Enjoying Work

This week I've been reading "The Joy of Work" by Bruce Daisley. He describes a number of ways in which we can make work more productive and enjoyable. Here's a selection of some of his suggestions:

Practice "Monk Mode Mornings" - This is where you make yourself unavailable (i.e. avoid interruptions) until a certain time each day, e.g. 10am, This means you do not make yourself available for meetings, no answering emails, no incoming telephone calls. To implement this, you will have to inform TMs (Team Members) and contacts you will not be contactable until 10am. You need to stick to this.

Include Walking Meetings - This has a few benefits, i,e, the meeting will have a time-limit depending on the walking route, there are health benefits of exercise and fresh air, and it also limits your caffeine intake.

Wear Headphones - This might be a useful ploy if you are working in a noisy environment or an shared office. Headphones limit interruptions and will help you focus on the tasks in hand.

Shorten Your Work Week - This is completely a personal choice however having consulted with several colleagues and contacts, many reckon that by reducing their working hours, it has helped them achieve more as it sets more challenging deadlines. It makes it easier to say "No, sorry, I have to have this task completed by....". The other big plus is you feel the benefit of having more "you" and "family" time.

Turn Off Your Notifications - I remember in my consultancy days, I visited a self-catering operator and during our meeting her laptop kept ringing. I asked the lady what this was and she explained it was emails coming in. She kept jumping up and down to read the messages. I thought, "What a life, this lady must have". It must be exhausting running to read every message. She must sleep well, unless a message comes in of course. I suggested she check her messages periodically and switch off the alarm.

Go For Lunch - Psychologists, Emily Hunter and Cindy Wu recently established a correlation between lunch-skipping and weekend exhaustion. Maybe your justification for taking a lunch break should be that you don't ruin your weekend with your family and friends. We can mitigate the problem of afternoon tiredness, and rebalance ourselves , if we have a pause. Bring variety to your breaks. Go to lunch (with people you like), go and sit in the park or garden, go for a walk, book yourself into an exercise class. All the above help you to reset and you will start your afternoon's tasks with purpose and renewed energy.

Get A Good Night's Sleep - There is almost nothing that is better for us as a good night;s sleep. It makes us live longer, improves our creativity, enhances our memory, protects us from heart disease, dementia and cancer, it helps prevent colds, it makes us considerably happier and makes us more attractive. And it's free! Sleep is powerfully restorative. It not only feels deeply satisfying, it improves our ability to perform every task. If we get our full eight hours, it also reduces our reliance on caffeine and sugary foods. In addition, sleep has the power to make us feel better. Scientists have found that people who go to bed earlier and sleep for a regular number of hours have fewer negative thoughts.

Ref: "The Joy of Work" by Bruce Daisley