One battle many women (including black women) fight during holiday seasons or holidays like this is how to stay motivated. The holiday season is a great time to which we all look forward. But let’s face it, holidays aren’t only rosy and jolly. They come with their fair share of work and distractions.
At a time like this, you might be trying to juggle getting presents for family, friends, and colleagues with work. Not to mention that it is a holiday, so you’re also supposed to rest, play, and indulge in some good distractions. I know you can relate.
Anyway, my point is that doing all of these while simultaneously trying to keep up with work can be challenging. Things get even more complicated when you are committed to improving your lifestyle, creating a healthy, fulfilling relationship, or improving the one you currently have.
Focusing on work and staying motivated during the holidays can be difficult. In this post, I want to show you some powerful mindset tips to motivate you through the holiday.
Here’s a peek into what’s to come:
So let’s dive into it.
One reason you might be losing motivation during holiday seasons like this is that you can see all the things you haven’t done. The holidays (especially the Christmas holidays at the end of the year) have a way of letting you see the many things you wanted to do but did not. You start to remember all the resolutions you made the year before that you didn’t keep, even though you started on some.
You also remember all the things you tried that failed. This can often leave you thinking, “If not for this or that project failing, I would have had a bigger business or better career,” or “If that investment had worked out, I would have had more money by now.” Don’t worry, girl, you’re not alone! Many of us had projects we didn’t complete or goals we didn’t accomplish, too. We all have some unfinished business. But we also had some successes. Didn’t we?
They say that success begets success. But that’s not all success does. Success also has a way of motivating you to go out and get more. So, focus on the wins, no matter how small.
When you think only about the things that didn’t work out, something somewhere inside you will start to whisper in your ears, “What’s the point of all the work when you only get to accomplish nothing or little at the end of the year?”
And that might seem like a valid point, but you did achieve something! Maybe you haven’t gotten the results you wanted to see, but never forget that your efforts matter too. The first blow does not break the rock. And that first blow with a hammer isn’t useless. It all adds up.
Acknowledging your accomplishments and enjoying your thoughts on them is one of the first and most important tips to motivate you through the holidays. Without these, you might just want to relax and enjoy the holidays, pushing everything work-related aside.
A good plan can help you get ahead and stay motivated. You likely already know some or all of the things you’ll be doing during the holidays. So, plan for them. Let everything have its time and place. And when the time for something comes, do it.
Since you’re not the only one who’s going to be vacationing, you might want to let the people in your life know those plans ahead of time, too. This is important to help them understand when you shouldn’t be bothered. If you keep your plans secret, you might just find a friend or family member handing you tickets to a show you really love. Well, that one might be hard to say no to since you love it. I know I’m right.
The other people have plans for their holidays, even if it’s only a mental one. Letting them know when you will be available ahead of time enables them to find schedules that suit you.
You’re probably wondering why I seem to be talking so much about this. It’s simple. It’s hard to focus on work and stay motivated when there are a trillion distractions everywhere.
So, plan for work, plan for your social outings and connect with the people in your life, and stick to the program.
If you have never left work in the office, this is the time to do so. Many reasons exist for this. First of all, your work environment is more suited to work than your cosy home environment.
There are too many distractions in your house that will make you spend more time accomplishing less than if you had worked in your office. Every time you have to put off a task and come back to it due to distractions, you spend a lot of effort catching up with where you left off, not to mention the time wasted.
You would also be robbing yourself and the people in your life of the enjoyment they would have had you been present with them.
So, do your work in the office. Do as much of it as you can. And when you leave your workplace, take everything that is or appears to be working with you. When you get home, resist the temptation to turn on your computer to do some work.
Another important reason not to take your work home is that your mind needs a break to perform at its best. The more you do something and expose yourself to it, the quicker it becomes boring. More exposure breeds more familiarity, which often results in you getting bored.
It is incredibly challenging to do work when you’re bored with it. Those breaks between work hours help refresh your mind. While you might not realize this because you probably do the same thing every day, it is true.
Have you never had the experience when you left work for several days, say on vacation, and came back fired up with lots of ideas on how to change the world? Taking regular time off from work is essential to motivation. You’ll come back renewed!
So, leave work tasks at work!
Like ensuring you don’t do work at home, you should not take your private life to the office. Separating your personal life from your professional life helps you stay productive. Being productive – getting desired results on time – helps increase and maintain motivation and momentum.
Besides personal emergencies (and being hot and in love with someone), personal responsibilities related to Christmas are some of the most distracting things ever. There’s always an endless list of items demanding you do them now!
You have to get presents for each family member and your boyfriend and see the dentist before he too goes on holiday. You also have to buy that beautiful bag you saw in the store the other day before someone else gets it. Then you have to do some redecorating for Christmas and many more. The list of personal tasks just never seems to end. And they are also very distracting. One of the worst things you can do to yourself is use work time to do all of those. Decide to do all those things after work hours or get a friend or relative to help.
