Many of us begin January too focused on the past and feeling bad about what we have yet to accomplish. There are several reasons for this kind of the post-holiday funk – and there are things you can do to get out of it as well. With some small changes in your perspective, you can hit the ground running in the new year.
Focus Forward
When you get back to work, it’s important to start looking forward to the new year rather than back on the past one.
- Treat the goals you want to accomplish as new challenges and a source of energy not a penance for things you didn’t get done last year.
Get Specific
Turn your goal into specific actions that when added up lead to the desired outcome
- Implementation intention
- Break the general goal down into tasks that can be put on your calendar
- This specificity has two benefits
- It requires you to think through what actually has to be done to achieve the goal
- Being specific forces you to grapple with your densely packed schedule
Make the right social comparisons
Humans don’t evaluate things on an absolute scale. Instead, we assess our success relative to some standard.
- Social comparison: comparing ourselves to someone else
- Upward social comparisons: comparing yourself to someone better off than you along a particular dimension
- Frustrating: highlight what other people have that you don’t, whether it’s money, social standing, or particular relationships
- Downward social comparison: comparisons to someone worse off than yourself
- Can make you feel better about yourself, but not motivated to continue pushing forward
