Forging A Custom Routine And Workday For Peak Productivity
The fact that there is no longer a set work environment, period, or location is one of the many positive aspects of modern times.
The lack of a regulated work environment, timeline, or location is one of the most difficult aspects of modern life.
Therefore, in order for us to be the most successful versions of ourselves, we need to create our own structure, work environment, time of day to work, and location to work. You have the ability to design your own individualized and ideal version of the “perfect workday.”
But do you truly have a good understanding of who you are? Do you feel as like you have to force yourself to wake up in the morning, sit in front of your computer, and immediately be productive? Do you have this feeling on the majority of the days?
If this describes you and you despise it, we have some questions and suggestions that may help you discover the ideal way to spend your workday.
1. Know your productivity peaks
Which one are you: an early bird or a night owl? The beginning of the day may be determined by circumstances outside of your control, such as when the children force you out of bed in the morning or when your team has a meeting first thing in the morning, but this does not imply that you are a morning person. That only indicates that you are making progress with it!
Discuss the possibility of working a more flexible schedule with your supervisor or coworkers if the hours of 9 to 5 don’t correspond to the times of day during which you are at your most productive. If you are your own employer, having a conversation with your family and enlisting their support might help accommodate the times when your productivity is at its highest. We don’t want to feel like we have to work; rather, we want to work more efficiently.
2. Know your most productive environment
People have been forced to take a hard look at themselves and their production levels as a result of the epidemic, and it hasn’t always been a pleasant experience. For this reason, for instance, we hurriedly set up home offices since we were unable to go into the workplace.
If you believe that your home office may need some updating, take a step back and examine the ways in which the following could be affecting your productivity:
- Background noise -Is there too little noise? Add a white sound machine, download an app on your phone to make noise, or play music that you can’t sing along to in order to break the stillness and divert your attention. Investing in some earplugs might be a game-changer if you work in an environment with excessive noise.
- The amount or quality of light – You could want to get yourself a good lamp to reproduce the atmosphere of the workplace you used to work in, or maybe you’re more of a lover of natural light and would like to leave your blinds open. Experiment with both of them to find out which one serves you better;
- The comfort of your chair – You seem to be getting a lot of work done while sitting on the kitchen chair, don’t you? Your back and gluteus maximus need something more comfortable than a chair that is designed for a sitdown that lasts for thirty to sixty minutes. Instead, you should look into purchasing a chair that is more ergonomic and provides support in all of the appropriate areas. The design of office furniture has gone a very long way.
However, depending on how you define “work-life balance,” it’s possible that working from home isn’t the best option. You may not have the room to adapt, or you could find that working in a crowded, active location helps you be more productive. All of this is wonderful, and we commend you on your self-awareness.
There is always room for the lone business owner in public places like coffee shops, cafés, and libraries. Coworking spaces are another another alternative; they were already gaining popularity before the outbreak. They provide assistance to people in addition to small enterprises.
3. Calendar or to-do list?
It is possible to make a large project more manageable and to guarantee that nothing important is overlooked by dividing it up into more manageable subtasks. A graphical illustration of the breakdown is another tool that might assist you in understanding the wider picture.
Platforms for project and task management like as Teamwork, Monday, and Asana may assist you in determining the components that make up your project’s jigsaw puzzle. If you have a team or other people working with you on a project, you can even use them to delegate responsibilities to other people in order to boost productivity and make certain that the project continues to move ahead.
The only items you really need are a pad of paper and a pen if you’re the kind of person who likes to write things down the old-fashioned way. Alternately, a notepad or calendar whiteboard equipped with pens and markers in a variety of colors might prove to be more useful.
If you are unsure, it is best to experiment with a few different strategies to see which one comes out as the most natural.
4. Do you need deadlines?
In most cases, there is a single, overarching deadline for a project: get it completed by a certain date.
If the thought of that is too overwhelming for you or if you feel like your days and weeks could use more discipline, add deadlines to the smaller activities that you have made in your calendar or on your list of things to accomplish.
5. Sharing = accountability
Working from home or independently removes some of the daily responsibility that was previously present. If no one inquires, there is no need for us to divulge the fact that we did not do very much. To clarify, there is no problem with taking a day off for yourself or for any other kind of self-care. However, it might be beneficial to communicate what we want to do in a day so that we can remain on target and ensure that we reach our daily objectives.
Share your goals for the day or week with someone close to you, a colleague, a team, a friend, or even your pet. This might be anything from working on a project to playing with your pet. In addition to this, you will be need to frequently assess your tasks in order to determine which ones can be marked off as completed and which ones need to be postponed to another day or broken down into more manageable chunks.