At the end of a long workday, everyone just wants to go home and relax. The last thing people want to do is keep working, but more oft than not, too many people feel like they have no other choice. They stay late at work or take mountains of paperwork home with them, only to feel like they’re even further behind at the end of the night. This doesn’t have to be the case, though. Here are a few simple tips and tricks to help you keep work at work.
Use technology.
If you ever expect to minimize all that after-work-working, then you’ll actually need to get your work done during work. To do that, you’ll need help, and the best way to get this help is through technology. From apps and gadgets to quality hardware and dependable IT support, technology is a surefire way to get more done, in less time. And what’s even better is that this help will never call in sick, will never show up to work late, and will never tell you no.
Minimize distractions.
While technology is a great way to supercharge your day-to-day, it’s also a great way to kill your focus, motivation, and anything and everything that’s reminiscent of productivity. Because of this, you need to get things under control, and to do this, think about incorporating distraction-blocking apps into your workday – like Freedom, StayFocusd, or Focus. These apps will help you concentrate on your workload, so you can get more done during the day and leave work on time.
Say no.
At the end of the day, you can only handle so much, and only you know how much that is. When coworkers or even managers approach you and ask you to do more – and you know you can’t finish it all in the timeframe requested – then let them know this. And if you feel comfortable with it, tell these people no. In most cases, people will be more than willing to accept your answer or, at the very least, more than willing to work with you.
Pick up hobbies.
If you’re really motivated to get off work in time, then start scheduling activities for yourself. As an example, you could sign up for a gym session that starts at 5:30 every evening and ask a friend to go to it with you. Do this and two things will happen. You’ll have to leave work on time if you want to make it to the session on time, and you’ll feel more obligated to go because you have a friend counting on you to show up.
Be realistic with your to-dos.
Sometimes it’s hard to leave work at work because you give yourself too much to do. When you create your daily or weekly to-do lists, you cram way too much into it, and as a result, you’re unrealistic with yourself. At this point, you’re basically forcing yourself to stay at work late or to take work home with you. If you struggle to create realistic to-do lists, then try to allot a timeframe to each task – this way you can actually determine how many tasks you can get done in one 8-hour workday.
Leave yourself gaps.
While we’re on the subject of to-do lists, you’re going to want to leave yourself some gaps in that schedule of yours. Things will come up and people will ask for random favors throughout the day. If you don’t give yourself time to take care of these things, then your real to-dos will begin to overflow into your home life. The ideal way to give yourself more time during the day is to give yourself more time to complete each to-do on your list. For example, give yourself 45 minutes to a complete a task that can typically be completed in 30 minutes. This way, you don’t actually have gaps of empty time in your schedule… gaps that coworkers can and will easily take advantage of.
