Whether you work long hours, hate your job, freelance—I’m sure work is never breezy for anyone. We all know that sometimes, despite having the motivation to do great at work, you often hit a slump and are stuck on how to get there. It’s important to note that you have to start small: here are 6 techniques that you can implement to kick off your career and become the shining star you are!
1. Implement The Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro technique is a revolutionary time-management technique consisting of simple steps that better your productivity and how! These are the steps:
- Choose a task that you want to accomplish.
- Set a timer for 25 minutes. Work on the said task for this fixed period of time.
- After 25 minutes are done, take a 5-minute break. Drink coffee, stretch, watch a funny video—the choice is yours!
- After your break, repeat steps 1-3 again for three more times.
- After your fourth round of Pomodoro, stop and take a longer break of 20 minutes (perfect for one episode of The Office, if you ask me).
At work, it is common to have distractions. However, it’s not necessary to always entertain them. Make sure you take regular breaks but also focus entirely on your task at hand when busy.
2. Body Language Is Key
My work besties make it a point to drop by a couple of times during the day to chit-chat and gossip. While it’s super fun to catch up on our weekend shenanigans, make sure to ask yourself if this is the time. If it can wait, why not talk over one of your breaks? This way you can ensure that you’re completely focused on work. If your coworker isn’t getting the hint, then subtly mention how busy you are and ask them if they want to catch up at a given time.
Moreover, if someone starts talking to you (despite the fact that you have your headphones in and are typing furiously), look over at them while still resting your hands on the keyboard. This will let them know that right after the conversation you plan on going back to your task.
3. Start Email Batching
My OCD like behaviour has me opening my emails the second that I receive them. And while sometimes it is an urgent requirement, most of the times it is not. I often abandon the task I’m working on to entertain an email that isn’t urgent, disrupting my workflow.
Hence, introducing: the concept of email batching. It is pretty simple: you only read, process, and respond to emails two or three times a day. Also, you respond to similar types of email at the same time, speeding up the process. You can close the email tab or shut down your notifications for emails in order to focus.
4. Silence Your Notifications
While on the topic of silencing email notifications, it is also important to silence other kinds of notifications. We live in a world where all kinds of social media alerts (be it Instagram, Twitter, news channels etc) have us gaping at our phones for ages. A small distraction can lead to a long conversation and multiple pointless internet searches. While such notifications can be entertaining on your commute to and fro work, why bother checking them out now, amirite? Turn off notifications and if need be, use this super easy hack that I use at work to stop yourself from getting distracted.
5. Set Up A To-Do List Based On Priority
Once I reach work, I have a daily routine: sitting down and noting down the tasks I have to complete during the day. While my commute gives me enough time to ponder over the day ahead of me, it’s extremely to note it down. While digitally jotting it down works for some, I prefer the classic pen and paper method of making my list. I start off with the most timely and high priority tasks moving down to not so urgent ones.
A handy matrix to categorise your task and address them accordingly is the following:
- Urgent and Important: Do these first.
- Urgent and Not Important: Delegate these if you can. If not, put them next on your task list.
- Not Urgent and Important: Make some time for these in your calendar in the near future.
- Not Urgent and Not Important: Forget about these for the time being.
6. Schedule Time For Yourself
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: self-care is a must in 2020. Carve out some time for yourself during your workday. Even a simple walk around the block or going down to buy some chips will help you de-stress and more productive. Make sure you set a date with yourself! Actually pencil it down in your agenda, if you must. But some me-time can go a long way, my friend!
If you’re excited to challenge yourself this year and be more productive at work, then these hacks are surely for you! Try to give them a shot—you can do this!