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Recovering from the Olympics/Holiday Hangover

29th Aug 2012
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Whether you are a crown prince, the Prime Minister, head of a Big 4 firm or a struggling sole practitioner, after a glorious summer it is time to face the music.

It has become increasingly apparent over the last few years that, like the French, we Brits are now keen to write off the whole of August as holiday season.

The slow trickle back to work after the bank holiday means that the fun is over and winter is approaching fast.

Even if you did not go away this summer, there have multiple attractions including the Olympics to ensure that little work got done, even if any occasional client was around to commission some.

The problem with long periods of leisurely excess is that they must come to an end, unless you are rich enough to have given up work completely – or it has forsaken you.

Strangely, the aftermath of Olympics or luxury holidays might easily be likened to a very bad hangover. Your head hurts, you feel depressed, the bank manager is on your case and unless you are going to have a sickie, it is necessary to get serious in a hurry.

In addition, whether it is £24 billion that you have wasted on a fortnight of pleasure or a few thousand on a holiday of similar duration that is equally quickly forgotten, there might well be additional financial pressures that you really wish you had not put yourself under.

Talking in governmental terms, the means by which we will be obliged to pay for the Olympics is some type of austerity. Whether this comes in the form of reductions in services and unemployment for civil servants or increased taxes remains to be seen.

While the Olympics are not by any means the only problem that we face on a fiscal level, they are a contributory factor and it seems highly unlikely that the much heralded legacy will do a great deal for the country's coffers, with all due respect to West Ham, Leyton Orient and whoever takes over the velodrome.

For the managing partners of top firms of accountants, it is also time to look hard at life as was seen last week when KPMG announced that it is to allow 3% of its staff to pursue careers elsewhere. For them, it will be the end of not only a holiday but also their employment. That is pretty devastating for all concerned.

On an individual level, having enjoyed a total break from work, subject in some cases to the pernicious Blackberry or iPhone, it is time to get back into the routine of 9 to 5 or quite possibly for most readers of this column, probably something closer to 9 for 7 or even worse.

Anyone that has got this far might be looking to receive some pearls of wisdom regarding ways to overcome their personal holiday hangover as soon as possible.

Your columnist went back to the day job last Wednesday and was delighted to discover a couple of action-packed days that included meetings with new clients, prospective clients and HMRC with the Treasury.

Throwing yourself back into work at the deep end is great, as there is nothing worse than sitting in an office with the sun beating down outside and having absolutely nothing to do. That is particularly relevant where you have to generate your own work, which is usually the way with sole practitioners and niche specialists unless they have good numbers of significantly-sized clients.

Getting back into the daily routine is never easy and requires a degree of tenacity, as it is often easy to remain in mental holiday mode for days or weeks after returning to the office.

The other post-hangover solution that is probably not recommended is more of the same. Booking the Christmas holiday or going out and investing in some luxury gadget may not be such a bad idea to overcome the blues. The only problem there is that the overburdened credit card might completely melt.

Any of you with their own solutions to the post-holiday blues that do not involve alcohol, nudity or the expenditure of vast sums that were never there in the first place, is urged to share them with us.

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