I am constantly at war with my energy levels.  Constantly.

I am one of the lucky millions who battle with depression, which makes me especially prone to the need for a midday nap.  I’m also really sensitive to carbohydrates, which means eating too many of them causes my blood sugar spikes and five minutes later I’m crashing - hard.  Add to that a personal tendency to procrastinate and the attention span of a two year old, and you have a recipe for how in the heck am I constantly employed??

Getting through an eight (or 12) hour workday can, at times, require herculean effort.

While most people might not battle the exact same energy suck monsters that I do, finding yourself left with more hours left in the day than gas left in the proverbial tank is, I’m told, fairly common.  What can we do to push through the occasional energy slump?

First - let’s discuss what not to do.

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Over the weekend, I wrote an entire post in my head about learning to ask for help at work.  You see, the past few weeks have been really, really tough for me, personally.  We’ve had some family drama - or maybe trauma is the better word - and my work has suffered tremendously because of it.

Did I say suffered?  I meant not gotten done at all.

For the first time in my life, I’ve completely blown deadlines.  I’ve come close before.  I’ve burned the midnight oil and fed my children Cheerios for dinner, but I’ve never actually missed a deadline until this month.  And this month I missed several of them.

Of course, since no man (or woman) is an island, when I miss a deadline, someone else’s work is affected.  An editor is left with no time to edit, a client is left explaining to their client why they can’t deliver a product.  The crap rolls down (or up) hill, as they say.

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If Monday is the worst day of the week, Saturday is probably a close second. My weekends are quickly getting out of control. There’s always some game for whatever sport my son is playing that season. There’s always a trip to the grocery store, the farmer’s market, or fighting the crowds at the mega-giant Costco. There’s a weekly trip to the library to check out new books and free movies. There’s stuff around the house that is begging to be fixed, cleaned, dusted, mopped, or put away. Weekends, which should be my reprieve for working a 40+ hour week, have turned into a bit of a nightmare.

A couple of years ago, my spouse and I made a pact to keep our weekends as technology-free as possible. I turn off my work-email that flows to my BlackBerry. I rarely even get on the computer unless it is to check a movie time or get directions to someone’s house for a birthday party. But living with less technology doesn’t get rid of a weekend schedule that can easily get out of control.
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I’m not one for New Year’s Resolutions.  I don’t start a diet or a new work out plan with the rest of America.  I’ve learned that saying I want to be more patient doesn’t actually make me more patient.  I’m not vowing to read more books, eat less red meat, or buy more organic.  It’s as good as it’s gonna get.  Especially in January, when my fingers are practically frozen because my spouse insists that heating the house to 62 degrees is actually heating the house. 

I don’t need resolutions.  Resolutions are like promises, they mean nothing and nobody seems to really care if you break it. 

But solutions?  Solutions I’ll take any time.  If anyone can solve the mystery that is my never-ending laundry problem, I’ll be tap dancing my way into that solution.

This year, I decided to implement one solution.  Just one.  It won’t solve world hunger or fix our economy.  But it makes ending the day and starting the next one so much easier for me. 
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The holidays are behind us now, and it’s time to get back into the work/school/real life routine.

Boo.  Hoo.

My family had such a great time together during our time off that I was actually disappointed to see everyone head back to school and work.  The peace and order of our regular routine just doesn’t hold a candle to the relaxation and endless giggles of the holiday break.  (My mom was shocked to hear me say that, but honest to God, I mean it.)

Whether you had a Rockwellian family vacation or a frazzled couple of three-day weekends, getting back to work after the chaos of the holiday season is… interesting.  Challenging, even.  Many of us have spent weeks racing towards an end of the year finish line or stuck in a “until after the holidays” holding pattern.  And now, here we are.  A new year, a new month, an old familiar routine waiting for us to get moving.

How can you kick yourself back into gear?

(Interesting side note: after writing that sentence, I accidentally spent 45 minutes reading blogs that had absolutely nothing to do with gears or moving or productivity.  So there’s that.)

Here are a few ideas for getting back to work that I’m hoping to implement myself over the next few days:

1. Go to bed early.

I’m sure that sounds lame, but if it works for kids it just might work for us, too.  Getting plenty of sleep makes your mind more alert and focused.  True story.

