A few weeks ago, we presented a webinar on peaceful time management, with emphasis on peaceful.
We talked about four of the major forces working against your productivity by creating distraction and even chaos (definitely not peace).
We also provided a few different ways to work on creating more peace at work and then asked participants for ideas on how they would implement these suggestions.
As we approach the summer months (in North America), and hopefully a bit slower pace for you at work, we encourage you to review these ideas, add your own, and commit to a few of them to create more peace in your relationship with time and productivity at work.
Suggestion 1: Approach Your Workload with More Neutrality.
Your to-do list is what it is. You don’t have to feel like a failure when you don’t check everything off and you shouldn’t base your worth on getting it done. You don’t have to love it; you don’t have to hate it. Approach it with neutrality.
Here are some of the ways nonprofit communicators said they would implement this suggestion:
- I will feel empowered to say no.
- I will set the to-do list for MY capacity, not everyone else’s desires or priorities.
- I will recognize that not being able to complete everything isn’t on me.
- Not getting everything done isn’t about my performance or an evaluation of me; it’s all about capacity.
- There will always be more to do and that’s OK.
Suggestion 2: Be More Intentional with Your Time.
It’s very easy to bounce from task to task, meeting to meeting, responding to what’s thrown in front of you and to all the notifications without once pausing to think, What should I really be doing right now? We encourage you to literally stop and be still. Take three deep breaths and intentionally think about the next thing you do.
Here’s how nonprofit communicators said they would implement this suggestion:
- I will block off time on my calendar to focus on my priorities only or “deep work.”
- I will turn off notifications more often.
- I will think about why/if I need to switch tasks instead of just doing it and jumping all around.
- I will spend 30 minutes at the start of my day journaling to get grounded and focused.
- I will pick just three things per day that are essential to get done and make sure I don’t get distracted from completing those.
Suggestion 3: Seek and Embrace Cycles or Seasons of Work and Rest
Nothing alive in this world is at full power or expansive growth all the time — even machines need downtime maintenance! Everything has seasons of rising and falling, waxing and waning, rest and growth, etc. So do you as a working person. So does the work of your organization. Look for those places where you can slow down and recuperate.
Here are suggestions from webinar participants on what they will do differently:
- I will give myself 3-4 hours a week to work on what I personally feel like doing.
- I will analyze my own personal up and down cycles and those of my organization to be more clear on where they are.
- I will remind my co-workers that the nature of my work means my up and down times are opposite of theirs and they need to understand that!
- I want to implement “no meeting” weeks!
- I will take real rest breaks and not use downtime as a way to catch up on other work.
How about you? What can you do to implement these suggestions? Add a comment if you like!
