January can be a tough month, especially after the excitement and joy of December. The post-holiday winter blues is real, and it’s common to feel sluggish, unmotivated, and disconnected from your goals. But it’s exactly this time of year that you need to refocus and get back on track.
Back in 2005, a British psychologist named Dr. Cliff Arnall created a formula to establish the third Monday in January as the peak of seasonal depression. He based this calculation on numerous variables including the weather, salary, debt, low motivation, post-holiday gloom, attempts to quit a job, and a sense of urgency to take action. An this is how Blue Mondays became an instant hit.
According to a recent survey, 88 percent of Americans think the winter holiday season is the most stressful time of year. Almost a whooping 60 percent would characterize it as chaotic. With so many time-sensitive commitments and activities on the average person’s calendar this season, it’s not hard to see where all that stress is coming from.
However you spent winter holidays, it can be quite challenging to recover your productivity thereafter. Whether you are tired, windbitten, jet-lagged, or simply extremely happy and relaxed, diving back into work is probably the last thing you want to do. Adulting is hard, but it must be done.
The pandemic changed how teams operate on a massive scale in 2020. It has influenced the way we work and where we work. Without any doubts, working from home without the daily commute to the office has multiple implications over our lives. And not only in the summer, when it’s all green and sunny, but especially during the gloomy, cold winter season.
