A planned workday is a working day without stress, delays, or problems. In fact, planning is the key to everyone’s success at work. True professionals know what they must do and exactly when and why they have to do it.
But the question is…
What is your “ideal day” and how can you get to experience it? Of course, you need a plan. A strategy is what will keep you focused and constructive; without it, there’s a big chance to get lost in the sea of distractions.
Therefore, to clear your mind and help you make the best out of your working days, here are 8 pieces of advice for planning your working day effectively:
1. Make Your Day a Part of the Big Picture
Planning every day’s actions is a short-term based approach. Before you create that to-do list, you should have already established your long-term goal.
Why are you waking up in the morning and what are you trying to achieve? Find the answer and you’ll find the goal.
Then, every time you plan a day, make sure you assign important tasks that will contribute to the end goal. Perceive it as a puzzle – the pieces will fall together, but only progressively. It can’t happen at once, as the completion of the puzzle (life fulfillment) is a challenging and often tedious process.
2. The Night Before
It all starts the night before. If you know that you have to wake up at 6-7 A.M. in the morning to arrive at work on time, then you must go to bed at an appropriate hour – around 10 – 11 P.M.
Otherwise, you’ll face sleep deprivation, your mornings will always be a struggle, and most of the times you’ll start your days stressed and angry. This is not the way to start a productive working day.
As well, you should prepare all you need for work before you head to sleep. In the morning, most of us are lazy and we’re likely to forget things.
Therefore, if you prepare your clothes, paperwork, suitcase/purse, and anything else you might need, when you wake up you won’t need to worry about anything but how you want to drink your coffee.
3. Morning Routine
The morning is the most important time of the day! The way you start your day has a huge impact on your mood throughout the day.
Without a morning routine where you planned every minute from the time you woke up to leaving the house, your mind won’t have enough motivation to start the day at the hour you’ve initially established.
Imagine knowing all the steps you have to take each morning and their impact on your overall mood. Wake up, go to the bathroom, exercise, meditate, eat, drink your coffee, dress up, arrange your hair (and makeup), and leave the house on time.
No worries, no stress, just starting the day focusing on yourself so you can be ready to manage your tasks effectively and overcome any obstacle throughout your working day.
4. Plan & Prioritize
Planning can take many forms – it’s mainly a matter of style and taste here. Anyway, planning is crucial for your success at work.
You’ll no longer waste your time wondering “ok, now what should I do next?”
With an effective plan, crafted before you start to work, you’ll know every step you’ll make and why it’s important to do it now and not later.
The experts advice to prioritize your tasks according to their urgency and importance – they suggest this to be the best method to manage your time.
To make the best out of your working days, you need a good plan!
5. Be Flexible
Sometimes, we fail to estimate correctly how much time a task is going to take, so it’s very important to approach a flexible mind frame and time schedule. Otherwise, you’ll just cause yourself extra stress because you can’t manage to keep up with your expectations.
As well, you might deal with unexpected situations at work, so your schedule will suffer major changes. If your schedule is flexible, then there would be no issue and you’ll be able to reschedule your working day within minutes.
6. Organize Your Working Space
Of course, you should live your office in order in the first place. But sometimes we live in a hurry and it can happen to leave the office a bit messy.
That is why, the first thing you should do when you arrive at work – after the usual chitchat with your coworkers – is to customize, personalize, and organize your working space.
You can’t work properly in a mess! And you don’t have the luxury to waste your precious time searching for things because your desk isn’t organized.
Studies show that the most effective people at work are mostly the ones with the most organized working place. Besides, an organized, clean atmosphere provides a great mood for work.
7. Break Times
Remember, you are not a robot, so you aren’t structured to work without breaks. In fact, most people can’t keep their focus longer than 20 minutes. Of course, with proper practice you can improve your focus, but that’s not the point here.
You need breaks – as many as possible.
Breaks aren’t supposed to be long – 5 to 10 minutes at tops is more than enough to calm down your thoughts and to be able to focus effectively again on your tasks. Launch break is a different type of break – that’s for fueling up.
8. End the Day Properly
After a long and hard-working day, just relax and take it very easy. You deserve it! Do whatever you like to do – play a video game, watch your favorite TV show, or simply meditate to rebalance your energy levels. After you took your time, prepare yourself for the next day so you can slay another working day.
Conclusion
Knowledge is power! When you know exactly what you have to do and why it’s important to do it now, you cut off a lot of stress and create a clear path throughout your days at work. Planning is simply living your life better and smarter!
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