New Year. Resolutions. Hopes. Looking back at the year gone, and looking forward to the year ahead. Parties, festivities, gatherings give a certain high. The exuberance around the event rubs off on you in its own way even if you choose to stay indoors, and have a quiet time. But what about the week after the New Year?
A point comes when the high spirits begin their descent. The routine stares you dead in the eye. The new year begins to feel not so new anymore.
One week into the new year, and we often begin to lose all the motivation we had gathered.
So, what are the things you can do to keep the enthusiasm and the level of motivation sustained?
Relevant Resolutions:
A reason we often slip up and thus lose the motivation is when we make resolutions which are more or less thrust upon us. The media tells us we should resolve to go to the gym from now on, eat healthy, improve our lifestyles, and be happier. But do we actually assess our own needs? Really, our own, unique needs?
Imagine Mr. X is a classic Gen Z person who texts and emails very well. But he lacks the communication skills needed to talk on phone, and face to face. He has lost some clients in 2018 owing to his inability to maintain client relations and networks. The need of the hour is to polish up this skill-set, not go on making a popular resolution.
If you need to work on your communication skills, a resolution to go to the gym might not really give the sense of accomplishment you were hoping to achieve.
It doesn’t matter if you are a week into the New Year. It’s not too late to think of something new and much more relevant!
Realistic Resolutions:
One of the biggest reasons we can’t keep at our New Year resolutions beyond a week or so is because we don’t consider the reality. The end of the year festive spirit all around gets us carried away, and we make grand resolutions.
Making realistic resolutions can help us fulfil them with much ease, leading to an increased sense of accomplishment, and an increased sense of happiness and an increased sense of feeling meaningful. And thus increased motivation.
For example, Ms. Y has had a problem with punctuality. She makes a resolution to reach office on time from now on. One needs tremendous patience and will-power to hang on to it while the bad habit takes its own sweet time to correct. Chances of giving up are high.
Instead, she can make a resolution to reach office on time at least twice or thrice a week. And then she can increase the number of days as she succeeds. The chances of getting frustrated by failure and giving up are relatively low.
One step is better than beginning to run and slipping and falling on the way.
You can alter your resolution this way, rather than completely giving up.
Something to Look Forward:
Resolutions aren’t the only way to kick start a New Year.
You can make little changes in your working style, your desk, your surroundings to feel like the year is truly new.
We often feel the sense of routine slowly creeping in when we don’t see any ‘changes’, when we don’t see anything new around the office.
“New Year, new me” is a bit unrealistic and even a bit of a cringe. But “New Year, new stuff” can work really well.
Do not underestimate the power of little things to make you look forward to something.
One week into the New Year, but it’s never too late to purchase a dainty little pen-holder, or a sleek looking laptop cover. Retail-therapy need not be about pocket-harming splurges!
Continuity:
So, you have tried everything you could to keep your level of enthusiasm high but nothing has worked that well.
You feel frustrated, and feel like this year is going to be no different than 2018.
Now is the time to look back at the pending things. Sometimes, working itself is the solution.
It’s a new year but that doesn’t mean there won’t be anything unfinished from the previous one!
If you feel nothing has changed, use it positively! Convert that feeling of everything being the same into a feeling of continuity. Pick on the rhythm and continue with it. The New Year can sure give old things a new sense of purpose.
Sign those documents, get onto that next step, continue working like just another day, and hang on to that sense of rhythm! Who said New Year is just for setting new goals? You can always rework on some old ones.
New Year is a wonderful excuse to begin everything anew, to get into good habits and getting rid of the bad ones. Setting workable goals, or reworking old goals, and finding something meaningful to do would ensure the motivation levels stay high beyond the first week. It’s a new day, a new year and a wonderful opportunity to find new solutions to age old problems!