Work space routine

Hello,  I want to talk about routines for your desk. Most of us now are working from home. And we probably have a work space, it might be the work space of your dreams because you've had time to craft it. Or it might be your kitchen table. And so, because of this in the current situation, one of the major sources of overwhelm for many people is clutter. piles of stuff everywhere means they're not conducive. It's not conducive to concentration and the sense of calm and organization so you can get things done. And there are many techniques and you can, you know, use to cut down the clutter. But here's a couple of simple things that you can do to make a major difference to your workspace in general. Set aside at least 15 minutes of your workday. putting things away time, stop, especially if you have a lot of like pens and papers, notes and cups and sources and that sort of thing. And start by stripping up everything that is on your desk and other surfaces and finding a home for it. And eventually what happens is instead of having to decide where stuff goes, everything will have a place. And that will cut down into the decision making that you have to do. And for most of us, to be honest, the last 15 minutes of a work day isn't the most productive part of the day anyway, you're probably worn out from your your day and looking for a mindless task to do to finish your day. So for these last 15 minutes, get up from your desk and get physical putting away the things that you use during the day that will help stretch and you know, get the blood flowing. Not only does it help you stay organized, but it also provides a psychological benefit. You're cleaning up your tidying up with signals to the brain that your workday is finished. It becomes a ritual. And this ritual sends you off with a tidy workspace after a long day at work. Another great benefit is obviously the next time when you come and sit down at your workspace, it'll be neat and tidy and everything will be in its place, especially when you come back the next morning, which What better way to start the day. In fact, you might even extend this ritual a little more than just putting things away. Once you get into the flow of doing this daily and seeing results, you might want to add another 15 minutes and dedicate this time to some deeper organizing. And you could extend it to do stop mindless tasks that get lost in the shuffle, like backing up files or watering plants. What you could also do is use that time to help set up your next day. One great thing to do and get into the habit of doing is planning your day the day before. And the reason I say this is a lot of the time you'll you'll come into work or come to your workspace, open your laptop and look at your email. And overnight, there's probably another 510 15 2035 emails in there that you have to go through. And all of a sudden your email becomes your to do list. And whatever else it is that you plan to do kind of gets left behind. And before you know it, it's lunchtime, then you haven't even started on the task, or the projects that you were going to do that day. So if you plan in advance the day before, or what it is that you want to work on, it means that you're primed and ready, you're gonna sit down and have to do these things. And maybe don't even open your emails until you've done an hour's worth or 100 minutes worth of other work of that project that you wanted to do. Or that organizing or that setting up a project management tool or whatever it is that you wanted to do. Why don't you try just for a week doing other tasks before opening your email and see what a difference that makes for your feeling of being overwhelmed. And I know it can be hard, because the anxiety kicks in and you desperately want to open that email. And to help you with this you could download, especially if you're using Gmail, there's a pause app that you can use that will pause your email, so it doesn't look like you've had any emails overnight. And so then when you're ready, click the pause and you know, all the email will come flooding in. So those are just a few suggestions of how to start creating your routines for your work space. Now that you're in a different place. I'd love for you to email me and let me know any other routines that you have, or things that you'd like to try things that you've heard of. Please feel free to email me at Janice@thecareerintrovert.com, helping introverts build their brand and get hired. Thank you for listening and have a great and healthy week