It’s easy to feel stressed at work, and it’s even easier to be unproductive as a result of feeling stressed. But luckily for you, minimizing the stress and improving your productivity doesn’t require much… just a few simple tweaks to your workday. Here’s where to start.
Prioritize your tasks.
How can you concentrate on anything if you don’t know what you have on your plate, where it all fits, and when it should all be completed? It’s important to get all your ducks in a row and to have all your tasks organized into the appropriate slots. There are plenty of tools you can use to help you accomplish this task, like Google Keep, Wunderlist, Any.do, or even a company-wide project management tool like Basecamp or Asana.
Eat the frog first.
Mark Twain couldn’t have put it any better… eat the frog first, because once you have the worst part of the day behind you, how bad can the rest of your day really be? It can only get better, right? And plus, you won’t constantly be stressing over how much you really don’t want to do that one thing you really, really hate. You already did it, so all that stress will be nonexistent.
Use the Pomodoro Technique.
Time management is a critical component of any successful workflow. Manage your time in the right way and you can get more done than you ever imagined and in a better, less stressful manner. But to do this, you must learn to maintain focus for extended periods and plan your breaks strategically. You can rely on many different methods to pull this off, but a good one people tend to turn to is the Pomodoro Technique. Basically, it’s putting a timer to all your tasks, improving your work sprints over time, and scheduling out your breaks.
Plan your daily commute better.
Oddly enough, some of your stress can stem from that morning commute. You leave late, hit traffic, curse a little, and, suddenly, that stress starts to boil, up, over, and out of control. By the time you actually get to work, you’ve already had enough, and you’ve officially started your workday off on the wrong foot. Avoid all of this by planning your commute better, and usually this starts by leaving 15 minutes earlier than normal. Make this small change, and it could help you avoid traffic and even cut your commute in half. On top of that, there are a handful of community-based traffic apps that can help you save time, like Waze.
Organize your space.
Just like you can have trouble concentrating and getting things done when your tasks aren’t organized, the same goes for your physical surroundings. If everything around you is out of place and has no home, things can quickly turn stressful for you. And this can be anything from pens and papers to cords and food. Find ways to keep all your “stuff” organized and you’ll be better off.
