Back to work!
A very Happy New Year to you. For most people, January is often a tough month. We are exhausted emotionally, physically and financially by the 'festive' season. Going back to work after a good break is a bit like suffering from jet lag. The return to #WorkMeanTime is actually traumatic and leads to #PostChristmasStressDisorder. It doesn't help that pay day feels miles off too. This is why my friends on Facebook seem to be less happy than usual this week. This has got me thinking about happiness in general as that's something we all really want in our lives as much as possible.
The biggest expert I know on happiness is a very clever Australian man called Andrew Matthews andrewmatthews.com. He wrote one of the very best books I have ever read. I love simple, clear branding and always quote Ronseal for British consumers as one of the best brands ever. Andrew's appropriately titled 'Being Happy' definitely 'does what it says on the tin.' He says it how it is, he is humourous and he even draws funny cartoons for those who just need pictures to go on. One thing he often says is that if you keep facing similar challenging situations again and again, it's because you need to learn the lesson that life is teaching you about. If you don't learn that lesson, life will keep bashing you over the head with a sledge hammer until you finally do.
2 years ago, I was lucky enough to visit the McLaren Technology Centre in Surrey. MTC is like a museum to the creative genius of their Group Chairman Ron Dennis who always tells staff that they design 'everything for a reason.' So, coming full circle, there's actually a really good reason why January is tough. It's the time we plan and strategise for the year ahead. It's the time we look at doing new and different things. These tasks are what we as people and businesses live or die by in a professional sense. It's therefore important that we are at our most hungry and focussed when we do this. That's what January is for.
Hope that makes you feel better about it all! For anyone interested in learning how video can drive your business expansion in 2012, I'll be happy to help.
TTFN