How Well Are You Managing Your Workday?
Who would not want a few more hours every day to better manage the tasks they have on hand? Life has undoubtedly gotten busier for everyone, and those of us in the IT discipline can completely relate to this.
So, the question is: How well are you managing your professional day? Once you manage your professional day efficiently, your personal day should fall into place for a healthy work-life balance.
There is no dearth of distractions in our daily lives. They need not be external, such as spending time on social networks; they are often internal and inevitable, such as incoming emails and colleagues stopping by for a quick chat. What is important is finding out what the distractions are and how we can mitigate them to keep them at a healthy balance with our core deliverables, as most often it is not possible to eliminate them totally.
Although there are many great available tips to manage one’s time, these suggestions can easily get overwhelming and can actually add more stress rather then help. For example, some people believe listening to music helps them focus better, but music can actually distract you from your work.
A good mantra to follow here is “Keep your management list simple.” Understand what works for you, and start with a small set of things you want to do to manage your day. The items could be as simple as getting to work at a certain time every day, checking emails only once every few hours rather than instantaneously, taking short breaks during lunch, getting a good night’s sleep, learning to say no, and turning off notifications. These ideas may not sound so important, but they can easily help you control your day and manage your stress levels over a longer period of time.
And it’s a good idea to try to handle your stress. Reports suggest many Americans experience stress above healthy levels, and this can lead to psychological and physical issues for them.
So, now is the time for you to revisit your priorities and pick a customized list to better manage your days. This should be a list that will give you a sense of satisfaction about your accomplishments at the end of the day.
Technology continues to play an important role in this mix. We are not new to online calendars, notes, and reminders that we have traditionally been using with tools such as our email clients. On top of these, smartphone apps that help users schedule and manage their days better are entering the market to help make a difference.
Let’s take a deliberate step today to understand patterns about how we manage our professional day and see what we can do to make it better. Remember: Keeping it simple is at the core.
