How to get going with your business after a break

January 8, 2025

One of the members of our Learning Community was expressing how it can be surprisingly hard to get back to work after being away. And early January is one of those times that so many people feel disconnected and out of step with their business after much-needed down time.

How do you get back into the groove?

Because you most likely are trying to get back into the groove, I’m going to keep this one short and sweet.

1. Don’t try to get back into the groove quickly.

One of the more frustrating and impossible things is to go from vacation mode to productive mode when the clock strikes 9am on an early January Monday morning.

So don’t. What if it was okay that you spent the first day back at work just saying “howdy” to your business? Looking over projects, schedule, just connecting in your heart to it all without needing to “get things done.”

I almost ended this first suggestion with the above paragraph, but I want you to slow down and read those two paragraphs again and take them really seriously. It’s easy to go, “yeah, yeah” and then still try to power through after maybe 90 seconds of an attempt at “howdy…”

But that’s not going to do it. I mean maybe hours of “howdy.” Maybe just sitting in your chair sipping your beverage of choice and surveying your domain. Settling back in. Letting your heart open and reconnecting with what you love about your work and your business.

This is surprisingly important and effective.

2. Re-read the first suggestion above.

Really! The quality of your relationship with your business is the foundation of any results you want to create.

Running super fast, pushing through, doing a million things… those are symptoms of disconnection. If I’m in that mode, then when I become aware that I’m in that super-fast mode, I know that I’m not actually *seeing* my business for how it is right now, and what it’s actually needing from me.

This is true all the time, not just coming back from vacation.

The good news is that if we take time regularly to be in relationship with our business, then you don’t need super-long catch-ups, because you’re already in an active relationship. It’s the difference between a friend you haven’t talked to in a year, and so there’s hours needed to catch up, and a friend you see regularly, and you’re already in sync with them.

3. Listen to this Remembrance.

A Remembrance is a Sufi guided heart meditation. Our Learning Community has nearly 300 different 12-15 minute Remembrances on different topics for our members to use in stuck places.

This Remembrance is 15 minutes and it’s on the topic of returning to your business after a vacation or other time away.

I recommend it highly. And if you feel like you don’t have 15 minutes to listen to it… then I recommend it even more.

How does your heart feel after taking this time?

Bonus “tricks.”

The relationship thing is really the foundation, but there are some things you can do to support the relationship, especially looking at next year.

Set an alarm for either mid-November or early December later this year, to remind you to do three things:

(1) Schedule in re-entry time for next January. This is so you, and anyone you work with, including clients, don’t have any expectation that you will be productive the first day back.

(2) Take time to get a few things done ahead of time. For instance, I wrote this email you’re reading now back on December 18, so that I wouldn’t have to write it when I got back in the office on January 6. There are other things I pre-prepared for my re-entry, so I didn’t have to tend to them immediately.

(3) Stop in the middle of a “chapter.” A time-tested writer’s trick, when working on a book, is to never finish a day of writing at the end of a chapter. Always end in the middle, so there’s a creative flow to pick up with when you return. Do the same thing with any important creative projects that are going to continue after a vacation- stop not at a natural stopping point, but in the middle of a flow, so it’s easier to re-enter.

Above all, be gentle with yourself. I have never met a “lazy” person. I have met lots of depleted people whose nervous systems were beyond capacity. You will return to your business, if you just give yourself time to say “howdy” and catch up with this beloved creation that is one way you express your gifts in the world, and is working to support you financially.

Welcome to 2025!

With love,
Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.

Heart of Money & Power starts Tuesday, January 14!

Rather, January 14 is the first live class. The nourishing pre-work, as well as the Bonus Tawba Healing class, are available right now.

This is the last time I’ll be running this course for the forseeable future. If money or power are issues you struggle with in your business, join me!