How To Supercharge Your Work Week In 4 Steps
There are many ‘how to have a better day’ articles out there, many of which sound exactly the same. They typically have fluffy or abstract advice such as ‘stay motivated’ or ‘focus’ … the question is, how?! We are more interested in providing real, concrete steps you can take to feel better, work better and see positive results in your professional life. Let’s get started!
#1 DO NOT CHECK EMAIL THE FIRST HOUR OF YOUR DAY
This week, email is off limits for the first hour of your workday. You may hate it at first but at the very least try it for one week, it’s a powerful change to make to your routine. Consider it a challenge, and see what you can accomplish. Start your morning by working on what will make the biggest difference in your job, your company and your attitude. When completion of that task hits your lips … Mmm that tastes good! Consider prioritizing your to-do list using a method based on the Pareto Principle that says 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes and tackle what will really make a difference first; learn how. Read more from Fast Company: What Successful People Do With The First Hour Of Their Work Day
#2 SCHEDULE A WORKOUT ON YOUR CALENDAR – RIGHT NOW
This week take one hour, block it off and workout. No excuses! Don’t tell me you’ve heard this before. Open your calendar, block off the time and treat it like any other meeting that you wouldn’t bail on. Believe it or not, you can do some of your best thinking during a workout. You’ll be focused and without distraction to get your creative juices flowing, and so high on endorphins afterward, you’ll be ready to kick ass on whatever project you work on or crisis you have to deal with. Take a page out of HitchedMag CEO Steve Cooper’s book – or better yet, his iPhone, which is where he jots down his workout inspirations. Read more from Forbes: Running To Be A Great CE
#3 PICK UP THE PHONE FIRST
This week, stop typing and start talking your way to your most important meeting. Pick up the phone and make the call, or several of them. It can be frustrating and time sucking to email, wait, feel ignored, follow up … this week try a new approach, put down the keyboard and open with a phone call to catch your biggest fish. Read more from Entrepreneur: 9 Routine Tasks You Should Eliminate From Your Workday
#4 PICK ONE THING THAT’S NOT WORKING AND CUT YOUR LOSSES
This week pick one project and quit. Think about the projects you’ve got going on right now – There’s probably at least one that’s not panning out the way you hoped, but you feel like you’ve put in too much time and energy to let it go. Am I right? The problem is that humans are overwhelmingly averse to sunken costs – resources you’ve put into something that you can’t get back out. Putting time into something and coming up empty-handed is not an easy thing for us to do or make peace with. We’ll continue, instead, to put in more time, more resources and potentially miss out on more opportunities, which will cost us even more in the end. Quick mental fix: focus on what you have to gain from letting go rather than what you have to lose. Stop wasting more time! Read more from Psychology Today: How to Cut Your Losses When It’s Not Working
Any other ideas? What disciplines do you practice daily, weekly or even monthly that drive your productivity? Let us know by leaving a comment below. Looking forward to getting your feedback and tips.
About the Author: Evona Niewiadomska is the Events and Digital Media Manager at Workbar. As of January 2013 she is an independent Digital Media & Design Creative with a specialty for infographic design and social media strategy. Check out her website, evonawiktoria.com or contact her via email evona.wiktoria@gmail.com or twitter @evonawiktoria.
About Workbar:
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