The phone rings non-stop, the boss urgently needs documents and in between colleagues come with questions – the chaos is raging. And at the end of the day, half the work is left undone. In the long run, the fun of the job is lost. The only thing that can help now is a consistent strategy.
Set time priorities
Set time priorities according to the 60:40 principle. This means: 60 percent of the time is scheduled for the actual work, 20 percent for unexpected activities and another 20 percent for spontaneous actions. Always take your personal performance curve into account.
You should not necessarily schedule unpleasant or difficult tasks after your lunch break, but first thing in the morning when you are fit and full of power.
The Eisenhower principle
To cope with the flood of incoming documents, former U.S. President Eisenhower divided mail into four categories: “Important and Urgent” was handled first. “Urgent,” or deadline matters, came next, followed by “important.”
Everything that was neither “important nor urgent” went into the trash. Sort your tasks according to this system. Make an activity list and set the time per task. Check the list regularly. Check off each completed project. You will notice: After each checkmark, motivation increases.
Avoid burnout: Do the unpleasant things first
Do the most important and urgent tasks first and don’t switch to another one in between. This increases motivation and saves you from having to learn the ropes all over again.
If two things are equally important, prefer the more unpleasant one. For example, if you don’t like talking to dissatisfied customers on the phone, it’s best to do that first. After all, unpleasant tasks that are put off paralyze and block. Once the matter is off the table, however, you can move on to the next project with freedom.
Order at the desk
A tidy desk not only provides an overview. It facilitates work and gives room for creativity. So clear everything off the desk that has nothing to do with the current project. Documents on other tasks are distracting and give the impression of suffocating in the work.
In every job there are also urgent cases that need to be dealt with at short notice in between. But these should never become the order of the day. That’s why it’s important to say “no” from time to time. Agree with colleagues or superiors on a realistic time frame in which you can complete the supposedly urgent tasks.
Prevent burnout: take mini breaks to relax
Sitting in front of your PC for several hours at a stretch not only leads to muscle tension, but also to performance lows. Simply switch off in between. Short relaxation exercises bring new power. These include deep breathing, for example. Close your eyes. Breathe in deeply through your nose and feel your abdominal wall slowly bulge. Then exhale slowly through the mouth and watch how the abdomen becomes flatter again.
Repeat the exercise five times – preferably with the window open. The forehead massage also has a very relaxing effect. To do this, place your fingertips on the center of your forehead and then slowly and gently stroke from the center to the temples. Repeat the whole process eight times. It makes sense to take three to five mini breaks of half a minute to one minute each per hour.
Balancing program against burnout
The end of the working day is the time to regenerate. So leave the problems of the workday at the office. If you can’t manage that, you should develop a switch-off strategy. That means: after the workday, something nice is first on the agenda to distract you. Listening to music, cooking, meditating, taking a hot bath or jogging around the block create the necessary distance.
