ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON August 3, 2017
DO NOT avoid taking breaks at all costs. Trust me, it’s good to walk to away. Think coffee break…Starbucks, Stonecreek Coffee, Alterra/Collectivo – whatever gets you up and away from your desk for a few minutes to stretch and/or give you a fresh perspective on things.
DO NOT stay late day after day in an attempt to finish each day’s work. Remember, you’re only human and tomorrow is another day.
DO NOT take work home with you. When you do, so much for peace & quiet and a sense of separation between work and home…It’s that simple.
DO NOT avoid taking a vacation or personal time off because you dread the thought of what will be waiting for you when you get back. This can only lead to burnout, stress, and potential errors made in your work. With proper planning and coordination with co-workers, you can potentially minimize the amount of work waiting for you upon your return. Besides, your vacation will have left you feeling well-rested, refreshed, and ready to take on the world!
Create a clear start & end time to your work day and stick to it. Avoid working late unless absolutely, positively necessary. Again, you’re only human – tomorrow is another day.
Notice how you hold stress: do you grind your teeth under pressure; feel the tension in your neck or shoulders; have trouble sleeping?
Look for good stress reduction techniques and/or measures to try such as regular messages, exercise, or even reach out to close friend or relative whenever possible to avoid feeling isolated or alone.
Practice mindful breathing and/or look for a mindfulness app for your smartphones such as Calm, Zen, or Simple Habit.
Pay attention to when your mind becomes distracted or wanders off from the current task at hand. Are personal issues or obligations weighing heavy on your mind? Other more pressing work tasks trapping your thoughts? Practicing mindfulness is the simple act of noticing that your mind has drifted off. Taking time for meditative breathing helps clear your mind and brings it back to the task at hand. Better focus allows you to complete each task much more thoroughly and in a timely fashion so you can easily move through your day’s work. That being said, take five on me with this refreshing 5-minute mindfulness meditation video…
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Once we begin the practice of being in the present moment more often, we become more consciously aware of our thoughts, we’re able to find new ways to gently brings ourselves back on task without judgment or being too hard on ourselves. This allows us to be more focused, productive, bringing out new and creative ways to problem solve, which will ultimately make you and your direct report look better. It’s a win-win-win for our workload, our boss, and our sanity – who doesn’t love that? At the end of the day, in order for us to be truly happy, healthy administrative professionals by day, and wonderfully passionate, fun-loving, caring individuals by night, we need to provide ourselves with a work/life balance – incorporating mindfulness into our daily work lives helps us do just that. I’d like to end with a quote that I think sums up mindfulness perfectly to me, and I hope for all of you as well… Noticing allows us to make conscious choices in life and run the show ourselves, rather than letting our lives run their course in an unconscious way. This is mindfulness. –Tamara Levitt, Meditation Instructor (Calm Mindfulness App)
Your comments are always welcome & appreciated… Lisa Urban IAAP Milwaukee Branch Communications Chair
Comments