When it comes to managing your time at work, you’re often trapped in a relentless loop of ticking off daily tasks. Yet, shifting focus toward goal oriented performance rather than mere checklists can unlock substantial progress and align efforts with what genuinely drives long-term success.
Ever since the dawn of modern time, maximizing output while minimizing waste is crucial for business success. Two concepts that are often used interchangeably but have distinct meanings are efficiency and productivity. Understanding the difference between them and learning how to obtain a balance is essential for achieving optimal performance at work.
For most employees, the last few weeks of December are dedicated to holiday parties, time off, or low-productivity days in the office. Very few people schedule meetings because no one would attend and those who are available often work on low-priority tasks. When not at work, people are traveling, enjoying festive events, or simply relaxing. It’s no wonder that upon returning to work, some experience a case of holiday hangover. Mild or more severe, we all need a minute to get back into the swing of things.
This year, both managers and employees began returning to the office after a long time of working remotely. While many people crave the return to normal entirely, not everything has to return to pre-pandemic ways. Now may be the best time to reinvent yourself in ways you never felt you could before so you can take steps towards professional growth.
This season is hectic and there’s often no way around it. That mad rush to complete all of your end-of-year tasks while keeping up with holiday parties, office events, and family plans can feel nearly impossible. There’s a house to decorate, gifts to shop for, meals to plan out, and guests to entertain. And that’s on top of your normal workload. How do you balance it all, while holding onto sanity in the process? Let’s follow the magic of the checklist.
According to a recent survey, 88 percent of Americans think the winter holiday season is the most stressful time of year. Almost a whooping 60 percent would characterize it as chaotic. With so many time-sensitive commitments and activities on the average person’s calendar this season, it’s not hard to see where all that stress is coming from.
If you’ve spent any amount of time in the workforce, chances are, you’ve already been exposed to the multitasking myth. Juggling with more things at a time on the job leads to success, while monotasking is for losers. Such a culture tends to glorify those who manage to tackle a dozen projects all at once. You know, the hustlers who have their coffee in one hand, their smartphone in the other, an overwhelming slew of tabs open on their computer screen, and notifications buzzing every few minutes. But myths get busted sometimes and now it’s one of those times!
After a well-deserved vacation or relaxing staycation, it can be difficult to return to work. Your emails have piled up in your inbox, each one demanding your immediate attention. Your colleagues needed answers two days ago. What’s more, your boss already has a long list of tasks waiting for you. And all this happens while your brain struggles to transfer out of vacation mode. Don’t worry, the post holiday blues can be cured!
When those initial stay-at-home orders went into effect back in March 2020, the mass shift to remote work seemed to boost productivity. But as this pandemic keeps bugging us even a year later, that productivity surge is now on the decline. While some organizations have seen a 5 to 8 percent increase in productivity within these last 12 months, most have suffered a 3 to 6 percent decrease in 2020 overall, according to Harvard Business Review.
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance can be difficult in today’s culture that celebrates being always on. In fact, 94 percent of 1,000 professionals surveyed by the Harvard Business Review said they put in 50 or more hours a week at work. What’s more, nearly half that group clocked in more than 65 hours a week.
