As much as we may dread the holidays, for many of us, the time after is just as bad, if not worse.
When you are self-employed, especially if you are an internet based business owner, you spend a lot of time alone. It can be a very solitary existence even though we spend all day online, since a lot of our interactions are via email or skype, rather than face to face. There is no water cooler chat with colleagues at break time, no one to share the holiday war stories with.
Instead, it is easy to sit in your pajamas, and brood, to replay every conversation over and over, with the ‘I shoulda saids’ of hindsight’s 20/20 clarity.
But what really makes this damaging for the entrepreneur is that we don’t have a boss to tell us what to do. There is no one standing over us to make sure the job is done, no Monday morning sales meeting to get our blood fired up and motivated to make our quota.
We are it. No matter what happens, we have to pick ourselves up, dust off our tush, and hit the keyboard again. We have to stroke our own ego and provide our own motivation.
And that can be hard to do when you’ve just come home from visiting the relatives, even the well-meaning ones, because we are living outside of their box. We are not only coloring outside the lines, sometimes we are drawing those lines ourselves. Whether they understand what we are doing or not, we need to always remember why we started on this path, and how much we enjoy what we do.
Here’s 4 great ways to get back in the productive mode after family time:
1) Layout your work for the next 60 days. If you are an affiliate marketer, fill your calendar with the upcoming launches you want to market, and start your campaigns. If you create products to sell, brainstorm enough product ideas to keep you busy for the next 60 days.
2) Call your friends and get out of the house. Do some things outside of your comfort zone, instead of the usual things you do. It will be good for all of you!
3) Increase your physical activity. Head to the gym or go for a hike, as long as it is enough to get the mood boosting endorphins going.
4) Vent. Take all of those shoulda saids and put it down on paper. As nasty as you want to be, don’t hold back. Now throw it away and be done with it.
Stop worrying about the family’s reaction to your business and your lifestyle, and move past your reaction to their reaction! It may not be their choice, but it IS yours, and you can’t afford to sit around and worry about them and their small-minded and limited view of the world.
You have a business to run, things to do and learn and create. Take a deep breath and enjoy being home…..working in your pajamas.
Image Courtesy of Pixabay • mindful_art / Pixabay
