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Ace that last dash with panache

By Sinem Bilen-Onabanjo
24 August 2019   |   3:29 am
The UK prepares for what’s set to be a rare Bank Holiday Weekend; rare in the sense that as opposed to what we’ve come to expect from the last long weekend of the year, a total washout, temperatures are set to soar around 27 degrees.
A lady sleeping

A Lady resting. Photo Parents

The UK prepares for what’s set to be a rare Bank Holiday Weekend; rare in the sense that as opposed to what we’ve come to expect from the last long weekend of the year, a total washout, temperatures are set to soar around 27 degrees. Saturday morning will see the mad rush to shops for meat and condiments, plastic cutlery and plates and bottles of booze as the Brits will set up for the last barbecue opportunity of the year.

Come Tuesday, it will feel just like a fast fleeting dream as we wake up to the cold, harsh reality that the last long weekend of summer is also the harbinger of the relentless slog towards the end of the year. With most holidays used up, weather getting increasingly more gruesome, there’s little option but to plod through, putting on a brave face. So much so that it’s easy to forget sometimes the end of the year also means another four chances to turn the year around and come out on top: namely, September, October, November, and December.

Often as nights draw in and days get more golden, I find a second wind to outperform myself. You may think it’s hard but with a few savvy tricks, it’s easy to keep motivating one’s self, regardless of season and place.

How do I do it? Let me count the ways…

Imagine yourself 12 months from now
In today’s society, we’re so conditioned to live from day to day that it’s difficult for many to even imagine where they see themselves heading in the next year, let alone five years from now. Around this time of the year, and to be honest, most days, I look at how far I’ve come but also how much longer I’ve got to get to my goals. After all, the adage goes, “Let the space between where you are and where you want to motivate you.”

Eat the frog first
Mark Twain once said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long. Your “frog” is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it. The metaphor applies to your week or your month as much as it does to your day. Get that one thing you dread out of the way the first thing, then the rest will always feel like a walk in the park.

Embrace the brief moments of discomfort
The Discomfort Zone: How to Get What You Want by Living Fearlessly, former editor of Cosmopolitan who’s recently taken the helm of Elle UK Farah Storr shows how you have to push through what she calls “brief moments of discomfort” in order to get to where you need to be.

By adopting the brief moments of discomfort, or BMD method, you will soon understand that nothing in life is an insurmountable challenge, only a series of small, uncomfortable tests that can easily be overcome. Once you have used Farrah’s techniques to transform your fear into bite-size, manageable pieces, you’ll be able to take on anything. In fact, in time, you’ll even begin to enjoy these moments.

Don’t forget to rest
You may have a list of things you aim to accomplish by the end of the year as long as your arm. This doesn’t mean you have to burn the candle at both ends. It’s not only refreshing to strike a balance between work and rest but it is motivating as well. You don’t want to keep going for hours, days, weeks, only to run out of juice and much-needed motivation, so factor rest into your master plan. Take a longer than usual lunch on an odd day, or the scenic route to work, or plan a weekend away to recharge and recalibrate so you can attack your work with even more vigour come Monday.

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