If you consider yourself a spontaneous person, you may bristle at the idea of structure. But taking a more focused approach to your workday just may help you stay more carefree after hours, since structuring how you approach your tasks can improve your productivity in the office. Plus, by self-imposing some structure around your job-related projects, you can find yourself with more mental clarity, which can improve your performance.
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If you’re not sure whether structure is for you, think about whether you have “anti-structure” habits that are leaving you much less efficient than you might otherwise be. The ultimate anti-structure activities are aimless social media surfing and repetitive email checking — two activities that keep you in a state of constant interruption rather than flow when it comes to your work projects. And online temptations aren’t the only culprit here. If you don’t have a structure set up to help you accomplish your key goals and deliverables, you can easily find yourself dribbling away valuable time on minutiae, procrastination, chitchat or even snacking when you aren’t really hungry.
There’s no one method of structuring a workday that works for everyone or that’s the “right” way to do it. The point is that when you take the time to first identify and then implement a structure that works for you, it can make a big difference by giving you more mental breathing room and restoring a sense of sanity to a busy day. With this in mind, here are some ideas of how to structure your time that others have used successfully. Try out a few and see if any feel like a fit for you:
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Ritualize your morning. Having a structured and successful workday begins before you get to the office. What you do in the morning in those pre-work hours sets the tone for your productivity and balance throughout the afternoon and even into the evening. In fact, time and productivity expert Laura Vanderkam’s research shows that high achievers tend to have a morning ritual that they follow religiously.
Why is the morning such a powerful time to get on track with a schedule? Because it may be the one moment that you can control before others’ demands hijack your focus and start to compete with your own goals. This special morning structure isn’t about doing project work; it’s about doing things that will make you more energetic and clearheaded for your project work later in the day, such as eating a healthy breakfast, exercising, doing a short meditation or spending a regular block of time on inspirational reading, for example.
Do the most important things first in the office. It’s very hard to resist the siren call of an unchecked email inbox, or to keep your smartphone in your bag without checking texts, tweets and status updates on Facebook. But if you start your day this way, you’re draining away your energy on these mindless tasks that aren’t related to your work goals. Instead of immediately reaching for your social fix as soon as you log on at work, identify one to three priorities each morning that you want to achieve that day and tackle those first.
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Save busywork and brain-dead social surfing for the afternoon. If you’re worried that doing important projects right out of the gate will leave you out of the loop with your online social network, you can build in structure for social media check-ins as well. Notice what time your focus and energy begin to lag — for many people, this corresponds with the late afternoon. Block a time slot on your calendar for these lower-priority items, whether it’s making personal calls, doing a quick errand or answering non-urgent emails and texts. If you know you have a time slotted for it, then you won’t have to spend your freshest and most creative hours on these items earlier in the day.
Make goal-planning and review a weekly habit. Part of creating structure in your workday is developing a clear understanding of what your most important goals really are. This may not be clear each morning when you start work, unless you spend some dedicated time each week thinking through your goals and priorities. Some people like to carve out 30 minutes to an hour on the weekend — say every Sunday night, for example — to do this type of goal review. By identifying and writing down what you hope to achieve in the coming week, you’ll be ready to hit the ground running on Monday morning.
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How a Structured Day Can Help You Gain Mental Space and Sanity originally appeared on usnews.com
