The emptiness and stillness of the first days of the year after spending the New Year holidays is a familiar experience for all of us. It will take some time to start our engine again and get on a roll. But is there a way to get back to work faster? As the manager and leader of the organization, can we do things so that the members return to their desired performance sooner? On the other hand, the New Year is an opportunity to eliminate dullness and everyday life and remind ourselves of our goals. In this article, we present five strategies to overcome the boredom at the beginning of the year. Then, we take a more personal look at the issue of emptiness and stagnation in individual goals. We hope you start the coming year with enthusiasm.
1. Stimulating creativity by changing trends and tools at the beginning month of the year
Instead of starting the new year with the same old trends, dedicate the first days and a month to testing new methods and tools. These tasks will stimulate your and your employees’ creativity. When your team sees that you are looking for new experiences at the beginning of the year, they will be more motivated to try this method.
For example, you may want to close weekly face-to-face meetings on the first days of the year and instead use Slack or Zoom to hold meetings. Or maybe you decide to turn long face-to-face meetings into shorter sessions. Of course, this is just an example, and of course, depending on your business, you can change different methods and tools.
Since these changes are experimental, don’t worry if they don’t work. You can go back to the old way of doing things.
2. Leave the hands of employees open for creativity
In the first days and months of the year, you can give your employees the freedom to implement their ideas. It may not have been possible to implement these ideas during the year due to the uniform work process, but now you can use the beginning of the year as an excuse to implement these ideas. It doesn’t matter how small these ideas are; they are enough to stimulate your employees’ creativity and make them work. Do not forget that you are supposed to turn the numbness of the year’s first days into mobility and dynamism.
One way you can do this is by taking the lead. Tell them the story of your failures and how they led to your success. Encourage them to step forward without fear of failure and present an idea if they have one. Then, review their suggestions and implement those that are feasible for testing.
3. In the first days of the year, appreciate the employees
Companies and businesses dedicate the last days of the year to appreciating their employees. When you surprise employees with a gift package and recognition on the first working days of the new year, you immediately motivate them to improve their performance. This surprise recognition is even more impactful than the year-end recognition because it goes against the grain of tradition and expectation.
Sending a gift package is just one way to show appreciation. There are more exciting methods. For example, you and your team can use the technique of appreciating each person’s specific strengths with the help of other team members. In this method, each member writes their name on a sheet. Then, each member can write their teammate’s strengths and unique characteristics in sentences or short phrases. With this, everyone can start their work with a double spirit at the beginning of the year.
When the organization’s members feel that they belong to an empathetic team and that other members understand the importance of their work, they will undoubtedly feel less numb.
4. Brainstorm New Year challenges with staff
Another way to get employees out of the doldrums at the beginning of the year is to encourage them to develop new ideas to solve the work problems ahead. This time, each member writes on a piece of paper an existing or future problem or issue. Then, all members will write their proposed solutions for the given situation.
This exercise, a kind of brainstorming, ignites the employees’ enthusiasm for the new working year.
5. Show employees how important their work is
Another way to overcome the numbness at the beginning of the year is to remind the employees of the importance of their work in the collection. You can implement this solution in different ways. For example, you can arrange a meeting with some customers and employees. In these meetings, the organization’s members understand the effect of what they have done and are doing on others.
For example, a law firm may arrange a meeting with a group of clients to show the firm’s lawyers and consultants how their work has affected the clients’ lives. In these meetings, employees understand how much what they do affects the lives of others.
After these meetings, it is necessary to give the members a chance to think together. Ask them to express their opinion about their role in the organization and show how much their duties affect the whole set and goals of the organization.
What should you do if you feel numb at the beginning of the year?
What has been said so far were suggestions to solve the emptiness of the first days of the year for the members of an organization. Now, if you experience this numbness in your personal life, what can you do to fix this problem? Have you been suffering from monotony for years, and the change of year does not make much difference?
Most people are enthusiastic when starting a job. But this initial enthusiasm may give way to monotony and dullness after a while. We get so caught up in our daily routine that we no longer remember our ideas or dreams.
Maybe the new year is an opportunity to shake ourselves up and rekindle that initial passion to achieve our goals. It is good to take some time at the beginning of the year and ask ourselves the following questions:
- Do you remember the first day you started your job? If you met that passionate person again who wanted to start their career, what would they think of you today?
- What ideas, dreams, and goals did the enthusiastic person who wanted to start his business have in his head?
- What are the monotonous things you do that you don’t sincerely believe will work?
- What are the things that you think if you do, you will make a difference and make an impact?
- When is your proudest work moment? How can you create the same feeling again?
- Think about the future. For example, imagine another ten years. What position do you imagine yourself in?
Think about these questions and write down your answers. Don’t let another year go by without taking steps to become the person you want to be.
