Plantation Country Club. She offers Lunch and Learn sessions on soft skills eight times a year in Aiken as well as custom classes for area businesses.
