productivity

Should You Listen to Music While You Work?

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Listening_to_Music

I know a lot of people who like to listen to music while they’re working. But is it a good idea – or an unnecessary distraction?

Research indicates that the answer to that question isn’t entirely clear cut. Whether or not you should listen to music depends on the type of work you’re doing, the type of music you’re listening to, and the type of person you are.

In a 2019 study, researchers asked three groups of students to complete a series of easy and challenging tasks. (The easy task required them to cross off the words on a list that started with the letter A. The challenging task required them to memorize and recall pairs of words.) The first group of students worked in silence. The second group listened to a simple musical composition while they worked. And the third group listened to a complex musical composition while they worked. Here’s what they found:

  • You shouldn’t listen to music when performing challenging tasks – Study participants who worked in silence did 4% better on the challenging task. So when you’re working on something difficult or demanding, it’s best to not have any distractions.
  • You should listen to music when performing easy, routine tasks – Study participants listening to complex music did 7% better on the easy task than the students who listened to simple music or no music. Researchers theorized that this was because the complex music helped to keep the students’ minds from wandering, and helped them to stay on task.
  • If you’re the kind of person who gets bored easily, you shouldn’t listen to music at all – Students who tended to get bored easily and were frequently looking for some sort of distraction (for instance, by checking their phones) did worse on both types of tasks when any type of music was playing. Researchers believed that this was because they got too involved in the music. So if you feel like you get bored easily and you’re the type of person who checks your social media a lot, it would probably be best to work in silence.

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Mitchell, H. (2021, March 22). Listen to music while working? It depends. The Wall Street Journal, R6.

What to Do When You Don’t Get Enough Sleep

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Sleepy_Employee

I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. I went to bed late and then around 5:00 a.m., my cat, Gizmo, decided that we should both get up and play with a crumpled up piece of paper. This is currently Gizmo’s favorite toy, so he was excited by this idea. I thought we should sleep for a couple more hours instead, but I was overruled. (You just can’t argue with Gizmo.) So as a result, I’m feeling a little tired today.

And I know I’m not the only one who has tired days. A few of you might be feeling a little sleep deprived at the moment too. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that can cause us to lose sleep. But we still need to get up in the morning, get to work, be productive, and get things done.

Luckily, author Wendy Rose Gould has some tips to help make this process a little easier. She suggests that we try the following:

  • Go outside (or look out your window) – Nature is very rejuvenating and restorative. Fresh air can wake you up and natural sunlight can help to regulate your natural circadian rhythm. So step outside for a few minutes, open your window, or just look out the window. A little bit of nature goes a long way.
  • Eat healthy, balanced meals – Don’t reach for that doughnut or candy bar. Try to avoid eating sugary foods that will give you a brief sugar rush, and then will cause you to come crashing down shortly thereafter. Better food options include things like oatmeal, eggs, fruit, fish, and nuts.
  • Take a short nap – Personally, I hate napping. But I know a lot of people who find a brief nap to be really helpful when they’re feeling exhausted during the day. If you do decide to take a nap, try to limit yourself to 20 minutes. That should be just enough to perk you up.
  • Get some exercise – I know you’re tired. But getting some exercise will actually help to energize you, and make you feel more focused and alert. Take a walk around the block or dance around the room. Any form of exercise will do the trick.
  • Drink some coffee (but not too much) – Caffeine can help to wake you up, but don’t ingest too much. Drinking too much coffee or tea can make you feel sick and jittery (and it might make it harder for you to get to sleep in the evening).
  • Don’t make any big, important decisions – Sleep deprivation can hamper your ability to think logically and critically. So if you can spend the day doing easy tasks, that would probably be best. Do the complex, high-level, analytical work tomorrow, when you’re feeling more rested!

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Gould, W. R. (2018, February 23). How to get through a day on no sleep. Better by Today. Retrieved from: https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/how-get-through-day-no-sleep-ncna850781

How a New Nighttime Routine Could Help to Boost Your Productivity

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Good_Sleep

When people are sleep deprived, their productivity suffers. They aren’t able to focus easily or make decisions as effectively. Their decisions aren’t as sound, they tend to be less creative, and they may feel like they lack the energy to deal with stressful situations.

The majority of adults need about seven or eight hours of sleep a night. If you’re regularly getting less than that, you’re probably not getting enough sleep.

For some people, their lives are so busy that it’s simply not possible to get seven or eight hours of sleep each night. If you fall into this group, you have my sympathies! And I’m sure there’s no easy fix. (Otherwise, you would have done it!) But utilizing time management techniques could help – things like creating a detailed weekly schedule for yourself, prioritizing your activities and responsibilities, and having a plan in place in case unexpected developments occur.

