Getting Things Done

Do you find yourself feeling it’s never enough time to do what you want to do? Can’t seem to finish a task but feeling exhausted anyway? Or always postponing some work and ended up not get it done as well as expected?

If you do, then you might be feeling burn out at work! In contrary of a lot of people think, often times burn out feeling is not because you have too much work, but more because you don’t find pleasure in what you are doing. Let’s reflect on how we work and see how we could improve our productivity and avoid feeling burn out at work. Check out these 5 tips!

1. Check your motivation

Be sure of WHY do you want to do this activity and keep that in mind when you find your mind starts to wander. Sure, using “After this I get to watch that movie on Netflix” is a good reward, but try to look for a Performance based motivation (“If I do this I will look so awesome during presentation”), and Mastery based motivation (“If I do this, I will get better at it”). The latter one is said to be more long lasting.

2. Manage your time

Be realistic in scheduling your time. Putting too much on your plate would just give you unnecessary anxiety when you can’t finish it on time. Schedule reasonable breaks/leisure time in between your tasks to allow yourself to regain energy to focus. If you find a to-do-list overwhelming, turn it into hourly schedule. Set an alarm for each activity shifts. Sometimes it is difficult to get your focus back after a break, but follow the schedule and do the task anyway and take it from there.

3. Remove Distractions

Time and energy are so precious and greatly affect your productivity. Be sure to spend them on things that matter. In your productive time, focus is utterly important. Remove potential distractions to maintain your laser sharp focus. That means: no multitasking, log out of social media, no snacking, no chitchatting, ignore pop up notifications. Designate a special time to check your phone and bulk reply messages.

4. Compassionate Inner Talk

Be aware of how you talk to yourself when you are faced with a challenge. Self Punishment and overly critical is not an effective way to get us to work. It would only build resentment towards ourselves or others. Try a compassionate and personalized inner talk to encourage us to get work done, and improve ourselves. Say your name first, and talk to yourself like a kind coach would.

5. Improve your skills

Make sure you’ve got what it takes to get the job done. If you need more guidance, there is no shame in asking for support from someone more experienced. Get more trainings or courses to get new set of skills or to sharpen it. Nowadays you can find almost any knowledge online, use it to your advantage!