Whether you’re returning from a welcome annual break, or restarting your routine following a public holiday, sometimes that first day back at work can see you struggling to find your ‘mojo’.
Despite the best intentions, this lack of motivation is a pretty common phenomenon that can have you floundering at your desk for a couple of hours, or even days, as you ponder where to start and what to do next.
So how can you hit the ground running, kickstart the motivation flow, and ensure that first day back is primed with productivity?
It starts with your daily routine
Make no mistake, motivation always starts with your daily routine. Why? Because scheduled activities demand action.
It’s interesting to note the order here, because often we can fall into the trap of believing we need motivation before we commence activity.
That’s not the case. When you have an established routine, there’s no ‘psyche up’ or ‘summoning of energy’ required.
You simply start the routine and the momentum naturally follows by inspiring ‘the motivation flow’.
The motivation flow
The motivation flow is all about creating activity and building momentum.
It’s based on the solid foundation of a daily routine and works on the principle that scheduled activities demand action.
And its formula is simple:
Motivation starts with your daily routine.
Scheduled activities demand action.
Action breeds motion.
Motion creates motivation.
That’s the motivation flow. It’s that easy.
Ultimately, this flow is the precursor to productivity, which builds further motivation.
It then becomes a positive cycle that creates momentum and results over the course of your career.
When the flow is interrupted
When you’re in the motivation flow, you can feel it.
You’re inspired to keep at it and undertake the activities that you know create results.
It feels relatively easy.
You move from one step to the next and start each day with clarity about what needs to be achieved.
But it’s a myth to believe this flow can be sustained permanently, without interruption.
A whole range of factors can break the motivation flow, including unexpected distractions, scheduled holidays and even the break in weekly routine that comes with a public holiday.
It’s also important to appreciate that the longer the break, the harder it is to get back in the positive cycle because a negative or different cycle has taken its place.
It’s at this point you need to get back to basics and kickstart the flow by focusing on your daily routine.
Start with one smaller activity, then as the positive cycle is re-formed, keep adding to it until you are back on track.
It’s a little akin to jumpstarting a car or taking that first pedal stroke on a bicycle.
Just start the activity in the knowledge the rest will follow. Or to put it simply, don’t think, just do.
We all get off track
In business, in your career, and indeed in life in general, we can all get off track occasionally and find ourselves struggling to regain the required momentum.
But acknowledging that this happens and it’s normal to occasionally find ourselves off track is the beginning of getting back on track.
Then it’s all about focusing on your daily routine to kickstart the motivation flow and generate that positive cycle of productivity.
Start small, take action, create the motion that inspires motivation. You’ve got this.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Manos Findikakis is the CEO of Agents’Agency, Australia’s first multi-brand real estate network. For all enquiries and more information on how the Agents’Agency can help you take your career to the next level, please visit https://www.agentsagency.com.au or email [email protected]
