As you head into the final three months of the year, the end of the Summer holiday and the start of a new term, is a great time to reassess and refocus.

You've spent the last couple of weeks relaxing, enjoying time away from work. It gives you a sense of perspective. Spending time with family and friends reminds you of what's really important in your life. Especially if you’ve been busy at work or you've been feeling the impact of a demanding job.

So while you're in that post holiday glow, take time to reassess and reset before that feeling wears off.

It's easy for things to get out of balance when you're working evenings and weekends. You feel stressed out and overloaded with work. Hands up if you regularly sneak a peek at your email when you're on holiday?

When you're dealing with the demands of a busy job or you're running your own business, it's easy to get sucked in to working longer and longer hours.

Returning from holiday gives you the opportunity to make the most of that time relaxing and recharging your batteries. Start as you mean to go on and avoid slipping straight back into working long hours.

Do family often say things like "you're always working"? Are you too busy or tied up with work to go out and socialise?

If your family and friends were starting to wonder who you are, it’s time to reassess.

You may already have had some thoughts. Switching off for a couple of weeks can do that. Your resolve not to work such long hours ... but it's easier said than done, especially if you're busy dealing with a backlog as soon as you get back to work.

Make Time To Reassess

It's important to take a step back every now and then. Get a fresh perspective on what you're doing, where you're going and what you need to change.

Either when you're on holiday or when you get back, while you're still relaxed, set aside time to reassess where you are right now. Relaxed time, before you get caught up in the busyness of work and quickly lose the benefit of the holiday and you're back where you were.

Start by writing down your thoughts and feelings. What were things like before you went on holiday and how do you feel now?

Work out what’s important. What do you need to focus on – think 80/20.  It’s not always about being able to get more done but getting the ‘right’ things done. Doing less, rather than trying to do more and squeezing more out of your day.

Are you heading in the right direction or have you gone off track? It often happens when you're busy or you keep taking on more and more work because you don't or can't say no.

Ask for help. At the beginning it's easy to think you can cope or you're expected to just 'deal with it'. The busier you get, the longer you work. You feel the need to do ‘everything’ and if there's no one else to help it starts to become a problem.

Focus on the important things only you can do. Get help where you can for things other people could do for you. Learn when and what to let go.

When you delegate or outsource you'll free up more of your time to do what you need and want to do.

Reinforce boundaries. When things get out of balance, it's often because your boundaries need reinforcing. Create stronger boundaries around your work and personal time to avoid falling back in to “all work and no play”. Boundaries have a tendency to weaken if you either haven't set them or you allow people to step over them.

Refocus on your goals for the year. Step things up to finish on a win. Reassess and motivate yourself for where you are now. Are there any holiday habits you want to keep - being more active, having time to relax, switching off, doing something different ...?

What do you need to change or want to do differently to get the most out of the final few months of this year?

Keep that post holiday feeling going for longer than the first week back at work when you take that step back.

Read More:

Staying on track after a Bank Holiday (Blog post)

Finding time for your Life Admin