Summer is over, the children are back to school, and those two weeks basking on the beach already seem like a distant memory. We’ve compiled the best back-to-work motivational tips from a selection of experts to help you stop mourning the loss of flip flops and barbecued food, and start looking forward to winter boots, roast turkey and new season success!

Having time to relax and think can help us to see what’s missing from our lives or what we want to achieve – now try turning those into actionable goals.

So, whether it’s learning a new skill or simply saving up for your next holiday, setting some structured targets can help you find your motivation to start working towards them.

The key to staying motivated is to never stop working at staying motivated. Just like exercising the other muscles of our body, our motivation and attitude muscles need to be developed and fine-tuned, too.

Every day schedule time to read or listen to empowering material. Every day take the time to exercise, breathe deeply, and plan my diet. Living a motivated life starts with doing the motivational preparation work it takes to get there.

Turn mundane tasks into new challenges. Even if we’re happy in our careers overall, we all have elements of our jobs we find tedious. When we have too many of these mundane tasks and not enough of the ones we enjoy, work motivation can take a hit.

Next time you’re asked to do something you don’t really want to do, you can try adding some creative flair to the task, finding a way to do it differently or better than before. You can also find motivation for seemingly dull tasks by thinking about the purpose of your work. How important is it for the successful operation of your company? How many people are relying on you?

When people know why they are doing something, they tend to do it better and with a little more enthusiasm.

Be grateful

When your alarm goes off at silly-o’clock in the morning and you drag yourself out of bed for your first week back at work you might not be feeling particularly ‘lucky’. However, a quick and simple mental exercise can help wake up your positivity.

Do three and a half minutes of pure gratitude about three things. Pick one of those three to be simple… the wind on my face, your children’s faces, anything.

Starting the day with gratitude for the life you have leaves you primed to have a positive day.

It also makes us more resilient to negative feedback and ‘failure,’ simply by being able to view unsuccessful endeavours as valuable practise instead.

Adopting a growth mindset will give you the confidence to take on new projects or accept increased responsibility, making work more interesting and more motivating. It can work for your personal ambitions too, like finally signing up to that art class you’ve wanted to join for ages!

Conclusion

It’s always sad when summer comes to an end and holidays are over, but finding something to work towards can give you renewed purpose. Start now and you can end the year on a high, ready to welcome in 2017 with a big high five!