5 Tips For Improving Your Wellbeing At Work

Depending on who you talk to, estimates are that most of us will spend somewhere between 35 to 50 percent of our waking hours either working or thinking about work. If you are like me, that number is much higher. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that work is one of the largest influences on our wellbeing that exists today. If you experience stress or feel uncomfortable at work, chances are your entire life tends to become a bit discombobulated. Any attempt to improve your overall wellbeing will have significantly limited impact, unless work and the work environment is factored in.

Below, I offer up some simple tips that you can use at work as part of your overall effort to improve your wellbeing.

• Make the effort to avoid physical burnout. Our bodies have a significant influence on our mental wellbeing. Work-related aches and pains can affect how we feel mentally. Constant pain, no matter how slight, can undoubtedly be mentally and emotionally draining. If you regularly work via your laptop, for example, it is not uncommon to feel backaches after a long day. Often, this persistent ache may make it difficult to focus on anything other than that pain. A good way to relieve this is with incorporating regular physical activity, especially during the workweek. This could be anything from swimming to yoga. Another option to consider is the use of a standing desk in the office, which will give you the ability to move more, despite the usual sedentary nature of being on the job. If you perceive your physical condition becoming worse, which may include feeling daily unrelenting aches and pains, please visit a medical professional who may be able to advise you of other health-protective factors to consider.
• Optimize as many processes as possible. Optimizing some, if not all, of your day-to-day processes at work will allow you more time to focus on your mental wellbeing, including stepping away from tedious tasks that you find draining, as well as finding time to appreciate achievements. A few years ago, I would spend hours daily sending custom-made proposals to each of my prospects. In an effort to make my days more efficient and productive, I sought out various software that could possibly help. Finally. I stumbled upon PandaDoc, a witty company aimed at streamlining the way that businesses, large and small, interact with their documents. Let’s just say, I never have anxiety about another invoice or contract again. After implementing the relevant documents made available to me, it helped me to save more than an hour per day, only having to focus on the finer details.
• Stratify all necessary tasks, beginning with the most important. Multitasking does not make us as productive as we would like to think. When you do many important tasks at once, you will undoubtedly find yourself giving less-than-stellar attention on any one of them. With your concentration being pulled in so many directions at once, no task gets the opportunity to be completed to its full potential. Choosing to begin with the most important task is a simple and effective way to give your work the time it needs to shine. When you finish something important with stellar results, you will feel satisfaction – which in turn will influence your wellbeing.
• Turn off mobile notifications and minimize the amount of information you receive. Be honest: every time you see a notification on your mobile device, you stop working and check it. Turning off desktop and mobile notifications can save time and improve focus on the important tasks at hand. Also, if possible, make a habit of only checking emails at designated time points throughout the day. Giving yourself a strict schedule only once or twice throughout the day, such as only checking during the mid-morning and mid-afternoon, will allow you to not get bogged down with responding to emails, especially during an otherwise busy day. Another point to keep in mind is that we tend to overload ourselves with sensory information, whether it is consuming too much content on the internet, struggling to keep up with the latest social media debate, or being exposed to excessive amounts of noise, worsening our wellbeing in the process. Read only news you really need, and try to visit social networks only after work hours. I suggest reading a book “The 4-Hour Workweek” to understand this technique.
• Limit procrastination. Many of us may be stretching our workout for as long as possible, steeling yourself for just a couple more reps. Some may be taking extended social media work-breaks, coloring your own self-talk with crafty justifications. This is called procrastination. The truth is, the longer you put off getting the work done, the harder it’s going to be to complete it with quality results. Not doing the best you possibly could on a project can quickly lead to negative self-talk and attitudes of self-defeat. #YourMentalHealthMatters. Ever notice that when you put off doing something for 10 minutes, that 10 minutes becomes 20 in the blink of an eye? Then, 30 to 40 minutes later, and you have barely a clue of how to get back into the groove of doing what needs to be done. Procrastination almost inevitably leads to a rush job. The more you procrastinate, the less time you have to do your work, which leads to much less time to do it efficiently or correctly.

Do yourself a favor, avoid unnecessary stress and mental anguish by making the effort to streamline your worklife. Your greater wellbeing depends on it.