Increasing Your Happiness at Work (Part 2)
Plan Your Day
Taking a few minutes to plan your day can help alleviate stress and promote happiness at work. You don’t have to plan every minute, but having a sense of what needs to be done, what expectations need to be met, and what time and resources you’ll need throughout the day can make your workday run much more smoothly.
Arrive 10-15 Minutes Early
Arriving at work early is one simple step you can take to foster your happiness at work. When you arrive early, you have time to think about your day and make a plan, rather than having to immediately start with tasks and meetings. Planning ahead so that you arrive early means that you can get settled into your day by greeting coworkers, checking mail, email, and voicemail, take a look at your calendar, and otherwise get an overall picture of what your day will involve.
Check for Action Items
It sounds like common sense, but the most important thing you can do to plan your day is to check for action items. Use your time immediately after arriving at work to check your mail, voicemail, email, and calendar or agenda for action items. Being sure to check all these places helps ensure that you don’t miss an important item. Once you know what your action items for the day are, you are better able to plan your time and resources. Additionally, knowing what must be acted on helps you fit in longer-term projects into your schedule. Taking even 10 minutes each morning to check for action items can go a long way towards reducing stress and promoting your workplace happiness.
Create a To-Do List for the Day
Once you’ve checked for action items, take a few minutes to make a to-do list for the day. This gives you a picture of how your time will be used, what resources you will need, and any other people you may need to involve. How you set up your to-do list is up to you – whether it’s by most pressing items first, “low hanging fruit” (easily completed items) first, or some other system. What’s important is that you create a list so that you have a plan for the day. While your plan may have to change to accommodate emerging needs or unexpected events, having a plan means you can get back on track when the immediate crisis has passed. Keep your list manageable, and limit it to just what you will work on today – that way the list doesn’t become overwhelming and discouraging.
Build in Breaks
We all want to be productive at work. While it might at first seem counterintuitive, building breaks into your day can help you be more productive and happier at work. Building short breaks into your day helps to break work into manageable chunks. It also gives you guideposts to aim for – and if you make a break something to look forward to, you may find yourself working more efficiently to get to it. Breaks give you time to reset, relax, and tune in. They also help you as you transition into different projects or other aspects of your work. Build regular breaks into your workday as you create your to do list – and put those breaks on your list or schedule, just like you would any other appointment! You can use your breaks to check email, take a walk around the office or even get outside for a few moments, get yourself a drink or snack, or even just take a few moments to not think about work. You might build in different types and lengths of breaks as well, or consider having a coworker who is your “break buddy.” Breaks should be long enough to give you time to reset but not so long that you get completely distracted – 5 to 15 minutes is a good guideline, with a lunch or dinner break being longer. Even if you can’t get up from your desk or out of your office, taking a quick 5 minute break can leave you feeling refreshed and recharged.
