Why every working day needs a good umbrella

Because nobody is bulletproof.

Think back to the last time your day was absolutely sunk.

Perhaps you take an early hit from the boss who catches you by surprise asking for something that somehow fell off your to-do list and into a black hole 3 weeks ago. Your entire week’s plans disappear like a wounded Voldemort as you pivot your priorities towards making amends.

Maybe you’re caught with a tough question on a team call that you didn’t have a snappy answer for leaving you red-faced with your two-sizes-too-big-work-from-home pants collapsed around your ankles. You hit the job ads and question your entire life’s direction before giving yourself a chance to take another breath.

The day-to-day weather of our 9–5 doesn’t just threaten our to-do list, it threatens our headspace, our mindset and self-esteem. We must develop strategies to deal with this variability to ensure we remain cognitively protected as well as making sure we still get s*** done.

As someone who bruises easier than a banana on a helter-skelter, it’s been crucial for me to learn a handful of ways to protect myself from any surprise storms.

1. Minimise distraction. In his book ‘Indestractable’, Nir Eyal says ‘Distraction, it turns out, isn’t about the distraction itself; rather, it’s about how we respond to it.’ It’s important to remember that we always have a certain degree of control over how we respond and are impacted by external influences. Sure, there could be an absolute time bomb of an email in your inbox waiting to devastate your flow but without opening that email app you’ll never be affected by it. Bottom line: Don’t open yourself to distractions if you’re not ready to be distracted.
2. Avoid going into conversations with a bad mindset. Sometimes showing up when your emotions are high or your mood is low can be more detrimental than not showing up at all. This can often result in you presenting a version of yourself or your work that you might not be proud of. Either delay for a short moment to calm yourself, or find another slot where you’ve had a more effective chance to compose. You and your attendees will benefit from it.
3. Take time to reset. Sinking deep into a topic for an hour and expecting to automatically switch to the next priority is a losing game. It’s well documented that back-to-back meetings destroy your ability to focus, slowly lighting a fire in your brain that will need extinguishing before you can get stuck into the next task. If you can’t afford to take a minimum of 15 minutes between meetings, try reducing your meeting duration from 30 to 25 minutes to give you and your attendees some welcome respite.
4. Prioritise effectively. Starting each day or week to quickly understand what absolutely must be worked on vs. what can live to fight another day is an amazing way of silencing unnecessary noise. This doesn’t just deprioritise tasks, it deprioritises conversations and emails about that topic as soon as you decide they’re not immediately important to you. Finding the right prioritisation tool for you is essential. I recommend the ‘Eat the Frog’ method .
5. Manage the expectations of others. Effective use of status messages or email signatures that set your stall out as to your availability are great ways of clearly establishing your working conditions. Using these to signpost your likelihood of responding to messages, your hours of working time vs. non-working time clearly describe to others how you wish to operate. This — in turn — reduces guilt on your end for not even entertaining their messages if they fall inside your ‘no-go’ areas.

Being more strategic about how you protect your focus can be the difference between a good and bad working week. By protecting yourself in the workplace you’ll improve your productivity and take a healthier state of mind back home at the end of the day.

I’d love to hear your own tips and tricks on raising your shield in your role!

#productivity #productivityhacks #prioritisation #prioritization #productivitytips