When you spend work time on personal projects, you will almost certainly have to bring work home, especially if you have deadlines to meet. The next thing you’ll realize is that you’re robbing yourself and the people in your life of social time together. You might also have to work late into the night and lose sleep, which means you won’t wake up well-rested. Then you’ll get to work the next day feeling groggy.
You soon find yourself in an endless cycle that never results in you doing good work or being refreshed or motivated.
So, long story short, keep your personal life at home. I’m sure you get the point already. Right?
One crucial thing you can do during the holiday to maintain motivation is to shut out negativity. No, I’m not talking about pumping yourself with inspirational quotes now. I’m talking about eliminating all forms of negativity. And where possible, shut it out, so it doesn’t get in in the first place.
One of the most significant sources of negativity is comparison. It is also one that goes undetected because you are the one that perpetuates it. The Christmas holiday has a way of amplifying this for some people. Social media doesn’t seem to help either.
I’ll just say this plainly: Stop comparing yourself with others. Live your own life. Do it at your pace. Run your race. Your girl, or her girl, accomplished one thing, built a business, got into a relationship, got married, bought a house or car, or did something else. It doesn’t mean you are doing bad or are not good enough.
One of the bad things about this type of comparison is that most people only see the incredible feats of others and compare them to their weaknesses, never seeing their own successes. This makes them look down on their efforts and hard work. You can’t maintain motivation by feeding your mind things that tell it you’re doing bad only.
Learn to look on the bright side. If motivational quotes help you, do well to indulge yourself. Do whatever works for you. Just don’t spend your time focusing on the negatives in your life or comparing yourself to others.
Yes, it’s a holiday. And yes, you should rest. But one thing you don’t want to do is allow lethargy to set in.
Don’t spend three or four days in bed or just binge-watching TV because you don’t have to work. Find a way to keep your energy levels high. Exercise if you must; play a game that moves your body with your family members.
Momentum is also an essential part of the motivation. Starting from scratch is way harder than starting from momentum.
So, if you already have something going on, don’t pack it up entirely because of the holiday. Build on your current level of productivity.
Your physical and mental health and fitness are a crucial part of the equation too. A sick body hardly wants to do anything. And so does a sick soul. Take the time to build your body and soul. You are a whole being. Take care of all of yourself. Eat right, sleep right, and expose yourself to things that uplift your soul.
Practice mindfulness and meditation if that works for you. Read books or articles that stimulate your mind, or both.
Exercise does help in keeping both the body and the mind fit. Studies have shown there is a link between your brain and your legs. This translates to the fact that motion is vital for brain and mental health.
Another part of that study revealed that people who move a lot are less likely to be depressed than those who move less. People with depression often found that aerobic exercises, including jogging, helped them battle depression.
The man was created to move! The less you move, the more you die. I know that must have sounded somewhat harsh. But that’s the reality. So, exercise for your body and mind.
The festive period can be so indulging that you begin to wonder how to stay motivated to work out during the holidays. I’ll simply say, if you already have a workout routine, continue. If you don’t, it’s actually a great time to start.
I guess I shouldn’t have to mention this. But I will for the benefit of those who might need this. You are a social being too. Socializing at a time like this also helps you. Of course, introversion and extroversion might make a difference in how many social activities you can indulge in. However, do your best to enjoy the company of the people you care about.
Enjoy their love, share laughter with them, share meals and have fun.
Meaningful interactions with loved ones can make a whole lot of difference and have a profound impact on your life. Staying motivated during the holidays is crucial to getting work done and staying productive. If you implement the tips I have given above, you won’t need those holiday motivational quotes. You’ll be so fired up and effective—as if there was never a holiday—while also enjoying the best of the festive period.
If you do all of these right, maintaining your motivation, you won’t be among those looking for how to stay motivated after the holiday season. And in case you didn’t realize it, getting back into your regular workflow can be hard after a holiday.
Finally, emotional exhaustion can significantly reduce your motivation. It is something you will need to guard against. I have a post that details some of the signs of emotional exhaustion and how to overcome them. I also have other posts on various topics that will interest and help you. One of them is on self-care routines for black women.
Read my other blog posts. They will help you improve yourself and live a healthy, fulfilled life—physically, mentally, emotionally, and otherwise.
Being assertive is critical to healthy relationships and living a stress-free life. I have said that assertiveness lies in the healthy middle between passivity and aggression. So, it is possible to be assertive without being aggressive.
Being assertive is critical to healthy relationships and living a stress-free life. I have said that assertiveness lies in the healthy middle between passivity and aggression. So, it is possible to be assertive without being aggressive.
Oh, the beauty of a life lived beyond the shores of fear. If there’s one thing I’ve always chanted to myself is to never live in fear. I know you’ve been scared of a lot of things in life. Many people have and I know that’s why you’re reading this
One battle many women (including black women) fight during holiday seasons or holidays like this is how to stay motivated. The holiday season is a great time to which we all look forward. But let’s face it, holidays aren’t only rosy and jolly. They come with their fair share of work and distractions.
