As we come we back to work after the holiday celebrations of Christmas and New Years, it's easy to fall into old routines and habits that don't serve us well. However, this is the perfect time of year to ditch old habits like spending your day hunched over your keyboard or getting a few more emails in while eating the same sad salad on your well deserved lunch break. Instead of falling back into old routines, why not make a change? Making small changes to your daily habits can make a world of difference in the long run, so we've come up with a few small and easy habits you can implement into your routine to make your days at work feel better than ever, after all it's new year, new you right? Read on to learn 7 easy habits that will make you, and even your colleagues feel better and more productive in the office.
Let’s face it, we’ve all got some bad habits. Some of us slouch in our chairs, others leave dirty cups on their desk and others don’t replace the printer paper when it’s out. It’s hard to overstate the significance of forming the right habits in the workplace and whilst bad habits are easy to form, it’s the beneficial, good habits that we’ll often struggle to develop and maintain. However, even in the small things like maintaining good posture or keeping your workspace clean you can begin the journey to establishing a healthy relationship with your job. Poor habits act as roadblocks to making meaningful progress in your career. Procrastination, slacking off or producing messy work is a recipe for disaster and these bad habits don’t just mess with your own ability to stay productive at work but can also affect your team. Over time these habits can manifest into a toxic work culture that places unnecessary stress on you and your team.
On the flip side, cultivating good habits can have a big impact on your career trajectory, your everyday well-being and job satisfaction. Turning good habits into daily rituals are essential to maintaining a successful and fulfilling career, they keep you grounded, focused, and continually growing.
While we all know that having lunch at your desk isn’t always a great idea, most of us can’t resist staying at the computer to get a few extra emails done while on lunch, but in the long run this can decrease your productivity and increase stress. It’s important to take between a half hour and a full hour to take a breather, step back from work related tasks and focus on something else. This helps you reduce stress, prevents burnout, and refreshes your mind, making you more focused and productive when you return. This is also a good opportunity to socialise with your colleagues rather than staying glued to the computer all day, building positive relationships, and enhancing team collaboration. If your work is amenable, you can also divide up your break if you’re struggling to fill in the time. Take a half hour for lunch and then another half later in the day to help push past the 3.30 burnout(and to avoid those expensive trips to the nearest convenience store for a chocolate bar or two).
As many of us spend our days at a desk, hunched over a keyboard, it’s very common to develop a habit of bad posture which can lead to a myriad of physical problems down the line. Keeping mindful of your posture can provide many benefits worth prioritising. Correcting your posture can impact your confidence, and one study found that students who kept an upright posture were much more likely to have confidence in their thinking and performed better on tests. Poor posture also negatively affects your energy levels leaving you feeling fatigued. Easier breathing, reduced risk of injury, and boosted productivity are just a few of the benefits gained from correct posture!
While we do have dedicated breaks in the middle of our days, working 3-4 hours straight on either side of your break can be a challenge without getting distracted. The duration of these small breaks can vary but we’re only talking5-10 minutes every 30-45 minutes of working. Taking a quick break here and there through out the day is a good idea for a few reasons. It allows your mind to reset, preventing mental fatigue and boosting overall productivity, it prevents mental discomfort and distractions that come with concentration for long periods of time and improves your mood.
When working an office job, making sure to get some movement in throughout the day is a game changer for maintaining focus and well-being at work. Not only does this refresh your mind and prevent mental fatigue, but it also alleviates physical discomfort that comes with sitting at a desk for prolonged periods of time. Whether it's quick stretches, a brief walk, or some exercises at your desk, this is a great way to counterbalance the sedentary nature of desk work.
Having a clean and tidy workspace has multiple positive impacts on your work life. A clutter free desk reduces distractions which keeps you locked into your work and helps you better concentrate on the task at hand, enhancing productivity through promoting a clear and organised workspace. It helps you more efficiently manage your time, as without clutter you can quickly locate documents and materials allowing for better time management and smoother workflow. It maintains a more professional image, sending a message of competence and organisation to colleagues and superiors making a positive impression on others. It also helps to reduce stress and anxiety, preventing you from feeling overwhelmed, creating a sense of order, control, and a calmer, less chaotic atmosphere.
Conquering your workday becomes much more satisfying when you know you completed everything you set out to do on any given day. A list gives you a visual roadmap of your day, helping prioritise tasks and preventing you from scrambling to remember what needs to be done. It reduces the mental load through externalising your tasks, freeing up mental space and allowing you to focus on the details of each task without juggling everything in your head. It also provides you with a sense of accomplishment. Checking off completed tasks provides a small, but powerful dose of satisfaction, boosting motivation and reinforcing positive work habits.
It’s very easy to strain your eyes when spending all day looking at a screen, so it’s important to give them a well-deserved break every hour or so, this is crucial for long term eye health – usually on a50:10 schedule; for every 50 minutes of work, spend 10 minutes looking at things further away. Just like an athlete needs to rest as often as they exercise, staring at a screen is like running a marathon for your eye muscles, causing fatigue and strain. Giving your eyes a break prevents eye strains, combats headaches and migraines, and even helps you sleep through minimising blue light which suppresses melatonin and disrupts sleep.
While it can be easy to put small habits like these on the back burner while worrying about more pressing matters in your work life, keeping consistency in the small things can make a world of difference in the long run and your day-to-day life. These seemingly inconspicuous routines serve as the foundation for a more fulfilling and less stressful work life.
Thanks for your interest in what we do here at FIND. We love meeting and helping amazing kiwis every day and will always do our best for our clients and candidates. We've been simplifying the recruitment game since 2008, so don't hesitate to get in touch if you need our help!
