How to Get Out of Holiday Mode: A September Reset with 3 Work Habits That Actually Help
Getting back into work mode after the summer holidays can feel hard. September brings a change of routine, a long list of things to catch up on and, sometimes, a slightly unexpected mix of emotions. Being intentional about a September reset can be a good opportunity to think about what has been working well and choose a few simple habits to carry into the rest of the year.
I woke up this morning, September 2nd, waved my son off to his first day at secondary school and felt, quite honestly, a bit lost. Today was one of those days where I’ve felt a rush of whirling, conflicting emotions, and it has been hard to sort through them all. As I’ve let the day settle around me I’ve started to unpick what I’m feeling. There’s sadness and worry for my boy going out into the big wide world. I’m feeling a loss as we’re moving out of relaxed, sunny, holiday mode and back into ‘real life’ (it’s also raining, which amplifies all that). I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by the very helpful ‘September to do’ list I wrote myself earlier in the summer. But I’m also feeling excited too, to get back to doing what I love.
💛If you’re feeling a bit unsettled by the change of season, then I’d encourage you to start as I did, by exploring and unpicking the emotions you’re feeling around it.
As I was getting ready for the day, I found myself pondering a question. What has worked well for me this year so far? What do I consider to be my ‘wins’ for 2026 and how did I make them happen? And how can I integrate those habits into my ‘back to work’ routine as soon as possible? I’m going to share with you the three habits that I think have worked the best for me this year.
💛But first, I encourage you to ask yourself the same question too, and identify your most successful habits. Sometimes, the most important thing you can do to reset things after a break is simply to make sure you don’t let good habits slide.
Once you’ve thought about your best habits, you might want to consider trying some of the things that have worked well for me. So, here are the three things I’ve been doing this year which have helped me the most in 2026, and which I know will help me get the best September reset.
‘Shoot your shot’ Thursday
This is a habit I started earlier this year. It was prompted by something I almost scrolled past on Instagram. But it really resonated with me. Instead of dreaming about all the things you’ll ask for and try at some undetermined point in future, why don’t you start trying them now? ‘Shoot your shot Thursday’ is the day each week when you take a few minutes to send that pitch to your dream client, ask for an invite to that event, invite someone ‘out of your league’ to have a coffee with you. On ‘shoot your shot Thursday’ you need to firmly push your ego and inner doubt to one side, listen to your inner cheerleader, and just go for it. Yes, you’ll get ghosted. Yes, you’ll get rejections. But you’ll also get plenty of ‘sure, why not?’.
As I look back on some of the most enjoyable (and lucrative) things I’ve done this year, it’s crazy just how many of them started life on ‘shoot your shot Thursday’. So, here’s the challenge. Every week, designate one day where you’ll just give it a go and ask for something out of your league.
Here are a few tips:
💛Do it first thing in the morning, before the inner doubt has time to wake up and object
💛Shoot your shot a few times each Thursday rather than putting all your eggs in one basket
💛It’s not always easy to think up what you’re going to do (you might be struggling now to consider what you’d actually do) - keep it at the back of your mind and allow it to percolate as you go through your week
💛Once you’ve done it, forget about it and allow yourself to be pleasantly surprised if you hear back.
2. 20 minute sprints (aka the ‘pomodoro technique’)
You’ve probably heard of this technique. I had, but I’d not really tried it until the start of this year. And guess what, it works! I came to this technique when I was feeling really overwhelmed by a whole bunch of things I wanted to make progress on but feeling really squeezed for time. I was finding myself easily distracted as well as being prone to spending hours going down rabbit holes working on a single task.
So, the pomodoro technique asks you to chunk up your work into 20 or 25 minute bursts. For some reason 20 minutes sat best with me. Put a timer on and spend 20 minutes focusing really intently on a single subject, making as much progress as you can in that time period. Then, when the timer’s up, take a little break, and start up on something else for the next 20 minutes. I find it useful to look at my diary each morning and consider how many 20 minute chunks I can add into the day, depending on how busy I am with client work and other meetings. Then I allocate a subject or task to each 20 minute slot, trying to give myself some variety through the day.
I’ve found it’s actually incredible what I can accomplish in a focused 20 minute burst, and it feels great to be making progress on multiple fronts each day too. This is also a great technique for practicing the important art of walking away from a task unfinished and coming back to it fresh the next day.
💛This is a really easy one to start. Just find a 20 minute slot in the diary, decide what you’re going to focus on, and set the timer…
3. Diarising deep work
Now this one is the opposite to the pomodoro technique, but the two actually go hand in hand. In this world of back-to-back meetings, and AI, it’s more important than ever to create time in the diary for deep, creative thinking and writing. The sort that only us humans can do. The sort of work that really moves things forward in a meaningful way.
For me, that’s writing these articles. I began diarising focused time in my calendar to write these articles at the very start of 2026, and I have found it to be incredibly important on a number of fronts. It helps me clarify and solidify my own thinking. It helps my clients - I know this because they tell me. It helps new clients find me, in a way that goes above the smoke and mirrors of social media, and that feels really meaningful.
💛For you, it might also be writing. Or it might be time thinking through a problem or decision more deeply. Or building out a strategy. Or reflecting on your own development. Whatever it is, blocking this time out in your diary signals something crucial - both to you, and the people around you. Deep work is important, it’s to be protected, and oftentimes, it IS the work.
So, those are my three habits that I’ll be prioritising this week as I get back into ‘work mode’ and reset myself ready for the rest of the year.
💛I’d love to hear your reflections on this. What mix of emotions are you feeling at this time of year? What habits have served you best so far in 2026, and which of my three good habits might you try as we move into the last months of the year?
💛And, if you’re reading this article, then you might also be looking for more focused support to really help you move into your next chapter with intention. If that’s you then we should have a chat… use this link to set up a discovery call with me https://calendly.com/liv-yellowbenchcoaching/30min_discovery_call
