A lot of us at this stage in the pandemic are – frankly – knackered. We have very little energy left – so we need to use it wisely.
So I’m going to offer five tips and ideas about the small things that I think can make a big difference. Small can be beautiful, but better still, small is do-able!
1. Treat yourself to a 15 minute review
One recent study found that as little as 15 mins a day refection can increase your productivity by 20%. Put another way, unless you find an hour to review how things are going Mon-Thu, you’re wasting your time working on Friday!
As well as generating learning I also find reflection motivating. Whether things have gone well, or been a bit of a disaster, working out what I got right and what I’ll do differently next times always means I feel better.
And it can be as simple as asking yourself a short set of reflective questions like these.
2. Prioritise with the impact/effort matrix
Too many ideas? Don’t know what to do first? Then look no further than the impact/ effort matrix.
Use the 4 boxes on the grid to sort all your options and ideas into impact they could have (high or low) and the effort it would take to achieve (high or low). Focus on what’s in the high impact/ low effort box first. And think very carefully before embarking on any of those high effort ideas….
3. Set yourself up for success
One of my highlights of this month has been conversations with my fellow coach Isabel Mortimer with whom I’m co-designing two new short courses around leadership, teams and coaching – you can find out more about these here.
We’ve been discussing what underpins successful leadership and how the principles and techniques of coaching can be used by line-managers and teams. It struck me that in coaching we’re much more explicit about boundaries, expectations and ways of working than is often the case in the workplace – maybe some of these coaching questions would help you be clear about what you’re doing and how and help you be more productive?
Taking 5-10 minutes to ‘contract’ in our meetings with others can help ensure we get off to the most productive start with new projects, or review and realign those already underway.
4. Shake up your brain
It might seem counter intuitive if we feel tired, but a bit of physical activity actually perks us up when energy runs low. It’s really easy when we’re busy to chain ourselves to the computer – but our brain functioning has been proven to increase if we take short breaks.
Anecdotally I have noticed that if I’m stuck with work going for a run or walk often leads to fresh thinking – I like to imagine the movement shakes up my brain, but I’m sure there’s probably a proper scientific reason why this happens. I’ve also learned a huge through being active – as I’ve shared before in my post about how lessons of endurance sport apply to getting through Lock Down.
5. Get into some good habits
I was unfortunate to catch COVID at the end of June (despite being fully vaccinated) and I’m still feeling very tired as a result, so one thing that’s been on my mind a lot this month is recovering full health. Wellbeing is a topic that comes up plenty in coaching too, and I wrote a short blog post to share some tips about creating habits. Whether you want to create some good work habits, or some healthy habits for wellbeing these tips can help embed new ways of doing things.
