It’s easy to get the blues after the Summer holidays are over. If you have just enjoyed a break with family and friends, the thought of getting back into work can feel like a wrench even if you have the best job in the World in the games industry. If you are feeling reluctant to get back to work, rest assured that while this feeling is no fun – you are not the only one to experience it. Our very own Dr Jackie Mulligan has a few tips to help you feel better as you ease yourself back from ‘Out of Office’.
Maintain those summer feels
When you are on holiday, you establish new routines – whether it is going to a favourite bar at sunset, doing an evening walk, enjoying a particular cuisine or playing a board game with the kids. To ensure those Summer days last that little bit longer, take one element of your holiday and continue it. It could be that on Fridays you treat yourself to a rum punch at sunset, or you go for a swim every morning, or you start to take a stroll after dinner each day. These sweet Summer rituals can help to prolong the positive impacts of your holidays – enabling Summer holidays to continue long after the delayed flights have returned. Of course what these rituals are really doing are helping you get balance…
Time off doesn’t end when you go back to work
Holidays provide free time but in reality life is a balance between work time and time off. On a blue Monday in September, it is easy to forget that. So try to reset from when you get back in. Don’t dive in to work at full speed and lose perspective. We all work more effectively when we have time off and time on. Maintain things you enjoyed like time with friends and family or time away on your own. Safeguard your time so you can ensure you keep the balanced feel you had on holiday. Make sure you give yourself time to zone in and zone out. That means you ensure that work has an end point and that you make time for your free time. Avoid work consuming your time and you. Understand that it is good to be disciplined about how you use and allocate your time.
Quick wins first
Be kind to yourself from the moment you switch everything back on. Get some quick wins first. Whether it’s an in-box tidy, a quick design piece you can easily finish, completing a spreadsheet or sending an invoice. If you focus on some easy and quick win tasks you will have a sense of accomplishment from day one to re-install your motivation.
Reconnect with your friends at work
In the games industry, we are lucky to work in collaborative environments with people who share the same passions for creating great experiences. So make sure you plan a lunch or a gathering after work because it is the people we spend time with that make the biggest difference to our lives. Chances are other people will be feeling similarly sad at the end of the holidays, so share a chat about your hols over a coffee or a game session and you will all feel lots better.
Plan to help positive thinking
As Summer fades, the rich colours of Autumn emerge and it’s a fantastic season for events, socialising, going to gigs, pub nights, games expos and so much more. At Game Republic we could not be more excited about our events coming up in the next few months – from investor lunches to our legendary Christmas quiz. Making plans to do stuff with people or on your own can help improve your mood, giving you something to look forward to. If you want to plan to attend some of the games events – have a look here and if you’re a member, book some where you can reconnect with the many inspiring people in the Game Republic and GaMaYo networks.
We hope to see you soon!
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