After a few days or a few weeks of being confined at home, it’s often difficult to go back to work. It’s important to understand the reasons for not wanting to return, but sometimes you don’t have good reasons. You just don’t FEEL like it. And, since apparently all good things must come to an end, so should your time off. Getting in the mood takes more effort for some. So, I’ve decided to share my tips on how to get in the mood to work.

Bring That Warm Fuzzy Feeling to Work

Take a good look at your work environment. Is it bland, uncomfortable, cold, and dreary? No wonder you are not fired up! Set the stage for a productive and inviting work environment. Give your workspace a makeover that will appeal to your senses… all of them!

• Hang up a photo or painting of a beach or ski resort.
• Listen to Caribbean, 80s or classical music.
• Drink a fruity tea from a special cup.
• Install a task light.
• Open a window or light a luxury scented candle.
• Bring your favourite Christmas cookies to work.
• Sit on a yoga ball chair or put a double gel massage seat cushion on your chair.

Decorate your work area in a way that makes you feel alive. So, find the spark that makes you happy while on vacation and recreate it in your office or workplace.

Program Your Mood

I’m sure you have heard of Pavlovian conditioning also known as classical conditioning. If work triggers an unconditioned response such as unhappy or unsatisfied thoughts, try to condition yourself to trigger happy thoughts instead. Begin by choosing a conditioning procedure and repeat that procedure several times. In work terms, this procedure might translate into a prep routine. Think of activities, smells, textures, etc. that make you happy. For example, you could sip on a delicious cup of coffee and read your day’s to-do list while listening to the same song, every morning. Pavlov’s dog was conditioned by the clicking of a metronome. What will you use to condition yourself to work?

Not sure what song to pick? Get stimulated by one of these.

• Hall of Fame by The Script
• Best of Me by NEFFEX
• Champion by Carrie Underwood

It’s All in Your Head

Your happiness at work falls upon your opinion of yourself and how you see your work environment, your colleagues, your professional accomplishments, etc. Most of what you feel stems from your thoughts. If you have a positive attitude, you will see life in an optimistic way. That feeling that makes you want to come back for more… more shopping, drinking, sex, … that’s the feeling that you should embrace. Take that feeling, whether it be of fulfillment, contentedness, indulgence or gratification, and transpose it to your work environment. It sounds cliché, but it really comes down to this. Change things that you can change. Accept things that you cannot change. Adapt to your circumstances and make the best of it. Be joyful and be grateful.

Plan Your Play Time

Before you go back to work, ask yourself if you feel like you have accomplished what you set out to do during your holidays or your break from work. If you have a busy schedule, your holidays are a time to catch up on tasks that you have been pushing aside because of lack of time. So, the next time you have a few days off, plan your play time. Write a list of all the things you want to do. Maybe, come Sunday evening, that feeling of accomplishment will be satisfied just enough for you to feel as if you want to go back to work on Monday morning.

Set the Mood… Before and During

If your morning routine is not getting you in the mood, change your habits and your work routines. Spice them up. Pretend that you are getting ready for a date.

• Give yourself more time to get to work.
• Slow down. No really. Slow down. Relax.
• Appreciate your walk from your car to your office.
• Breathe in the morning’s fresh air.
• Treat yourself with a few sips of your Timmies.
• Walk in with a smile.
• Enjoy your presence at work.
• Take breaks.
• Savour your lunch.

Do things that can make your work life more blissful and scintillating. If you are a numbers person, create a points system to reward yourself for your productive work. Remember that the best rewards don’t always come in boxes. Sometimes, your reward is not a thing, but a cherished or intimate moment. Adore your work self.

I know, I know. You are a busy person. As am I. I have two jobs! I’m not saying to slack around at work. I am simply saying that you should take advantage of little moments during your workday to enjoy yourself a little more. If you were to have an affair with your job, what kind of relationship would it be? Would it be anticlimactic or would it be rousing, riveting and palpitating? You set the mood, you set the outcome.