This year, we’ve had quite a nice long break away from work, with Christmas and New Year’s Day falling on the weekend.

For some of us, we can’t get back to work quick enough – the stress of Christmas and spending too much time with family took its toll a long time ago! But you may also be dreading going back to work, too – how do you win?

Motivating yourself to excel at your job or to be an example to your employees, should not be something you do only when the spirit moves you. It’s an ongoing process that should include every facet of your business life. This means your mental attitude, physical well-being and appearance, work atmosphere, your interaction with others (clients and employees alike), and your off-the-job environment.

Here are five motivational steps to help make going back to work that little bit easier:

1. Keep a positive attitude

Life is only 10% of what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. We’re responsible for our own actions and attitudes, and for changing them. When you’re around people/things that are uplifting and positive, you feel that way. You have more confidence in yourself, and know you can change whatever needs changing. If you can make your workplace that positive place you’ll find that you achieve more, and get more out of your colleagues, too. If you run your own business, and stress is demotivating your return to work, you have even more work to do because you don’t have a boss to answer to. Make your mind up to start the year on a positive note – you might even find your employees look forward to coming back to work!

2. Leave personal troubles at home

Everyone has problems – but they don’t belong at work. Turn your attention and energy entirely to your job when you are at work, otherwise you’ll start having problems at work, too, and that won’t help anyone. Learning to divert your attention away from your home troubles when you go back to workgo will actually be good for you because you’ll get a mental break from your troubles.

3. Create positive affirmations and use them when you go back to work

When you started your business, you wrote a business plan (hopefully!), which had goals. Writing those goals for your business is the same as creating positive affirmations on paper. What your eyes see and what your ears hear, your mind will believe. Try it! After you’ve written the affirmations down, read them aloud to yourself – and do it every morning when you get into work. You’ll be amazed at what happens. Come up with a set of new affirmations every month. Statements like: “I’m an important and valuable person,” or “I know I’ll be a success at work today.” Repeating them out loud everyday at a set time will help reinforce positive actions.

4. Make sure you take a proper break at work

This is an area where most people/entrepreneurs fail. You become so engrossed about what you’re working on that you don’t ease up. Thinking that it’ll be solved in the next few seconds, and then you’ll get a cup of coffee can lead you right up to the end of the working day, and if you don’t discipline yourself, it’s very easy to get into a routine of not taking a proper lunch break or any breaks at all.

Even if you are the boss at work, taking regular breaks will help to release the tension and stress of running your own business. If you work on a computer there is even more importance to taking a break for health and safety reasons. The best answer to this is to set yourself a reminder on your appointment calendar or mobile phone for every two hours, and force yourself to adhere to them. It only takes a day or two before you get into the routine, and soon you may not even need to use the alerts.

5. Exercise, exercise, exercise!

For a lot of working mums, the word “exercise” ceased to exist a long time ago – all the juggling in the world does not free up enough time to “indulge” in a gym membership or an exercise class.

That’s fine – by “exercise” I don’t mean that you should go out and join a gym and spend your lunchtimes working out. What is really beneficial and workable is that at those alerts from your computer or mobile I mentioned above, get you up and walking around your desk or office. You can go outside and get the post and enjoy the sunlight (if you’re a mumpreneur that has a home office), or just get up and do a few stretches.

The concentrated, tense thinking that we do while working makes all our muscles tighten and knot up. Then when we move we “ooh” and “ouch” because we’ve knotted up into a ball of tension.

Periodic stretching, even at your desk, or just getting up and walking over to the window and getting a different view can help. One of the greatest disservice modern business décor has done to us, is making our offices pristine, sleek, unencumbered spaces. There is nothing more relaxing than getting up from your desk and walking over to a peaceful, serene, seascape or pastoral painting and just drinking it in visually.

It only takes a little concentrated effort on our part to keep motivated and productiveen you go back to work, which leads to success. I know you’re going to hate hearing this, but it’s true anyway – and that is, “WHEN LIFE GIVES YOUR LEMONS – MAKE LEMONADE! wh