Today is my kids’ first day back at school and my second day back at work after returning from our holiday some silly time in the middle of Sunday night!
After time away, do you ever experience the “who am I and what do I do here” feeling? I certainly do! There’s the horrible discomfort that comes from being out of the habit: the work habit or the school habit…or the exercise habit, or whatever. It’s why we can often feel like we need a holiday just a few days after coming back from one!
The trick is to get straight back into starting and ending well. If you do that bit, the middle will mostly take care of itself. Avoid the temptation to put aside all those good disciplines. Make a list – yes, physically write it down! – of all the positive actions that have helped you stay productive in the past and make a bigger-than-usual effort to make sure those things happen again from day 1.
Get straight back into your ten magic minutes habit – review your goals, make a plan, schedule important tasks. Set an end point.
Re-establish your end-of-day routine. Review what’s gone well. Record today’s victories. Transfer unfinished tasks. .
This start well / end well mantra works! In fact, it works like a dream and you can apply it not just to organising your day, but to almost everything you’re involved with – staff one-to-one’s, monthly team meetings..the list goes on.
Decide how to start and how to finish. Do that routinely and the bit in the middle goes better and better!
Have a great start to autumn!
Nick Howes 