The holidays are over and it's time for all of us to get back to our real estate businesses. But oftentimes this may not be as easy as we would really like it to be.

In the United States, with the inclusion of Thanksgiving in the holiday season, we can often find ourselves in "holiday mode" from the end of November up through the first of the New Year. The problem, though, is if we don't watch out, we can find ourselves still being a bit slow in returning to our own businesses all the way through the end of January. That's how much this "holidaze" can really grab a hold of us.

Let's now begin the New Year with a gut-level reality check:

Where are you at in your desire to really be productive right now? Just rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being "I'm totally back back on track and on fire in my desire to produce great results in my real estate business right now."

If your rating is not as high as you'd like it to be, ask "What do I need to do so I can get up to being a 9 or a 10 in my level of desire right now?" And once you've identified what this is (and make sure it's something within your own control to make happen), just get out and do it! If you don't, you may risk having an entire two-month stretch of less than ideal productivity until you're back to normal again in your business. (The two-month stretch starting at the end of November and running through the end of January.) And that's way too much time to allow the holidaze to sap from your productivity.

One of the problems we experience during the holidays is our world as we normally know it slows down into a very different mode. While we can definitely have many great experiences in this new mode, it's often hard for us to get moving once again after the holidays are over. We've become accustomed to a much slower pace of life, and returning to our normal pace of life once again may not seem as desirable. But I have to tell you, the feeling of becoming incredibly productive once again beats the pants off of the ongoing feeling of not being productive. You've probably already noticed this at different times over the years in your own real estate business.

Even as you find yourself reconnecting with your clients and prospects with in the next few weeks or so, they too may be slow in responding to you and taking action. This holidaze, it seems, can get a grip on almost anyone until mid-to-late January. But it's OK as long as you recognize this and give your best to be as productive as you can anyway.

When contacting your clients and prospects, they may say something to you like, "Call me again towards the end of January," or "Call me again in February." But just recognize that you've done something very solid for your business in picking up the phone and reconnecting with these people right now. In a very short time you'll be back in your full-blown business mode again, so utilize this time in between to your advantage.

Call the people you know you should be calling right now. Make sure you've got your game plan for success in 2005 fully mapped out, and make sure you've identified all of the marketing strategies you're going to implement, and how you're going to implement them. Then get started with the program. It's much easier to begin implementing your new marketing strategies now while you may have a little free time on your hands than it will be when you're extremely busy just a few weeks from now.

Once you arrive back into your full-on business mode in the next few weeks, it will probably be harder for you to set the time aside for strategic planning and implementation. At that time you'll be so busy following-up on all the new business and leads that you're working on. So make sure you don't unconsciously fall back into the trap of working last year's game plan if you were planning on doing things differently this year.

With 2005 now here, you have a fresh, clean slate, and you can create the ideal year that you want to have for yourself in your real estate business. So plan your year, work your plan, and get on the phone right now and reconnect with the people you know you want to be working with.