If your days are a random rollercoaster of events, unpredictable, with no semblance of sanity and a barely-there schedule, chances are you are unhappy, frustrated, and living in constant stress. As an urban professional with career goals and aspirations, you need to feel confident and prepared to give your best at work. The constant busyness and inevitable procrastination that comes with juggling more than you can, however, sabotage your plans to live the life you want. Your days disappear in a blur, and you’re unable to chase your goals. Because goal achievement necessitates discipline. Discipline with Workday Rituals that help you Start and End Your Workdays Right.
If you find yourself procrastinating, read this: The Procrastination Epidemic – Causes and Cures.
How can you fix this chaos and pack more into a day without feeling burned out? How do you bring in more organized days that don’t leave you feeling scatterbrained and drained?
Herein lies the significance and power of workday rituals…
The key to calm, productive, and organized days is deceptively simple and lies in your daily habits. Just start your day with a positive attitude and make sure you’re ready for it by setting some rituals, some boundaries, and managing distractions wisely throughout the day. Converting daily habits into routines and elevating them to mindful rituals is the gateway to improved productivity, success, and above all, happiness.
Read this blog if you’re wondering what’s the difference between habits and routines.
Workday rituals – Start your morning right
Get your body and mind ready
Workday rituals for the morning start with, rising early and spending some time getting your body and mind ready. Exercise, meditate, absorb the morning rays of the sun, journal, practice affirmations, and visualize your ideal day. Eat a healthy breakfast (with protein and good carbs). Keep yourself well-hydrated throughout the day.
Prepare your workspace
At the office or at home (for the times you WFH), the first thing you want to do is prepare your workspace. Declutter and make sure it’s organized and clean so you can find things easily. Don’t forget to declutter your headspace, so it’s free to focus on the tasks ahead.
Be realistic with your to-do list
Make sure to be realistic about what tasks need to be done. There may be too many things vying for your attention. Take a pause to plan your day. Empty everything that’s going on in your head and from this – prioritise by impact and urgency. Energy-map your tasks and finish the top three high-priority tasks during your high-energy window. Leave the easy and repetitive things for your low-energy phase. Don’t get distracted by the small things – you can’t do everything at once! Give yourself enough time to complete all your tasks so that you don’t feel overwhelmed.
Set up your calendar
Create time blocks to do important things by putting them on your calendar – so that along with meetings you also have dedicated time slots to do the important activities in your day. You can use a list or calendar. If you have an app that allows you to create lists, try using it as well! But whatever way works for you, just make sure that when making a list of tasks for the day (or even a week), each item has its own priority level based on how important and urgent it is. This will help keep things organized and prevent any confusion later down the road during those rushed mornings when everything seems so overwhelming but still needs doing.
Manage distractions wisely
It’s easy to get distracted by emails, texts, and the phone. Your goal should be to keep your workspace clear of all distractions so that you can focus on what needs doing. Try to stick to your to-do list as far as possible, ticking off things as and when you finish them. The satisfaction of ticking off your to-do list is real! Additionally, it motivates you to stay focused.
If you’re on a productivity quest, read this: How to be in Flow at Work
Make the most of your workday
To make the most of your workday, learn to incorporate microbreaks. Every 20-30 minutes, take breaks. Stretching, drinking water, taking a short walk, or relaxation techniques in between work sessions are important to help you recharge mentally before diving back into another task with renewed energy! Movement is good for your posture and physical health. It breaks the monotony and offsets the health risks of a desk job.
Also, try to set micro-intentions for the small events in your day. Before an event set a small intention – I would like this conversation to go well, I would want this meeting to be productive, etc.
Use batching – try to club and do small things back-to-back instead of doing every small thing as and when it comes. Make a note and set aside 20 minutes to do things like replying to a ping, approving something, returning a call, paying bills etc.
Spend more time with people who inspire and motivate you and less time with people who drain you. Listen to some inspiring music. Take advantage of opportunities that come up throughout the day and turn your mundane chaotic day into a feel-good organized and productive day.
Most importantly, end your workday right…
Most urban professionals struggle when it comes to detaching themselves from the workday. It never ends for them because they carry it back home, and into the wee hours of the night. This tendency wreaks havoc in personal lives and spills over into professional life as well in the form of burnout. And that’s precisely why I stress the importance of having a ritual to end the workday right as well. Yes, a shutdown ritual is as important if not more than a morning ritual.
Fatigue, burnout, constant stress, memory issues, and loss of creative zing are all outcomes of being unable to unplug from work. Your brain gets no time off to recover and rejuvenate resulting in you being more exhausted by the day and more easily irritable.
For an end-of-workday ritual…
Set your boundaries. End your workday at a specific time every day. Reflect on what worked well and what didn’t, on the results and outcomes of the day. Celebrate small wins and make a quick mental note of your plan for the next day.
On your commute back home, indulge in some relaxing wind down activities. Listen to your favourite playlist or a podcast. Take this commute time to switch from professional mode to personal. Once home, spend quality time with your family, go for walks, and help around with chores. Have an early dinner, turn off your devices, and end the day with gratitude.
Workday rituals have their own perks besides productivity. When your days are planned, you will stress less, think and focus better, and be more likely to make good decisions. Following these simple workday rituals are guaranteed to bring you more organized, sane, and happy days.
Whether it’s productivity at work, better sleep, achieving career success, or just understanding life better, Happiness Habits can be your guide, helping you transform one habit at a time. For a daily dose of happiness, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.