It happens every year! You work towards a well earned summer holiday, some time to relax, unwind and actually do nothing. You’ve worked hard all year and deserve it!
For families the summer break can seem endless. Routine is well and truly out of the window.
When September comes it almost feels like January – the start of a new chapter, re-focusing and the chance to re-invigorate your work and your mindset. Great in theory, but not as easy as it sometimes appears!
You may be facing challenges in your professional life, starting new projects that have been postponed or facing some tough targets that have to be completed.
How do you find that motivation for your mind and body after what can already feel like a very long year?
Below are a few suggestions from experts in the field of re-focusing and creating a positive mindset to help you smash those goals:
In ‘The Art of Stopping’, David Kundtz explains why finding time to stop is more important than it has ever been to give us the ability to focus on what’s important to us. David calls these ‘still points’ and it can be for as little as a few minutes per day.
What you give your attention to is what you are feeding – is this positively feeding you or causing you a problem? Briefly stopping gives us the power to say no to things that aren’t going to contribute to growth and yes to the things that are. Your mind will naturally reflect and recover in these still points and de-clutter.
In Rob Harnett’s ‘It’s All Possible’, he suggests that with the correct mindset, even the most lofty of goals are completely achievable. He developed a 4-step model and practical guide to help you believe in possibility not limitation. How to become awake to possibility:
Nothing is possible without a positive/growth mindset. It can change the way we see a situation.
Try surrounding yourself with positive people – this will have a positive effect on you.
When you find and pursue your real passion, you will find it much easier to succeed. Take time to plan out your path to getting to your goals.
Once you have a goal, develop a solid strategy to get you there. Take each step at a time and don’t try to conquer a mountain at once.
One of the many brilliant High-Performance podcasts with Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes is with author and key speaker Alan Stein, who has taken his learnings from elite sport. He discusses starting with the basics; Be brilliant at the basics. Show up. Be the best you are capable of as consistently as possible.
Alan suggests there are three key ingredients; work hard, work smart and be consistent. Repetition is the best way of being brilliant at anything and the best never get bored with the basics.
From the Live Happy camp, I always have deeper conversations with my Clients in September to re-focus their energies in the gym and in the kitchen. We discuss that it’s time to put yourself first, clear out the cupboards and fill them with foods that will positively nourish and fuel your body.
It’s time to think positively about your abilities in the next few months, before Christmas. We set achievable yet challenging goals, and re-visit why they came to see me in the first place.
So to smash your goals and re-focus once the kids are back at school
Use ‘still points’ to refocus on what’s important to you
Use a 4-step model to become awake to possibility
Be the best you can at the basics and it will help you achieve greatness.
It’s September, it’s all about you now. Go smash it!
