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After a well-deserved rest, it can be quite challenging to get back into our everyday work or school routine. That holiday-mode mindset is hard to shake off in January and staying productive goes flying out of the window.
Yet, there are ways to counter the days when the slump gets unbearable, and every little distraction seems to demand your attention. It starts with a plan – a strategy if you will – to help you work more effectively and efficiently.
Remember that YOU come first
You’ll be surprised at how self-care can improve your overall lust for life. A good night’s sleep, regular exercise, plenty of water, and a balanced diet all contribute to a healthy brain. Once you’ve found your perfect balance, you’ll find yourself with more energy, allowing you to concentrate for longer and avoid many daily distractions.
The next challenge is to cut out unhealthy snacks and sugary beverages. While extremely convenient, think about how sluggish they can make you feel. Opt for healthy sugars in fruits and water, coffee or tea to carry you through to the next meal.
The right tools for the job
Whether you’ve returned to the office or are still working from home, make sure your space is equipped with the right tools to support a productive work-life. A comfortable chair and working desk are essential to ensure good posture, muscle support, improved breathing, and reduced fatigue as you get stuck into eight hours of continuous work. The worst thing you can do is slump over on the couch and tap away on your laptop. Keep your posture correct, and you’ll reap the benefits.
But getting the job done is more than just having a good chair and desk – you also need the hardware to support your ambitions. TheLG UltraWide Monitor is a great tool to help increase productivity at work, home, or university. Why? Because it offers 33% more screen space than Full HD resolution displays. The extended screen lets you see even more attendees during webinars and meetings and makes viewing materials even easier. From textbooks to lectures and having multiple windows open at the same time, this display gives you access to the bigger picture (quite literally).
And because you’ll be putting away the hours behind this screen, it also offers care for your eyes, reducing tiredness. Its Flicker Safe feature reduces invisible flickering on the screen and Reader Mode provides a more comfortable working environment for your eyes with a colour temperature similar to that of paper.
Multitasking doesn’t promote productivity
Contrary to popular belief, juggling five different things distracts you from the current job at hand and adds to the risk of neglecting something in the process. While you can split your concentration, you can’t possibly give all jobs the same amount of thought and attention. The best advice is to stop trying to do more than one thing at a time. Doing something properly from the start can save you time later on, with fewer back-and-forth emails from your colleagues asking for clarity.
Don’t procrastinate on bigger jobs
Understandably, you’d want to start with the small, easier jobs first but jumping on that monster task while you’re still fresh and alert is the best way to get it done faster and more effectively. Granted, we aren’t always in the mood to tackle that 50-page presentation first thing in the morning, but by doing it this way, you won’t have to deal with the burnout you get by doing all your small tasks first and leaving it for the afternoon. And chances are, you’ll feel a weight lifted from your shoulders and a renewed sense of optimism that you only need to get the small jobs out before COB.
Shut out distractions
Distractions are all around us: chatty co-workers, after-school commitments, and the infamous smartphone with social media. The trick is to identify the culprits and work around them. Put your phone on silent and switch off your computer notifications when you’re in the zone. And for the Instagram or Facebook addicts out there, use social media as a reward, allowing yourself to scroll after you accomplish a major task.
Finding the correct formula for a productive day will greatly aid you in overcoming the slump we all feel after returning to work in the new year. Keep those end goals in mind, make sure you have all the necessary tools to hit those tasks out of the park and make 2022 work in your favour.