Find Your Work Sway

working in the office

• Organization is a must. Keep your desk or workspace organized. Everything should have a home. If you make sure everything is in it’s place when you leave at the end of the day, it increases your productivity the next morning.

• Choose your meetings carefully. You will get invited to a lot of meetings throughout the week. Take note of what is mandatory and what is optional. Just like in other areas of your life, you can say no. If you say yes, make sure that you are able to contribute in some way or at the very least give your 100% focus. Multitasking in meetings does not work and distracts others.

• Predict your schedule. Do you see that distractions occur often on the same days or time frames in the week? Be sure to schedule your ‘productive’ time around those interrupted time. Focus time is important and should be scheduled the same way as a meeting.

• Plan meaningful breaks. You deserve a daily refresh. A few minutes to take your mind away from your task to clear your head. It helps bring fresh ideas and keeps you focus when you are on your task.

• Expect work interruptions. If you expect it, it helps with your attitude towards those interruptions. View these as welcomed distractions.

• Build buffer time into your schedule. Because changes occur regularly, you need to build in time for error and flexibility.

• Keep to do lists. You want to start your day reviewing a to do list and ending your day reviewing it. What did you get done? What still needs to be completed? By starting your day the same way you end it, you are able to begin your productivity much quicker.

working from home

• Create boundaries. Boundaries increase productivity, but YOU have to be the one to decide what boundary to set.

• Have a designated work space. A separate room in your home is ideal but as long as you have a designated desk that you can close down to show when you are doing work and when you have turned work off. You need to have a mental separation that shows when I’m in here, I’m doing nothing but work. When I’m not in this space – I can do everything else, except for work.

  •Do NOT work in bed or on a couch. Not only does that put physical strain on your body, but it also makes it hard to separate mentally from your work time to your personal time.

• Establish designated working time. It doesn’t need to be a traditional 9 to 5 but have time that your family knows that you are working and when you are not.

• Take advantage of no commute. The time you would have spent commuting to and from and office is your opportunity to get ready for the day and decompress at the end of the day. Read the news over a cup of coffee in the morning and take a few minutes of mediation at the end of the day. This is your perk, use it.

• Plan meaningful breaks. Just like people in an office, you need mental breaks too. Only, you have a few advantages. Take your dog for a walk or throw a load of laundry in the dryer - it gives you a mental break while also feeling personally productive.

• Communication is key. The biggest disadvantage of working remotely is the lack of face time. That means you need to make up for it in other ways. Schedule a meeting with your supervisor to make sure you are on the same page of what they want/expect when you work from home.

learn to love your job

I get it. Not everyone can get paid to play with puppies and kittens for a living. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still find a love for what you do.

• Figure out what the job is to you. Is this just a pay check until you finish your degree or is this potentially your career? Whatever it is, figure out what you want out of it and then be ok with that decision. If it’s just a paycheck and you have no need to be promoted, focus on what that paycheck is buying you - finishing your education, supporting your family, etc. That focus can help you during the unglamorous parts of your day.

• Set a goal. If it’s more than a paycheck, and you are in your career, set a goal of where you want it to take you. Not just where you want to be in the next year, but where do you want to be in the next 10 years. If you ultimately want to be the CEO, you need to focus on that goal to help craft all the steps that you will need to take a long the way to get there.

• Communicate. Make sure you talk to your superiors about what you want. If you don’t want to be promoted, that’s ok. Every company needs workers at all levels. You are still valuable. If you do want to be promoted, make sure you are on the same page of what needs to happen to get there.

• Mentorship. Find someone in a higher position than you (other than your boss) that you look up to that would be interested in spending some time coaching you on your goals. Are you that person in a higher position? Consider being a mentor to someone else. There is nothing more rewarding than helping someone else in their career.

• Get a work buddy. We spend more time at our job than we do with our families. Having a co-worker that you can trust, take breaks with, go to lunch with, etc. makes the days much more enjoyable. Take the time to ask people about themselves rather than just what their status is on an assignment.

getting the dream job

Even if you do everything you can to try to love your job, sometimes it still doesn’t fulfill you. So how do you move from just a job to a career worth loving?

• Figure out your passion. What lights the fire inside you? Is it volunteerism? Is it empowering others? Do you live and breath sports? Whatever the thing is that you are most passionate about, consider how that can be more integrated into your everyday.

• Align yourself with your passion. Company missions are a big indicator of what they stand for. You should be with an organization that has a belief structure that aligns with yours. This could be a particular industry you chose to be a part of or just a particular company, but either way you should believe in their mission and how it aligns with your passion.

• Expand your network. As creatures of habit, we typically align ourselves with people who are similar to us. By making connections that are outside your comfort zone, you are able to discover paths you might not have known were available. This could be volunteer organizations, professional groups, special events or conferences. Building these relationships will benefit you greatly on your quest to the dream job.

• Continue your education. Always be learning. Whether it is a program that is offered from your company, online courses or through books from the subject matter experts, continue growing your knowledge base. This not only helps your personal value but it also helps to expose you to other career avenues you might want to explore.

• Build your resume. Do you already know what your dream job is? Look at the job description and compare it to your resume. What are you currently lacking that is preventing you from landing it? Build on those skill sets so that your resume is the best one for the job.