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Back to the office this week? Productivity expert and author of ‘Smarter: 10 Lessons for a More Productive and Less Stressed Life’ Emily Austen shares seven hacks to survive the first week back
The heavy haul back to work in January presents a series of challenges. There is a great deal of pressure to come back as a ‘new you,’ ask for a promotion immediately, pitch a new business idea, have learnt a second language and have an entirely new and uncomfortable workout routine.
The turning of the year brings with it a call for seismic change, which is part of the reason so many of us default on our well intended New Year’s Resolutions. The key to success, in my opinion, is a shift to working smarter, which is based on several foundational principals. These can set you up to tackle the first week back in the office (and beyond).
1. Don’t wake up at 5am
Is the best time to get up for you really 5am? Is this in line with your circadian rhythm? We are heading towards becoming Gen-T (Generation Tired), performatively rising at 5am just because we read a book that told us to, or because our boss does. A valuable way to protect yourself in January is to really connect with your own rhythm and set your alarm at a time that allows you to be most rested and ready to start the day.
2. Track your energy, not your time
This has been totally transformational for many people following the Smarter Method. Our energy falls into four main categories: physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. If you’re giving your all in the gym, you’ll have depleted physical energy, which likely means you’ll also have less intellectual juice. We all have natural undulations throughout the day, made even more profound due to coffee and sugar consumption, as well as the general brain drain from a hard day’s work. Thinking about what time of day you perform a task has a lot to do with your ability to do it well. Connecting with your own natural energy cycles will make it more likely that you don’t feel overwhelmed or immediately exhausted.
3. Be realistic about what you’ve got to work with
Sounds simple but you’d be surprised. For many people, Christmas and New Year isn’t actually a relaxing time. Working remotely, managing family members, challenging changes, expectation, financial strain – we don’t all come back rested and raring to go. Be realistic about what you’ve got in the tank, and whether you actually need to take it easy for the next few weeks, rather than diving straight in.
4. Focus on impact
The busyness cult has made us less productive than ever. The one-upmanship of performative working is leading more and more people to burnout. Productivity theatre is rife, and visibility as currency is important to employers. As such, many of us see value directly as input. How much can we be seen to do, how many meetings are in our diaries, how flustered and busy are we. Busyness does not necessarily correlate to productivity.
Try shifting your mindset from one where you focus on volume and instead focus on impact. You might find that you become more able to consider what actually needs your time, and what you need to do in order to achieve the same (if not better) results.
5. Make someone else’s day
The helper’s high is a real thing. The secret to setting yourself up for a Smarter day is to think about how you could make someone else’s. An unexpected compliment, a smile on the tube (god forbid), or buying coffee for another person – all of these give off powerful feel-good chemicals.
6. Protect your environment
The fish tank is a great way to think about the Smarter Method as an ongoing commitment.
Many people make the mistake of creating systems and processes and expecting, wanting or hoping that they will be implemented perfectly. The reality is that you can create the most wonderfully intended, tried and tested, and seemingly engaged-with processes, but without hygiene, they will always fail.
Many of us are well-intentioned, and perhaps even extreme, in the way that we initially commit to change, tasks or new practices. The size of the commitment often correlates to our ego and our sense of achievement. However, it is often the small practices carried out day to day that ultimately compound to create real, lasting change.
You can have the most expensive, fabulous fish tank in the pet shop, with all the bells and whistles, different lighting settings, fake coral, colourful stones and a jazzy arch for your prime-bred, overpriced fish to swim through under your expectant gaze. However, if you don’t feed the fish, if you don’t clean the tank, if you don’t monitor the filtration or pay your electricity bill, the fish will always die. The environment you create for yourself must be taken care of as basic hygiene, or it will destroy everything inside it.
7. Create your own definitions
An important part of working smarter is to establish definitions that are owned by you. So often we hold ourselves to the standards of others, which ultimately means that we deny ourselves personal satisfaction. For example, your definition of fitness might be to compete in a triathlon. My definition of fitness might be jogging for ten minutes. If I judge myself against the definition you have set, I will forever be a failure.
Another example relates to work–life balance. For me, a good work–life balance might be working in a job I love, fitting in the gym and having a nanny. For you, it might be a part-time role with flexible hours and being at home with your children most of the time. Neither choice is better than the other, and it doesn’t make sense to compare them.
The first step towards achieving balance in your life is to understand what balance means to you. It’s much easier to make decisions about what does and doesn’t work for us when we have clear definitions. This is also the first step towards creating healthy boundaries.
Emily Austen is the writer of Smarter, 10 Lessons for a More Productive and Less Stressed Life
