4 Tips for Making Your Workday More Manageable
Do you lose your daily motivation during the workday? It can be hard to stay motivated and keep the workday manageable for 8-hours a day. It’s hard for people to work 8-hours a day and stay motivated with hardly any breaks and working through lunch hours.
Structuring Your Day
A study led by the Draugiem Group found that it didn’t matter how long the length of the workday was. What was important was how people structured their day. People who took brief breaks throughout the day were much more productive in their workday than those who worked long hours.
Making the most of your workday comes down to how you manage your time. The best work-to-break ratio for those studied, was 52 minutes of work, followed by 17 minutes of rest. Those who kept this structure to their workday were more focused on tasks. For an hour at a time, they were 100% dedicated to their work, not getting distracted by social media, text messages, or emails. When they felt tired, or their motivation was starting to slip, they would take short breaks, get water, go to the bathroom, get a coffee. They would do something to get them up and away from their desk and work. Taking these short breaks helped these workers come back to their office and be productive for another hour of work.
If you are working at a computer, they suggest shortening those intervals to 45-minutes on with 10-minute breaks.
The 52-17 Rule
The brain naturally functions in waves of high energy, for roughly an hour, and then is followed by low energy for 15 to 20 minutes. These waves can keep us focused during our periods of high energy and unmotivated during spouts of low energy. Because of these spurts, it is essential to manage your day the way your brain naturally functions. Plan your day around when you are the most productive. Work productively for an hour and take a 15-minute break to rejuvenate and clear your head.
Manage Your Workday
Working an 8-hour workday can work if you are managing your time efficiently to stay productive. Below are four tips for making your workday more manageable.
Divide Your Day into Hourly Intervals
Typically, we plan our next days, at the end of our current day, but it turns out people are more useful when they manage their day by focusing on the tasks that need to be accomplished right now. Manage your day and duties around hour-long intervals and take a 15-minute break after the hour.
Value Your Hour
Breaking your day into hour intervals works because people’s peak energy levels and productivity lasts for a short amount of time. If you are wasting your hour with checking social media, or emails, or texting, it defeats the purpose of by extremely focused on your tasks for an hour.
Take Breaks
Make sure you take your breaks to stay productive. It’s much better to be highly productive for an hour than working at low productivity for two hours. You can complete more tasks and manage your workday better when you take a rest and separate yourself from your desk every hour or so. Taking actual breaks helps recharge to tackle the next hour of work. It is needed to manage your workday effectively and stay motivated.
Don’t Wait till You Feel Tired to Take a Break
If you wait till you are tired to take a break, it is too late. You will have missed your window of peak productivity, that is why keeping with your schedule helps to ensure that you are working when you are most productive. You can manage your day and be more productive when you take short breaks after very productive intervals.
As you’re developing a new manageable work style, you can also ease your shipping needs, but adopting a dropship lifestyle as well.
Final Thoughts
Managing your day into intervals and making sure you take breaks throughout the workday helps with keeping you motivated and productive during the day.
