Lighter & Brighter Series 04: Your Tips for Working and Getting Things Done

This essay originally appeared in the Monday morning newsletter on 8/30/21.

It’s the last Monday of the month, which means it’s time for the next installment of the Lighter & Brighter series. The Lighter & Brighter Series is like a monthly book club discussion… but sans books and with simple “happiness hacks” instead. If you’re interested in more, you can read past discussions here (we’ve covered Mondays, budgeting and taking care of home so far this year!).

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how even though my days of following an academic calendar are over, I still find myself leaning into that new-school-year feeling when September rolls around. And this year, I’m definitely feeling inspired by the fresh start because I’ll actually be starting in a new position on Sept. 1! The new role is with my current company, but I’ll officially be in a different department that specializes in the work I’m really interested in. I’m SO excited. 

Over the past month and as my start date approaches, I’ve been thinking about my work habits and asking you all for tips on how you make work/getting things done more enjoyable. Thank you so much to everyone who submitted ideas and thoughts! I absolutely loved reading the submissions and I’m thrilled to share them in today’s newsletter.

I’m so interested in how people spend their time, and specifically, how people spend their time at work. So, I hope you enjoy these tips as much as I did. I know there’s a few I definitely want to try out! Even though we are once again facing an uncertain fall, maybe something from below will resonate with you or inspire a shift in your day-to-day routine (whatever that may look like right now).

Here’s to getting re-energized around our approach to work and to how we get things done during these last couple months of 2021! (Wow, that felt crazy to type.)

Lighter & Brighter Series 04: Your Tips for Working and Getting Things Done 

Planning tips

• Plan at the macro level for the week on Sunday, looking at the big deliverables with the perspective of the total week. This lets me plan for the big meetings, ensuring I go into them with data and opinions to explore. 
• Whenever I make a to-do list for Monday before logging off on Friday, I’m always SO glad I did. It helps Monday morning to run much smoother.
• When I make my to-do list for the next day in advance, I find I’m far more likely to jot down the bigger, more important priorities rather than letting my email inbox rule my schedule. My drafted-in-advance list reminds me of what I actually want to focus on. 
• I don’t miss sitting in traffic, but there are things I miss about my commute. I would always use the time to think about the first task I wanted to do when I sat down at my desk. Without this commute/reflection time, I sit down to work and feel like I’m already running behind, which makes me feel anxious. So, I’ve tried to incorporate some kind of reflection time into my morning routine. For example, I’ll think about my day as my coffee brews or as I brush my teeth. It definitely helps! 

Automation/managing energy tips 

• Make anything routine automatic to eliminate the amount of decisions you need to make. For example, I eat the same couple of things for breakfast and when my kids were young, I had a weekly printout of what went into the backpack and what came out every day (i.e. PE clothes, snacks for aftercare, etc.). Eliminating the amount of decisions or thinking needed on these things helps me balance. 
• I unapologetically wear the same outfit every Monday. There’s freedom in taking just one decision off my Monday plate. 
• When I make my to-do list, I use a coding system to indicate if a task is mentally-demanding (like creating a presentation, drafting a proposal) or more routine (like an expense report). Nothing ever goes completely to plan, but when I do have that opportunity to select what task to work on next, I can pick something that matches how I’m feeling. 
• Whenever I get a new request or task, I pause and ask myself two questions: 1) how could this be easier? And 2) what does “done” look like? Since I’ve started asking myself this question, I’m confident I’ve saved a ton of time and energy.

Email tips (BTW, love the two contradicting opinions below… shows that everything is subjective and the opposite of what works for someone might be what works for you and vice versa!) 

• I try to do one important task in the morning before I even open Outlook. This ensures I’m starting my day pursuing my own agenda instead of reacting to the messages in my inbox. I know the possibility of this varies depending on your line of work, but I think others could find it helpful to experiment with working on something and waiting until 10 am… or 9 am… or even 8:30 am before opening their email. 
• We’ve been warned repeatedly that it’s a bad idea to start your day by checking email, but for me, scanning my email is my preferred way to start my day. When I’m mentally the clearest, I spend my first 20 minutes of the workday responding to the more complicated emails. Otherwise, I delay these emails again and again because by the time I go to respond, I’ve run out of steam. 
• If you have Microsoft Outlook, you can set up a “focus plan,” where Outlook automatically finds dedicated focus time in your calendar. During the blocks, your presence state in Microsoft Teams or Skype for Business is automatically set to “focusing,” allowing your team members to know you are heads down and working. And like any other appointment in your calendar, the time can be canceled or adjusted to a more convenient hour simply by clicking on the event.

Miscellaneous tips 

• Throughout the week, small administrative tasks pop up. I corral all these non-urgent, yet important, tasks into a folder in my email titled “Friday.” I’m admittedly not as motivated or productive at the end of the week as I am earlier in the week, so I’ve found batching these more mindless tasks to be a good use of my time on Friday. Plus, having a designated place to “put” them  allows them to stay out of my mind and off my to-do list. Alternatively, if you don’t want to wait for a specific day, you could decide to batch these tasks on a daily basis.. I could see it being really helpful to jump into one of these tasks right after lunch to get you back into your working groove! 
• Become OK with letting small bad things happen. If you don’t, you’ll spend your whole day putting out fires and never have time to up level your skillset or make room for life-changing big things. 
• After many, many years of working at this, my biggest lesson/advice is to get clear on what work/life balance looks like for YOU and then articulate it to those who need to know. This opens up the opportunity to say no without having to explain over and over, and lets your manager/peers help you to solve (which almost everyone wants to do if you can tell them what the solution looks like for you!).

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