2020 has served to be truly an interesting year for a lot of us. For some, we adapted fairly well, while for others the disruption in everyday life drew a wedge into their daily routines. Life happens, and we get thrown into situations that constantly challenge us as human beings.
Even if at Le Site, we are a tight-knit team of talented and restless individuals, it has been challenging at times with the whole pandemic happening and social distancing coming into effect. It has been harder for everyone to not only stay connected but to stay diligent, motivated, and focused.
To keep the spirit and energy high, Ha Mi, our People Operations Manager at Le Site, has been sharing helpful tips with the team on how to develop or improve upon a routine in order to stay diligent, motivated, and focused at work and in daily life.
In today’s article, to ring in the new year, she will be sharing those recommendations with you.
Ha Mi, our People Operations Manager at Le Site
Tips for Staying Diligent
Having something to look forward to each day will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Notice that with each task, the common denominator is you.
You are responsible for your own outcomes. Staying diligent is the best way to prove to yourself that you can do anything as long as you put your mind to it. The more you do something repeatedly, the better you get at it as confidence is born from competency.
1. Identify what tasks set you in the right mood. Whether it’s starting your day off with dancing in the morning to your favourite songs, having a cup of tea or coffee, or even a cold shower.
2. Chose habits and actions that are small to do and that you know you can do every day. For example, work 15 minutes a day on a difficult task at work, taking a walk during lunchtime, making your bed, or reading 10 minutes before going to bed.
3. Write a list of what you need to do throughout the day. Now ask yourself, “if I need to be out of town tomorrow, what is it on this list that I HAVE to complete today no matter what”.
4. For a new skill you are developing or project you are starting: write a timeline or plan your day on how much time you will dedicate to this and commit to it.
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- Create a tracker for yourself and dot down the days you complete a certain task or habit. Tracking and analyzing the way you function will give you all the data you need in order to make changes or to see what is really going on.
- Perhaps look into bullet journaling as a resource, they have many great ways to track things (habit tracker, health tracker, fitness tracker).
5. Don’t forget to reward yourself once in a while. Staying diligent for so long is a tough task that not many can accomplish. Celebrate this win!
“Do something everyday that you don’t want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.” – Mark Twain
Tips for Staying Motivated
Motivation is what drives us to make things happen, but we quickly realize that motivation is not going to take us there alone. Understanding what motives you and learning how to be self-motivated will help you tremendously, especially during times where you need to get the most done.
1. Identify what puts you in a good mood to be motivated, and what situations leave you unmotivated. Knowing so will help you ensure you are always in the right mindset and space to succeed. Are you surrounded by a clear space? Or is your workspace darkly lit and cluttered? What kind of music are you listening to when doing certain tasks?
2. Remember your “why”. We oftentimes fall off track on our goals because we forget the reason why we are doing this. Why are you working at this company? What are the tasks that you like the most in your job? Don’t ever forget your “why”.
3. Find your people. Fill your circle with individuals who have the same values as you, and who strive for the same. We are the sum of the 5 people we hang out with. If you surround yourself with highly motivated individuals, you will find yourself quickly adapting to their habits as well.
4. Acknowledge your accomplishments. Too often we forget to enjoy the process and pat ourselves on the back for small wins. It is so important to do this so you never forget where you first came from.
5. Set goals that interest you (look up push vs pull goals).
“Excuses sound best to the person that’s making them up” – Tyrese Gibson
Tips for Staying Focused
We all live busy lives with many competing priorities and tasks that seem like we can never tackle. This is why it is all the more important to organize your life so that life does not end up dragging you around. When you properly organize your life, you will find yourself to be more diligent, more motivated, and more focused.
1. Get rid of distractions. Are you the type to open an email each time it pop-ups? This can be counterproductive and disrupt your workflow. To increase your focus, you should turn off all notifications from your phone and desktop applications. You may also want to limit checking your emails only four times per day and handling each inquiry only once.
2. Practice the Pomodoro technique. This timing method helps your brain to stay on a task for short periods of time. Set yourself a timer for 25 minutes and dedicate that entire block of time to that single task. When the buzzer goes off, take a 5-minute break. Then, set the timer again and get to work.
3. Fuel your body. We all know what “hanger” looks like, and the effects of not eating are all too real to ignore. Make sure you fuel your body during your workday with appropriate foods and educate yourself on what you should be eating (look up best brain foods).
4. Get enough sleep. It is so important to be well-rested if you want optimal performance. Try tracking how much sleep you get in a week, you may or may not find some interesting data there.
5. Make a to-do list, and focus on similar tasks. We’re all guilty of multitasking but in reality, multitasking can take a serious toll on productivity. Some researchers suggest that multitasking can actually reduce productivity by as much as 40%. At work, try doing one task at a time or group similar tasks together. For example, if you are working on a Black Friday campaign, focus on planning the campaign then move on to each individual element that makes the campaign such as email, paid media, social media, website banner, etc.
“Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can do what others can’t.” – Jerry Rice
Properly identifying what it is you’re trying to accomplish, what outcomes you want, and what steps you will take to get things done already puts you one step ahead of everyone who isn’t. While everyone is on autopilot, you are actively grabbing life by the reigns and telling it where YOU want to go. I can give advice and lists of tips and tricks, but it ultimately comes down to mindset. I hope those tips have been useful and will help you reach your objectives for the new year. Stay on the lookout as I’ll be sharing more behind the scenes content with our Sitizen Insights series.