12 Ideas You Might Never Think of to Revive Your Work Mojo in 2012

Feeling Stuck? Get out of the rut and get motivated

It happens to the best of us. As a small business owner trying to do it all, by the end of the year, we run out of steam.

But, the New Year here already. How will you find the energy and motivation required to take on 2012?

While there is something to be said for the traditional advice to “exercise more” and “clean your desk”, I wanted to offer some specific ideas to help you get your work mojo back.

1. Be “ruthlessly selective” says motivational expert Tony Schwartz.  “You likely already have too much to do, too much information to absorb, and too many choices to make. If so, your challenge is learning to say no far more often — ‘no’ to more projects, more meetings, more emails, more tweets, more Facebook updates, more purchases, more friends….” Start saying no to something.
2. Make it a goal to meet one new person in town every week, whether it’s online or face-to-face.
3. Revisit old ideas. Do you have a place where you keep old ideas like this Harvard Business Review article suggests? What about old photos that may jog your memory?  Simply looking at old things with a fresh eye may spark some creative thinking.
4. Set deadlines and try to beat them. Nothing brings out energy like competition with yourself.
5. Laugh.  Every day.
6. An excellent idea from an Australian software company: They set aside one day a month for employees to work on any problem they want, so long as it’s not part of their regular job. Stretching your imagination is a good exercise for your mind.
7. Read.  Read about people, ideas, and about businesses like yours that are successful.
8. Thank at least one customer every day for their business.
9. Unplug.  Plan and actually take a vacation with no access to the Internet.
10. Try something new in the morning – a new flavor of coffee, tea, smoothie, soda, etc to keep things interesting.
11. Make time to stop.  Every day. Find a few minutes between meetings, driving, checking email, Tweeting and eating to just stop, think and breathe to give your brain a moment to catch up.
12. Remind yourself what it is about your business that you love and why you do this work.

Sometimes the little things can make a big difference. How many of these ideas will you try? Do you have more ideas to add to the list?