Habits to make work successful, wherever you are
While it may feel like bad habits form overnight, habits (including good ones!) take a while to form. There are so many resources that point to how good habits help us reach our goals - career goals, project goals, wellness goals - it’s not what we do once in a while that makes the difference, rather it’s the daily habits we live out on a regular basis.
As Friday rolls around and another month is wrapping up, we wanted to share some of the habits we’ve found most useful recently. Some of them were inspired by times of social distancing, others were prompted by the switch to Summer, and yet others are influenced by the gradual move back into connecting with others again. We believe that that they’re all useful and relevant, whether you work remotely or in the office.
Try these seven habits for seven days, and see what kinds of results you find.
- Capture your gratitude. Find (at least!) one thing you’re grateful for, and write it down somewhere — in a journal, in an email, or even in a thank you note. Focusing on gratitude will help shift your focus off other less positive emotions.
- Work hard play hard. Create a schedule, a space, and an attire that allows you to focus on work when you need to be working, so that you have a different space or dress code when it’s time to play. Your schedule may look wildly different than it once did, but by creating boundaries, even short-bursts of work, you can focus when you need to, and be free to let loose when it’s play time.
- Balance your wellness. Make sure you’re balancing healthy foods, adequate exercise, sufficient sleep, and plenty of water. Keeping your physical self well will give you extra resources to help keep yourself emotionally and mentally well, too and able to focus well on your work.
- Give to someone else. Smile or say thank you to someone, check in on a neighbor from a safe distance, tip generously, participate financially or in some other way to a local food pantry or service organization. Focusing on others will help increase your own gratitude for what you have, and will brighten someone else’s day too.
- Have a conversation. Face-to-face at a safe distance, or by phone, Zoom, or some other electronic platform, have an actual conversation with another human about any topic at all - work, social, faith, whatever! - just make sure it’s a positive dialog with questions and answers flowing both directions. Use this as a chance to demonstrate good listening skills! Connecting with other humans reminds us we’re not alone, and is good for both parties in the conversation!
- Learn something. Read a new book. Take a virtual class on something you want to master. Try your hand at a new skill, a new hobby, a new recipe, a new instrument, even a new game or a new app. Learning something helps fight boredom; mastery feeds motivation, and you may be surprised by how soon you can put that new skill to great use!
- Give yourself grace. Don’t aspire to perfection, and don’t beat yourself up when you have an “off” moment or an “off” day or two. As you reflect on your triumphs and setbacks of each day, giving yourself permission to be less than perfect and encouragement to pick yourself back up and try again will help you have more “on” days.
