Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Having a Hard Time Getting Back Into the Swing of Things After the Summer?


As the summer winds down, I’ve talked to several people who express that they feel disconnected from their goals, desirous of “getting back into the swing of things.”  Some people feel overwhelmed, not sure where to start.  A little anxious even.  Any of this apply to you?

Here are three things to keep in mind as you leave the vacation mind-set and re-enter your pursuit of your goals.

1) Vacation is good for you.   You read that right.  Vacation is not just good for you, it’s great for you.  Steven Covey in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People talks about “Sharpening the Saw.”  By that he means taking time away from your work and your goals to do things that make your tools sharper.  This can be a vacation or a day off.  Ideally, you need to take both!  You’ll find that your time working will be much more effective if you take regular breaks—at least one day off every week and a vacation every once in a while.

2) It doesn’t matter how you feel.  What?  Yep.  When you come back to something, be it exercise or work, you won’t feel at the top of your game.  And it doesn’t matter.  I just went running for the first time in 2 months.  Did it feel good?  Nope.  It felt terrible.  “I’m the worst runner on the planet” kept going through my head.  No lie. 

What matters is that I laced up my shoes and put one foot in front of the other.  One of the mantras of the P90X guru Tony Horton is “just press play.”  Meaning, put on the exercise DVD and move your body, even if you don’t feel like it.

You won’t feel like you’re back into the swing of things until you are back into the swing of things.  The key is to let that be okay.  Stop making yourself wrong because you took a break, and you’ll enjoy the process of easing back into the saddle so much more.

3) Set a schedule and keep to it.   As you are easing back into work, the key is to set a schedule and keep to it.  Make keeping to the schedule the victory.  Don’t say that you’ll spend “all day” on your goal and then beat yourself up when you don’t stare at the computer for eight hours straight.  Set a realistic amount of time to work on your goal, say, two hours each day, and then keep to it. 

You’ll feel great that you did your two hours on the first day back.  It will get easier after that.  Your clarity and stamina will improve.  And guess what… you’re back in the swing of things in no time.