Photo by: anasantos / CC BY-ND 2.0
We all go through times in our lives where we’re just overwhelmed. We’re stressed and tired. We struggle to make decisions. We want to move forward, but just can’t seem to do so. Here are some lessons I’ve learned (and had reinforced over the past few months) to help get through these tough times.
Staying productive and sane at work
I am always amazed at how little “work” goes on at most companies throughout the day. Sure, you can fill up your daily quota of 8-10 hours on the job, but how much of that time was spent a) checking your email, b) chatting with co-workers, c) online surfing/shopping/banking, etc… None of these activities are inherently bad and, many times, they’re what make your work day enjoyable. However, when you feel like you only have 10% brainpower to apply today, do you really want to spend that on TPS reports?
My recommendation?
Do less work, better.
Can you reduce the volume or type of stuff that trickles down to you? Could you simplify your email inbox so that most of the messages are from people you want to hear from about topics you want to hear about? Could you delegate some tasks to an assistant / colleague / family member? What would happen if you just ignored it (at least for a little while)?
And, once you’ve managed to do *less* work, how can you do what remains even *better*? Can you think one or two steps beyond your task and consider it as it relates to the root problem? Or instead of participating in an email firestorm of single word/sentence/paragraph messages, can you take the time to stop, gather all of the data, summarize the issues and solutions, and then propose way forward?
What do you think? What steps will you take today to help you do less work, better?
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