With lockdown restrictions now having been in place for more than a year, many people will be finding it increasingly difficult to remain upbeat with their current circumstances. Those in the electrical trade are no exception and many will still be suffering from the economic and social impacts of reduced workloads.
To help people stay motivated over the coming months and to inspire tradespeople to achieve their personal and professional ambitions this year, Chris Farmer, leadership and management expert at Corporate Coach Group has put together five top tips for creating and sustaining a positive mental attitude which will help you make 2021 a successful year.
1) Set yourself goals to achieve
Everything is time limited, and that includes this pandemic, which will not last forever. Life will return to normality, at which point you want to be in a position to achieve your long-term aspirations. If you’re currently not working or have seen business drop-off, then it’s easy to feel demoralised, which is a counterproductive emotion.
Instead of spending time feeling demoralised, try to view this ‘pause’ as an opportunity to review your current systems and to build plans for new growth in the spring. You could consider developing your technical knowledge of digital marketing or upskill in areas such as renewable energy or automaton. This additional proactivity means that once business improves you will be able to take full advantage of new opportunities.
Start today by setting short-term goals which feed into a bigger long-term goal. Goal setting provides you with something positive to focus on and to work towards. The first step to achieving a goal is to set it. If you would like some further advice on how to set goals you can read Corporate Coach Group’s guide here.
2) Create a plan for achieving success
Many people lack motivation because they fail to think about goals and therefore fail to set plans to achieve them. Goals are the first step and plans are the second – without detailed plans a goal is nothing but a dream.
Written plans set out how we intend to achieve the goals we have set. In order to write plans, we need to answer the following three questions:
- In order to achieve the goals, what additional information or skill do we need, and from where can we get it?
- What additional resources (money, technology and human resources) do we need, and from where can we get them?
- What is the time deadline by which we should aim to have achieved our goal and is that deadline reasonable?
When we answer these three questions we have the information we need to create our plan for achieving success.
3) Use role models as motivation
Whether it’s in our professional or personal lives, we all have people we admire and aspire to be like. Role models are great sources of inspiration and help us to recognise the steps we need to take in order to improve. Pick out a few ‘heroic people’ who exemplify the characteristics you find motivating and see what you can learn by studying their methods. This could be somebody you look up to at work or even a sportsperson who is competing at the highest level.
4) Remind yourself that you have overcome difficulties in the past and you will overcome this one too
Life and the economy have cycles which alternate between good and bad times. You have seen bad times before and you have overcome them. Use that fact to strengthen the belief that you will overcome this bad season too. Although good times may currently seem far off, use these past experiences as a reminder that when we return to normality, we have lots to look forward to.
People are motivated by their inner strength and their visions of better futures, so gather your strength and use it as motivation to overcome today’s problems.
5) Create a support network with like-minded people
Since restrictions were introduced back in March last year, many tradespeople have either been working alone or coming into contact with fewer colleagues than pre-pandemic. Understandably many people are missing the usual social interactions they took for granted. In order to compensate for this reduced interaction, it is a good idea to create an alliance with two or three other tradespeople who (preferably), you do not work with, but who are in a similar position as you. You will all be able to inspire and support each other through any difficulties you may be facing.
