Back to work
05 de September de 2017
05 de September de 2017
By Jordi Vilà, the director of EAE's Master in Executive Development, Emotional Intelligence and Coaching
It is the start of September and there are endless articles in the press about post-holiday blues and other such joyful turns of phrase that lead to a simple interpretation: it is the end of our days spent doing what we love, what relaxes and nourishes us, and time to head back to earning a living, doing whatever we have to pay the bills.
The articles talk of depression, tiredness (who wouldn't be tired sleeping for 6 hours and working 10 or 12), anxiety and the list goes on, a scenario that has been around forever but for which an official name has only recently been coined.
The fact is, speaking personally here, I would be incapable of going back to work after the holiday period to a job that I was unable to enjoy, for whatever reason, whether it be to pay for the whole shebang (whatever that really makes my life worthwhile such as my kids' education, supplementary training that will help me advance further, trips to interesting places and/or with interesting people, etc.) because it nourishes me and enables me to grow or simply because I am passionate about it.
I am passionate about what I do and this has been the case with everything I have done for around the last 10 years, whether it be teaching, designing projects or running individual and group coaching sessions. As a result, I don't understand how there are people who find it such a struggle to return to their everyday routine.
Do you look forward to your first day back or dread going back to see the same old faces and do the same old things for reasons that lost their meaning long ago?
If you belong to the first case, it is time to flex your neurons and get your tools ready, whatever they may be, get an overview of the coming year and start preparing your attack for the next challenge.
You don't have to end up as CEO of your company. Maybe you are thinking of those projects that you are yet to get up and running or the changes that you are going to make to enhance efficiency, or get that client who made it so tough for you last year. All these small and large things that, in short, make up the exciting times that lay ahead.
Perhaps your motivation is thinking that all of this pays for the other parts of your life and that fact alone gives you a spring in your step to get started, as it enables you to cover the expenses that let you grow in other ways and, as such, you have exciting times ahead.
If the second case applies to you, you have my sincerest condolences. You have an uphill struggle ahead, simply because it cannot be any other way if you don't have any motivation.
In this case, I suggest that you start to plan a way to turn things around. Did you know that summer is the period in which most people decide to make a change in their professional life?
Things can be different and nothing will change on its own. So, get into gear, spread the word among your trusted circles of friends and colleagues that you may be interested in a change of scene, and put out your feelers.
Ready to enjoy the return to work? It all depends on you and that is not just a cliché.