Back to work, back to reality

No more late sleeps or dragging your feet. No more partying all night or whatever it is that you got up to over the December holidays.

You have entered a New Year and adjusting to going back to work can be brutal.

Your brain may be functioning backwards as you try to cope with the waking up early and getting ready to spend most of your time in the office.

Here are tips on how to avoid too much shock and ease back into productivity mode:

• Start your day the right way:

This means have a good rest the night before. To avoid waking up feeling tired and grumpy, get over the vacation vibes by sleeping early and getting enough rest to prepare for a new day at work. Also try starting off with a healthy diet that will give you all the energy needed to survive the day.

• Plan your day and week: 

Having a planned diary for your day at work will help put things into perspective.  Your first day may feel like a slow day but eventually it has to pick up. Therefore draft a list of the most essential things that need to be done to get your day and week going. Let the less urgent tasks fall into your to do list of the week.

• Work on your emails by importance:

When you get back to work you are bound to find an email backlog which can be overwhelming. Go through the most important ones first.

• Set your attitude for greatness:

Your attitude determines your productivity. Start your day at work with a mindset that is willing to achieve greatness. Have a positive motive, be ambitious and look forward to tackling challenges optimistically.

• Start on a clean slate:

Should you have left work on the wrong foot with people at work, do not hold on to old grudges. Be positive about a fresh start, forget about the tough times with your colleagues.

• Don’t be busy keeping tabs on time spent at work:

Get rid of that attitude of coming to work to check the time every minute just to see if it is passing by. Let it pass by being productive. The more you look at that watch, the less it moves.