Here are some excellent suggestions from Katie at www.liberata.com. I am truly grateful to the people that contribute to this blog and really help to make it interesting and varied.
Our lives are as busy as we make them… wasting time stressing can ultimately lead to failure. If you are to do anything today; take a break!Take two hours off in the morning: don’t pick up the phone, don’t answer any emails and don’t dive into any work. Instead, think about the day ahead, make a to-do list and break work down into sizable chunks. Once you have organised your work you will find it so much easier to just ‘do it’. Break the day into ‘phone calls’ ‘emails’ ‘project work’
- Take an one hour lunch break- go for a walk, call a friend, read a book- anything but sitting at your desk! I promise you will get more work done throughout the day and are less likely to ‘treat’ yourself to frequent Facebook visits under the heading of ‘well I didn’t take a lunch break’- they usually add up!
- Take a break at the end of the day to take note of how much you have actually managed to achieve. It helps the planning process the following morning and allows you to congratulate yourself on the achievements.
- Take a break from remote working. You will never be able to answer emails/calls in an effective way whilst in front of the TV or lying in bed! Once you have decided to finish work for the day, turn the phone and laptop off! What’s the worst that can happen? Bosses have a habit of writing long winded, late night ‘team motivators’ that usually equate to harsh bollockings- don’t read them before trying to get your 8 hours sleep- you wont be helping anyone
- Take a life break! The only way to ensure you remain on the right path to success is by taking time out to assess the goals for the year ahead and evaluate the achievements of the past
I have learnt the hard way on this. I have spent years impressing bosses by staying five minutes longer than them in the morning, pre-writing emails to send off at 9pm and sitting eating my lunch over thousands of emails that just don’t seem to go away. Its counter-productive! I still work long hours but I have simply made the commitment to divide time between ‘working’ and ‘not working’. Sometimes, when work builds up the ‘not working’ time is lessened dramatically but the commitment to planning and division remains the same. For a long time I resisted all the business management books that talked about ‘looking after your health’, ‘making work manageable’ and ‘ensuring your boss knows your limits’ simply because I didn’t think it was applicable to London, corporate work-life. To some extent I still feel like that, my bosses probably don’t care how happy I am BUT taking a break is a self managed process that can lead to dramatic results.
So, give it a try and take a break today… you know you want to!
If you would like to contribute then simply e-mail them to [email protected].
Thanks for reading
David
