It has been a few weeks since hard lockdown has been lifted, but do some of you still struggle to find your bearings and get going in the morning?
That makes three of us! Believe it or not but Ané and I also still struggle in the mornings sometimes.
We went from starting the year off with a bang, feeling like the whole world is right at our finger tips, to it all being taken away and to being told that we have to stay at home, laze on the couch and through this you could save the world (okay some of us looked at it that way), to Zoom meetings every few days and suddenly right back to normal.
It is quite a lot to deal with, but have no fear, we have got your back and we are here to give you ways to salvage a disastrous post-lockdown-back-to-work day!
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Tip 1: Meditate (take 10 minutes for yourself)
You cannot fathom the importance of starting the day with a clear head.
By meditating we are not talking about pulling out your yoga mat out and listening to the “zen mix” on Spotify and “oohmming” for 10 minutes.
Well… if that works for you great!
However, anything that allows you to start your day relaxed is what we are talking about!
Whether that is drinking a cup of coffee in silence, or jamming the heaviest metal music during your shower or even mindlessly scrolling through Instagram – find what makes you relax and use those 10 minutes each morning.
Tip 2: Prioritise and Create a To-Do-List
After you have meditated in whichever manner works for you, you are now ready to officially start your day and hit the hard work.
Prioritising is crucial and having a simple To-Do List can be one of the best tools for you in a work day after lockdown.
Prioritising and a simple To-Do List go hand-in-hand.
Writing everything that needs to be done in your day down, allows you to see what has highest priority and through that you will know when, where and what.
It will give you the chance to prioritise your tasks and projects and separate the truly important ones from the ones that you should not over prioritise.
When it comes to prioritising, To-Do lists are your best friend.
Keep it simple too!
These lists give you the chance to come back to them whenever you may forget something and one of the most rewarding feelings is seeing the tasks you have crossed off begin to slowly takeover the number of tasks you still have yet to finish.
But even when making a To-Do list there are some steps you should follow; including assessing the importance of each task and planning for each task ahead.
Tip 3: Assess the Importance of Each Task
After you have created your To-Do list, you now want to glance the tasks over and once more make sure you understand which tasks are crucial to finish and by what time or date.
While some tasks may be of more importance than others, there may be some that have a deadline and thus require an urgency to them over other less important tasks.
At this point you need to realise that any task with a deadline deserves priority over those that do not have a deadline.
However, you still have to weigh up urgency against importance of each task.
Once you can visually see how your day is going to go, it will be easier to keep up with your work and tasks at hand!
Tip 4: Do not Multi-Task, Focus on One Task at a Time
Do not try to complete two tasks at once because this can and will backfire.
If you concentrate on two tasks at once, you run the risk of making a mistake on one or both of the tasks and this will only make you feel like you have failed when in fact you just took on more than you can handle in one moment.
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Instead, where possible focus on one task and only move on to the next task once you are done or have completed a stage on the previous task.
This way you ensure that you are efficient and should you get stuck on one task, you have already prioritised your tasks for the day and know which order to follow.
Tip 5: Compromise
As your day continues, you may have to consider that not all of your tasks may be completed the way you want them to, whether it is because of other priorities or because you have delegated some tasks.
Sometimes you will need to compromise with yourself, your business partners, your colleagues or clients in order to reach a happy medium.
You need to allow your team to approach things with their own initiative.
Remember that a leader pushes the broken-down car with their team instead of sitting on the side line watching how others struggle to push the broken-down car forward…
When a compromise occurs and you feel defeated, please refer to tip number 6.
Tip 6: Do not Be Too Hard on Yourself
Do not beat yourself up for allowing a compromise.
It is important to know your limits and what you are capable of!
Now, once you have crossed almost every task off your To-Do list, start a new To-Do list because it is certain that 10 more tasks have already surfaced in the time it has taken you to complete the last tasks you set yourself – this is where tip number 7 fits in perfectly!
Tip 7: Plan Your Week
You want to not only create your To-Do list for that specific day, but rather create a plan for the whole week.
Take 30 minutes during your Sunday night or Monday morning to plan for the week ahead.
Naturally, it would not work out precisely how you planned the week but this will help ensure that you complete most of your tasks.
So, the next time you are worried about not having everything in order, take a deep breath, take a few minutes to sit down and follow the steps above and see how big of a difference they actually make!
