New Leaves in the Fall: Bringing Seasonal Change to Your Work

The nights are getting cooler, the early-bird trees are starting to turn and tailgaters are planning their first football feasts.

Fall is definitely here and it always makes me think of new beginnings.  Had I been raised in a more agriculturally-focused society, I might feel that way in the spring, but every American schoolchild knows that fall is when things start anew.

It just makes me want to go out and buy a new notebook and box of crayons.  Or at least a new pair of shoes.

But what if you’re not starting anything new?

I must admit that I found the lack of seasonal transformation one of the hardest things about adapting to life as a worker and not a student.  And it wasn’t all about the lack of a l-o-n-g summer vacation, either.

I missed the ebb and flow, the feeling that there was a clear time for things to begin and end.  Time went on, and I discovered the rhythms of the different jobs I’ve had, but I still have that autumnal hankering.

Every time the leaves start to fall, I want to turn over a new one.

Just in case you feel the same, I’m inviting you to join me in doing that very thing.

This doesn’t mean you have to go out and get a new job, but you can bring a new attitude to the one you already have.

Try imagining that tomorrow is your first day on the job and see what you would do differently at work.  Would you re-arrange your cubicle?  Make a point of meeting people and having lunch with them?  Develop a new work plan?

Then stop resisting the seasonal tug of a fresh start and go ahead and do it.  Sometimes we all need to refresh our professional personas, and if your company doesn’t present you with cues of its own, let the calendar do it.  Give your work space and habits the kind of makeover you would at the start of a new semester.

This could mean everything from cleaning out your files to a company retreat.  It’s best to implement both major and minor changes, so you have a new star to follow and daily reminders of what that might be.

You could even get a new notebook.

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