For many of us, our Sunday night routine includes a plan for the coming work week. This is vital to ensure you are still productive throughout the week, as well as to ensure you complete all the tasks you have set for yourself. But planning can become quite difficult. How do you evaluate your work week to see how to structure it, and what tasks take preference over others? These are both important questions to ask. To answer this, we’ve put together a few ways to help you stay on top of your work week.
Sleep
We must start at the beginning. When you are well-rested, you perform better therefore it is crucial to get enough rest. Your profession does not matter in terms of sleeping. You could be an accountant or a trapeze artist and both professionals will require a decent amount of sleep to function the next day. Prioritize sleeping enough. However, you need to set up the number of hours of sleep your body needs. You can test this on your own or you can see a specialist to guide you on what works for your body. The general rule is that 8 hours at night works. There are also multiple other reasons why you need to get more sleep, but understand that it is required to have a more productive work day.
Minimize multitasking
Many jobs require us to be able to multitask but, in many instances, this is simply not possible. You need to look at a way of working that is effective, and oftentimes multitasking is not an effective way to work. Remember, no one is superhuman and that’s okay. Think about embracing single-tasking. How does this work you ask? Well, when you start one task, complete it before you begin another one. This offers you time to evaluate the task on hand and allows you to tick tasks off your list systematically.
Know when to check company communication tools
It is ingrained in us to check our emails, company apps, and communication tools like Teams or Slack at any given moment. But this has proved to decrease productivity. Now, no one is saying you should stop checking these platforms, you just need to do it less. When it comes to emails, we can easily fall into the multitasking trap. The point here is to see your emails and other communication platforms as tasks on their own. Dedicate time throughout your day when you are checking your communication platforms and add any other tasks from those platforms to your work list.
Try getting out of bed earlier
Probably the most difficult one out on the list. We understand how hard it must be to wake at least an hour earlier, no one wants to do that, but it does offer some form of efficiency. Whether you are working from home or need to commute to the office daily, how you get up dictates what our day is going to look like. If you are prone to rushing, getting up an hour earlier will help you to plan your day better.
Get learning
While having a set way of working is vital to achieving targets and goals, there is always room to learn more. So, how can you learn more? If you are struggling with ways of working the best solution is to learn from someone who has managed to create a way of working that works! Latch on to a colleague who can show you how they manage to be productive and take the parts you feel you can use in your workday. This is a fantastic way to not only improve your productivity, but also to learn new tools.
Organization
No matter what job you have, you need to remain organized. Now organization is something you can learn if you are not naturally inclined, and that is okay. We have a few tips to get you organized. Prepare a list of tasks for the upcoming week. Look at each task carefully to decide on your priority, considering client and colleague engagements. Once you have your list set up, it’s time to execute. Tackle each item efficiently while remembering that you need to be able to jump into last-minute requests at any given point.
Effective communication
If you oversee briefing a fellow team member on a task, for this brief to be effective, you need to communicate effectively. This is vital. Ensure you are clear with your instructions and always be open to questions. Take time to explain what you need, how you need it, and by when. Also, supply added support in terms of collateral and any other information that may be required. Communicating effectively allows for a much smoother process and delivery by deadline. There are a plethora of effective communication advice pieces to be found on the internet, some of which speak to effective communication in 2022 and beyond.
Take care of yourself
Take your lunch break every day and eat something. This is extremely important. This also allows you a clear head once you return from your break. Studies have shown that people need to step away from work to stay on top of day-to-day tasks. Make a mission of it. Block your lunch breaks on your work calendar daily so that others are also aware that you won’t be around.
No work at home
Whether you are working from home or the office, try not to work after hours. There will be instances where it is needed, it is just the nature of being a working professional, however, this should not be the norm. It all comes down to planning. If you know you are going to miss a deadline, speak to your manager so that things can be moved around. Open and honest communication will help you here.
