Do you find yourself working longer hours now that you are at your kitchen table? Before it was easier to shut your laptop in the office once 5pm came around. But now more than ever I find, myself included, working past 8pm. And also feeling like death once the weekend comes around. You find yourself just trying to recover from the hectic work week on the weekend, and not actually doing what you want to do with your time. WHY do we do it to ourselves? We need to all learn to work smarter not harder while at home.
As a Type A personality, I always try to do my best. I often give too much of my energy to other people and quickly get burnout more times than I’d like to admit. Sound familiar? More recently, this has become more obvious to me, and to be honest, I’ve had a bit “What the F*CK am I doing?!” moment!
You might feel the same. Feeling too tired to do things you truly love in your spare time because you’re too exhausted. I’m here to help you work smarter not harder from now on. To focus your energy on YOU, and things you love to do in your spare time. Rather than unnecessarily stressing about that those damn spreadsheets on a Friday night…
1. Plan your day before you start
This is so simple but many of us still don’t do it! The Sunday fear sets in for that Monday morning meeting. You may feel like you don’t know where to start or that you’re unprepared. Plan ahead:). This will ease your mind at night and help you sleep better too. At the end of your work day, give yourself 15-20mins tops to plan out what you’re going to focus on for the next day. Type it on a word document or write it out. These are affordable notebooks and journals from Amazon, which I love. It helps you feel more prepared and ready to tackle the day as soon as you sit at your desk.
Occasionally, I will do this prep the day of, first thing in the morning if I didn’t get to it the night before. Whatever suits you best. Either way, making a clear plan in advance helps guide you. You will feel less muddled and stressed with the workload. And keeps you on track of your goals.
2. Say No to that last minute meeting invite!
You’ve got your plan, now don’t get distracted by other peoples plans! Yes, there will always be that “urgent” bit of work that people come to you for. But really stop and ask yourself: Do I need this meeting? Can it be done via email. Is this really urgent, or is someone just panicking? Can it wait until the end of the week when you have more time. Even, does this meeting need to be a whole hour, or can we cover everything in 30mins? Your time is precious and you mustn’t let other peoples stress carry onto you. You have your own plans to focus on! Of course you can help them. but make sure that its the right thing for the company and the right thing for you.
3. Block out your time to do actual work
A great tip which I’ve started using more and more is block out time in your diary. I block out whole days and lock them as private so people presume I’ve got meetings that day! Yes its a little cheeky! But I use this method to actually work on my To-do list and I usually block out at least 3 days in advance. So if its Monday, I’ll block out Monday-Wednesday and leave space on Thursday. So if someone looks at my calendar, they are more likely to send me a meeting request for Thursday at the earliest. This means you will have more time to prep. Also you will have more time to focus on my work now rather than delaying what you’re doing to focus on other people’s asks.
This is a really valuable tip that’s helped a lot while working from home, and a key tip to working smarter not harder. Also people think you are crazy busy too when they see your full calendar. (So are less likely to repeatable bother you.) Cheeky I know, but it works. And I get to block time for my own work and to help my team & company grow which is the most important thing really. Don’t lose sight on the companies vision and your role in that. You can’t and shouldn’t drop everything to work on someone else’s piece of work. That wouldn’t be valuable overall for the company, or help in your own personal growth. You can’t please everyone, and you can’t help everyone all at once. Focus on the areas that really count. Otherwise you will be working late every night.
4. Listen to your body, take breaks and drink water!
This is a MUST! How many times have you caught yourself staying in the same spot at your desk for 2 hours straight. (Without even drinking water.) Nooo don’t do to yourself! This is not good for your body or your mental health. Don’t “push through” or say “I’ll just finish what I’m doing first, then I’ll go pee”.
Listen to your body. If you need to pee, go pee! If you’re thirsty, get up from your desk and get a water and take a breather for 5 minutes. Take regular breaks. You would do this naturally if you were in the office anyway. You would talk with friends and colleagues at work. You’d get distracted and laugh at what Susan did at the other end of the office. So, remember to take time for you during the day while working from home. Go for walks; get some fresh air; take a breather. You can’t sustain going at 100% all of the time. You will get burn-out. Listen to what your body needs and be kind to yourself. You’re still doing great, even if you take that 10 minutes for no reason just for you at 11am. Remember, work smarter not harder.
5. Improve your workspace
Yes, we have all been catapulted into working from home quite suddenly. And whether you miss the office, or you don’t mind spending more time at home, you need to assess your work space. Yes, that includes you! Are you at the kitchen table, do you have a crappy wooden chair? Do you leave your monitor out at night and in plain sight when you are eating dinner so that work is always on your mind? Or are you lucky enough to have a spare room with a desk? (But your back is killing you as its a cramped space.)
Assess your space. You wouldn’t work uncomfortably at your office desk. So why would you do it now. If you had the wrong chair at work, you would ask for a new one. If your desk was the right height, you’d ask the night handy man to adjust it for you at work.
Treat your working from home space like your office desk. Get yourself a proper work chair! Your company should be able to help expense one for you. They can claim tax relief from this, so make sure you reach out and ask the question. Same with desks and monitor stands. Your company is still responsible to help you make sure you are properly set up correctly at home.
Also, to make your space more inviting, I like to add aesthetically pleasing items too that actually make me want to work there! I’m talking about that cute little cactus you have. Or get some fancy looking blue light glasses to protect your eyes. They really do help. Here are a list of cute office items from Amazon, which will make you actually want to sit at your desk and do work! Believe me you will work smarter not harder with having a pleasing environment around you. And you will become more productive off the back of this.
I hope this has helped you think about how to work smarter not harder in your day to day life. This shouldn’t just be used for your normal 9-5 work life. But also lessons to take into your new side hustles or small business ideas. You must look after your body and mind. In order to be successful, you have to look after #1 first (that’s you.) Feel free to share your tips on how to work smarter not harder in the comments below & share the love.<3
The Spend & Save x