We’ve turned a page into a new year and many of us are looking forward to making things better and brighter for ourselves going forward. Some of us have set resolutions, deciding to improve our health and wellbeing or quit bad habits. Others have set goals, such as home renovations, picking up a hobby or learning a new skill. Whatever your resolutions, it’s good to bear in mind that right now is a great opportunity to focus on progressing your work and your career. Even if you don’t plan to find a new job, you can take steps to boost your productivity, securing your current role and proving yourself in your workplace. But what can you actually do to boost your productivity? Here are some simple steps that should help you along the way!
Make Sure You Work In Natural Light
This may sound like an obscure one, but making sure that you work in natural light can actually improve your productivity levels! But how does this work? Well, natural light does a whole lot more than simply make your workspace look nicer. It’s actually essential for your overall health and wellbeing. Natural light regulates your body’s circadian rhythms, which regulate how your body knows when it’s time to be awake and when it’s time to wind down and sleep. If you work in dark light conditions or in artificial light, your body can assume that it’s night time and start winding down. If you work in natural light, your body will be aware that it’s the daytime and it’s time to be productive! So, make sure to work flooded in natural light if possible.
Make Sure to Take Breaks
Believe it or not, taking breaks is a huge part of being productive. All too many people will try to power through breaks while they are aiming to work hard and hit targets. But this can actually have the opposite effect to what they’re looking for. You need to take breaks to give your mind a chance to take a rest. You should let your mind wander away from the tasks you have at hand and give yourself an opportunity to disengage from your work - even if this is only for a few minutes. When you take your break, make sure that you’re away from your desk and workspace, or you can be liable to still checking your emails, responding to messages, or finishing off bits and pieces of work while you’re meant to be getting away for a bit. Still doubting this? Well, research has shown that people need breaks from their work to reach their maximum capacity and productivity. So, set some alarms for routine breaks throughout the day.
Learn Additional Skills
Many people will only focus on skills that are directly related to the work that they do. They may complete courses in training that completely correspond to their role and that will clearly come in useful in their day to day work. But you can also boost your productivity by learning additional skills that may not seem relevant at first glance, but can actually come in useful on a day to day basis. Knowing how to create and operate a spreadsheet can help you to organise your work. Knowing how to recover deleted photos and files can save you a lot of time and stress if something gets deleted by accident. Knowing a secondary language or sign language could come in useful if you ever have to work with someone with a different first language to you. All sorts of additional skills can really help you with your work!
Creating a Schedule
Sure, you may know what tasks you need to complete. But creating a schedule can help you to handle your workload and your time better. A schedule will show you when you need to be doing a task and how long you have to work on it. It can also make sure that you don’t accept tasks that you don’t have capacity for, helping you to avoid burnout. There are plenty of ways to create a schedule and the best for you will depend entirely on your individual working style and preferences. Some people like to create to do lists and checklists. Some people like to time block in their calendars. Others have their own, unique ways of scheduling things. What is important is that you find what works for you and implement it into your work day.
These are just a few starting points when it comes to having a productive and positive work year ahead of you! Hopefully, some of the suggestions above will work for you!
