No matter how much you love what you do, coming back to work after a break is tough. You’re out of your regular routines, your mind is all over the place and you can only concentrate for short periods of time. Whether you went away on holiday, hung out with friends and family or simply made time to do things you love, it can be hard to refocus.
How to refocus on your business
Some people seem to have a magic ‘on switch’ that means they can instantly flick back to work mode after a break. If you’re not one of those people, here are some of the things that work for me:
1. Change your mindset – I’m not an expert in this area but I do know that when I make a positive decision that I’m going to do something my energy shifts.
2. Make a mini-plan – Getting focused on your business means knowing what you want to achieve. If you haven’t looked at your plans for a few weeks, it’s time to revisit them. Remind yourself what you want to do and why. Set yourself some clear, measurable goals. And decide how you’ll celebrate achieving them.
3. Prioritise – You can’t do it all. Map out what you need to do for clients and what you need to do to move your business forward. In my experience, the client work always gets done. That’s crucial of course and it’s important you don’t let the quality suffer. It’s easier to let yourself off the hook with the marketing tasks that will help you achieve your goals. Pick the ones that will have the biggest impact and concentrate on those.
4. Break projects down – Having big projects like ‘rewrite website’ on your to-do list contribute to your overwhelm. Once you’ve prioritised the projects you need to focus on, split them down into small, manageable tasks so that you are making real progress every day. Ticking off the tasks as you go gives you momentum.
5. Ring-fence your time – Like me, you probably work better when you have a deadline. And you’re probably easily distracted. There’s no better way to beat this than the good old pomodoro technique. Set a timer and focus 100% on your task for 25 mins. Take a five-minute break, then start again. Make sure you remove all distractions during your focused time – email, phone and social media.
You can’t do it all. It’s one thing to come back to work with renewed enthusiasm but another to undo all your relaxation by working too hard. Click To Tweet6. Be kind to yourself – Reminder: you can’t do it all. It’s one thing to come back to work with renewed enthusiasm but another to undo all your relaxation by working too hard. Learn to recognise when you’re procrastinating and when you’re simply trying to do too much. When it’s the latter it’s time to revisit your plan and re-prioritise.
7. Plan a treat – Remember all those things you loved about your break. Use them as motivation and make time for them in your working schedule. Even fitting in some exercise, fresh air or coffee with a friend can make a big difference.
What are your tips for getting focused? I’d love to know. Leave them in the comments below.
Great article! I think your point about breaking down tasks is particularly important at times like this – you just need to do the tiniest of things initially, and the momentum will (hopefully!) then build up.