2. Drink more water.

I would suggest that you start eating better after the holiday gluttony fest, but even that might require more mental focus than you have right now.  Instead, focus on drinking lots of water during the day.  That will actually help you make the switch back to a healthier diet and give you more energy for your work day.

3. Go for a walk.

Again, I would suggest that you start working out 30 minutes a day, but aside from those perky few who have been back in the gym since January 1st, most people might find it difficult to jump into a full fitness routine right now.  Try just going for a short walk over your lunch break.  It will get you moving, literally, and should help you focus better for the afternoon.

4. Set mini goals.

I’m not talking about large scale resolutions here.  Set daily goals for what you absolutely must get done before calling it quits.  Make a list and check off each item as you go.  I find this is a great tool for getting me out of vacation mode.

How are you getting back to work in 2010?

Photo by Indydina on Flickr.

I hear adults talk all the time about how difficult it is to make friends once you graduate from college.  It seems, for many grown ups, that the workplace is the easiest (and sometimes only) place to meet people your own age with similar interests.

So, does that mean that you spend your weekends and down time hanging with your co-workers?  More specifically, will you be ringing in the New Year surrounded by people you work with?

Why do I ask?

For many people, New Year’s Eve is a chance to cut loose and partake of the booze.  And boozing often leads to - well, making a gosh darn fool of yourself, to put it mildly.

Will you be singing loud and out of tune karaoke with your project manager?  Is your office manager going to be tagging you on Facebook with pictures of a lampshade on your head?  What are the odds of someone accidentally hitting on your boss before the ball drops?

And - do you care?

Like many people I know, I’ve formed really great friendships with the people I’ve worked with at various jobs.  Some of those friendships extended to after hours fraternization (wait, that just means hanging out, right?) and, on occasion, laughs shared over drinks.  At the time, it seems like a great idea.

But I’ve also experienced a handful of Monday mornings when I really wished I could walk into my office without my weekend persona walking in my shadow.  It can be difficult to have someone take you seriously in an office environment if they’ve become familiar with you in a social setting - especially if that social setting involves liquor.  By the same token, if you’re spending your off hours hanging out with your superiors, the lines of authority can be a bit blurry once everyone is back at work.

As a general rule, I try not to act like an idiot.  Period.  But if my co-workers or clients are in the mix, I like to make a concerted effort to keep my cool.  Most of the time.

What about you?  Do you keep your work and personal relationships completely separate?  Do you ever find the lines getting blurred - especially after a big holiday party and a few glasses of champagne?

Photo credit: Ollie Crafoord

I handle the bulk of the customer service emails for my company.  I’m also responsible for writing all of our email marketing campaigns.

I sign every email I send to a potential client with “Sincerely,” followed by my name, title and contact information.

My boss signs his emails with “Regards”.  The first time I put together an email campaign, he assumed that my “sincerely” was a typo.  He suggested that closing with the word “regards” was more formal, and therefore more professional than using “sincerely”.

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It is day one of my son’s school Winter Break. He’s a kindergartner and thinks that getting two whole weeks of during Christmas is a gift from God.  I, as a full-time working momma, realize that if God had anything to do with it then he’s one masochistic son of a bitch. 

When my son was in preschool, he always had the week between Christmas and New Year’s off.  The school used that week to not only give the teachers a much needed break but also to use the time to perform maintenance.  One week a year was easy to manage.  I’d take a couple of days off, my spouse would take a couple, and a Grandparent would always step in when needed.
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Can we just commiserate for a minute?

The holidays are kicking my butt.

My family celebrates Christmas, and I absolutely love everything about the holidays.  I love the lights and the trees and the gift giving.  I love the magic and the anticipation and the planning of special surprises.

I am not, by any means, a Scrooge.

But holy cow do I need a holiday break!

Juggling family, friends and work in a normal week is a challenge.  Throw in the extra to-do lists and holiday distractions, and my balance has been lost somewhere at the bottom of a pile of shipping boxes and garland.

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I think I am ready to accept the fact that I will never live my life “in balance”.  Or at least, not in the way that most people imagine when they hear those words.

When I think of balance, I think of the center of something.  I imagine living firmly in the middle of two extremes, never getting to close to one pole or the other.  A little from column A, a little from column B, but mostly straddling the line between them.

It sounds lovely, in theory.  I imagine the middle to be a serene and peaceful place with very little need to run back and forth between opposite ends of the spectrum.  I imagine balance like that must be nice, but I have no practical experience with it.

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