6 Simple Ways to Fight the Post-Holiday Blues and Boost Employee Productivity and Engagement After the holidays have happened, do you experience a holiday hangover?
By Kelly Lynn Adams Edited by Micah Zimmerman
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You may be ready to get back to your regular schedule, yet there is a part of you that feels overwhelmed because you haven't been in your daily momentum in the past couple of days or weeks since the holidays, and now it is a new year, a new quarter, new month or new week.
Both your body and brain may not be ready to get back into the swing of things, and yes, it can sometimes be challenging to get right back into productivity mode. But many people are still engaged and focused on fun, family and friends.
I know getting back into the swing of things after the holidays has sometimes been hard for me, depending on the year. I am guilty of needing a vacation from my vacation. Have you ever had that feeling?
According to a study by Redbooth, a sample of people who were really productive in completing tasks showed that they had the lowest percentage of tasks completed in January (7.2%) and that winter is by far the least productive season (22.8%).
So how can you implement some productivity and engagement hacks to help you navigate the holiday hangover successfully?
First, it takes the decision, intention and a renewed engagement with yourself. You can then implement different activities to get back into your daily routine with high engagement. During this process, you may find some of your old habits get revisited and revised for you to be your most productive.
This is one of the best times to reassess and revisit what will work best for you and then lean in and utilize the new year's energy to reinvent what may not have been working in the past.
Here are six simple ways that I have found that work for myself and my clients to boost productivity and engagement after the holidays.
Related: 5 Tips to Make Your Employees Feel Appreciated
1. Reset your goals and intentions
You may have already done the planning for next quarter and year, yet after the holidays is the perfect time to revisit what you originally planned. Does this still align with what you want to accomplish? How does it feel, are you still excited and empowered about these goals? Check in with your intentions, why did you set these goals, and what ultimately will they be helping you be and have?
Related: How to Create a Workflow That'll Get Employees to Reach Your Business Goals
2. Dress up
How you dress impacts your energy, confidence and mood. How would the future version of yourself show up and present themselves each day? The way you feel dramatically impacts the types of actions that you take. What will you do that will affect how you show up and present yourself?
3. Move around
Get up, go outside for some fresh air, stretch your body or take a walk. Moving your body is critical. If you are in one place for too long, it is not good for your body, mind or soul. You get to move any stuck or stagnant energy.
Changing scenes and environments improves creativity and productivity. Movement can even bring you your best ideas and solutions. How will you move today?
Related: 2 Nutritional Reasons Sunlight Isn't Turning Your Brain Productivity On
4. Modify your environment
It is time to declutter or physically move things around and change things up — this can simply be cleaning out a drawer, moving a piece of furniture or changing the background on your computer or phone. When we modify our environments physically and change things around, our mind can make new decisions and creates space for other things to come in, especially when you are decluttering and cleaning out spaces.
5. Ask for support and flexibility
Getting back into a daily schedule can sometimes be overwhelming for people, so take this opportunity to ask for support and even create flexibility within your schedule. It could be ending your day earlier, taking a longer lunch break, talking with a friend or hiring help for things outside your zone of genius or things you don't like doing. You can create more flexibility and space and be supported in this new season.
Related: 4 Ways to Overcome Post-Holiday Blues
6. Complete small daily actions
Momentum is created by the small steps that you take daily. This creates self-trust and confidence. When you commit to doing something and follow through, it sends a message to your subconscious that you do what you say you are going to do. This builds your self-trust capacity. So before you put all the pressure on yourself to accomplish the 35 things on your to-do list by noon or the end of the day, start small and slow to build the consistency and commitment of finishing smaller non-negotiable items — either within the hour or your day.
Which tip will you implement this week?
