Back to School?

September has that “back to school” feel about it, even when you don’t have school-age children.  It feels like a new beginning, particularly if you have just returned from holiday (as I have, after a week immersed in Scotland’s wonderful landscape and wildlife).

September is a good time to make changes in how you live your life.  Before the holiday feeling slips away, and you fall into your normal routine, resolve to make some changes when you are back at work:

• Go to fewer meetings?
• Send and receive fewer emails?
• Focus on important things rather than being distracted by urgent things?
• Make time for meaningful conversations, at work and at home?
• Be more active?

Whatever your resolutions are, here are some tips to help you stick to them:

• Tell someone about them – going public makes it more likely you will stick to them
• Ask others for help to achieve them
• Pin them up on your desk or as wallpaper on your desktop
• Make resolutions that you will enjoy, or that will lead to enjoyment
• Make it easy to do them (eg if you want to spend less time on email, disable it for blocks of time; if you want to go to the gym after work, put your kit in the car; if you want to go to fewer meetings, block out time in your calendar)
• Track how you are doing against your target
• Give yourself regular rewards when you keep your resolution – this will encourage you to keep doing it.

Remember, it’s said that to create a new habit, you need to do it as least 21 times – that’s every day for a month.

And if you need some extra ways to take that holiday feeling into autumn, there are some good tips here.