The way we work is constantly evolving and responding to changing economies, workplace dynamics, and technology. Regardless of how important and innovative a workplace is, success and efficiency still come down to the productivity of the person in front of the screen. Here are some tips from our managed IT team on how to use your energy sensibly to structure your work to get the best results.
Structuring Your Life for Productivity and Balance
A work/life balance is more important than ever. It supports our health, gives us space to live outside of the workplace, reduces absenteeism, and increases engagement. Achieving this takes a partnership between organisations and employees that focuses on the flexibility needed to structure your workweek for productivity. Some tips for achieving this include:
- Grouping meetings – Do your best to group meetings into larger chunks of time, scheduling them one after another if you can. This removes those unproductive half-hours between meetings and helps create larger blocks of time during the week where you can really focus on your work. A meeting mindset is also very different from a task-focused mindset, so you spend less time and energy shifting between these and more time feeling settled and focussed.
- Know your energy peaks and lows – Some people are morning people; others love working at night. Knowing your internal clock and working with it allows you to rest when your energy is naturally at its lowest and max out your productivity when it’s higher. Work as much as you can to match your workload and important tasks to your energy peaks, and you’ll be able to get more done, more easily.
- Take breaks – Research has shown time and again that sitting down and working a solid 8 hours without moving from your computer is simply not productive. The brain simply cannot hold attention for that long, causing productivity to slow down, distraction to increase, and causing fatigue. Take a short 10-minute break in a way that suits you – after completing a task, after a meeting, or every hour. Make a cup of tea, walk around outdoors, play with your dog, or close your eyes and listen to some music. It will help your brain refocus faster, increase attention and creativity, and help you retain information more easily, and support your overall health.
- Set your hours and availability – It’s not always possible to set your hours for each day, but it’s worthwhile to try and stick to a regular schedule and then go off-grid after hours when you can. Work with your team to set expectations about availability and flexible work hours, and make the effort to commit to them whenever possible. This is especially important if you are working from home, as it’s easy to keep on working just because you can. At the very least, make yourself unavailable on as many platforms as possible when you are doing deep-focussed work.
Managing your energy in the current work environment is no easy task, and it takes commitment from organisations as well as personal commitment to do so. However, it’s important to remember that, ultimately, it’s about making you more productive with your time and more engaged in your role – two factors that are critical to you and your organisation’s success!
At Otto, we pride ourselves on our human touch. Along with the most advanced tech solutions, security, and support, we offer our clients a strong personal relationship, an understanding of their business, and a commitment to keep our tech simple. Chat to us today about how we can assist your business through innovative IT solutions for humans.
Jordan is the Chief Commercial Officer at Otto. Jordan is here to help clients remove roadblocks and achieve the business goals they’ve set out. Jordan’s biggest focus is Customer Experience, Business Relationship Management, Risk Management and Strategy.