But what if you try to get seven or eight hours of sleep a night, but you still feel exhausted – either because you have trouble falling asleep or because you’re not sleeping deeply? According to psychology professor June J. Pilcher, there are two effective techniques that you can try: 

  • Do something boring – If you have trouble falling asleep and you spend a lot of time every night lying in bed without actually sleeping, Pilcher suggests that you stop trying so hard. Instead of lying in bed, stressing about the fact that you’re not sleeping, get up and do something really boring. Reading an incredibly dull book or manual is a good option. Don’t check your phone, do anything fun, or do any kind of physical work (like sweeping the floor), because this can be stimulating. Just stick with your boring activity until you feel sleepy, and then try going back to bed.
  • Sleep less – If you have trouble falling asleep OR if you fall asleep easily, but still wake up feeling tired and groggy, Pilcher suggests that you try sleeping less. If you usually try to sleep about eight hours a night, limit yourself to seven hours a night for two weeks. Your body will compensate by making the most of the sleep time it has. You should fall asleep more easily and sleep more deeply. If you still feel tired after the two-week period, allow yourself an additional 15 minutes of sleep. See how that makes you feel, and then add additional 15 minute increments if necessary. Eventually you’ll discover the right amount of sleep for you, and you’ll wake up feeling refreshed and energized. Good luck!

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Downes, S. (2020, April 1). 2 signs you need to revamp your nighttime routine. Inc. Retrieved from: https://www.inc.com/sophie-downes/sleep-bedtime-night-routine-insomnia-productivity.html

Are You a Workaholic?

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Tired and exhausted workaholic woman sleeping on desk in office.

Are you a hard worker? Or do you take it a step farther? Is it possible that you’re actually addicted to your work?

Researchers at the University of Bergen have investigated the nature of workaholics. Based on what they learned, they created a Work Addiction scale. According to this scale, you may be a workaholic if you always (or often) experience the following: 

  • You think about how you can free up more of your time to do work.
  • You spend more time working than you intend to.
  • You work in order to deal with feelings of helplessness, anxiety, guilt, and/or depression.
  • Others have told you that you should cut back on the amount of work that you do.
  • You feel stressed if you are unable to work.
  • You no longer participate in leisure activities that you used to enjoy.
  • You work so much that you’re making yourself physically ill.

If these statements ring true for you, then you may be a workaholic. And you might want to consider trying to adjust your lifestyle. Because even though you may feel like you’re being really productive at work, research has shown that over time, workaholics tend to become less effective and productive. They also tend to suffer from health problems, as well as feelings of isolation and dissatisfaction.

If you think you might be a workaholic, and you’d like to change your ways, start keeping track of how much time your spend working and when your work might be interfering with your personal life. Once you’re aware of the impact that your work has on your life, you can start to make some changes. For instance, you might decide that you’ll no longer check your work email after leaving the office, you’ll limit the number of hours that you spend in the office, and you’ll take regular vacations. Anything that you can do to restore your work-life balance will help you to feel healthier, happier, more relaxed, and more fulfilled.

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Morin, E. (2014, September 18). 7 signs you may be a workaholic. Forbes. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2014/09/18/7-signs-you-may-be-a-workaholic/#379d730d70d7

How to Feel Confident at Work

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Confident_Employee

Confidence is a great quality. Confident employees tend to feel positive about their work and motivated to get things done. They trust in their own abilities. They’re productive and successful.

Confidence is something that you can build over time. And there are a lot of things that can boost your confidence. For instance, gaining relevant work experience, earning your coworkers’ respect, and receiving positive feedback are all things that can make you feel confident about your skills and abilities.

But according to author Sammi Caramela, there are also “confidence killers” that can bring you down and cause you to question your strengths. Here is a list of those confidence killers, and some tips on how to overcome them:

  • Being a perfectionist – It’s great that you take pride in your work and want to do a good job. But in many cases (especially when working on team projects in which you don’t have full control over the end product), it’s simply not possible to be perfect. So being a perfectionist can be incredibly stressful and make you feel terrible if you miss the mark. To avoid this problem, try to remind yourself that you don’t need to be perfect – you simply need to do your best. And your best work is something to be proud of.
  • Having a micromanaging manager – Micromanaging managers can make you feel like you’re not doing your job properly. They’re so involved in every detail of your work that they can make you start to question your skills. To avoid this confidence killer, try to remind yourself that micromanaging managers behave this way with all of their employees. You’re not being singled out, and the quality of your work is not being called into question.
  • Feeling disengaged – If you feel disengaged at work, it might be because you’re being asked to do work that doesn’t take advantage of your strengths or perhaps you never received the proper training. This can cause your confidence to drop. To stop this from happening, try talking to your manager about taking on projects that would play to your strengths. And if possible, try to get additional training, which would really help to boost your skills and confidence.
  • Being frightened of making a mistake – If you’re afraid of making a mistake, you’re probably going to avoid taking on challenging projects. So you won’t feel confident in your abilities because you’ll never have the chance to try something different and learn something new. To combat this, start small. Take on a new task that’s a little bit outside of your comfort zone. Once you realize that you can accomplish it, you’ll be ready to take on new challenges and you’ll have much more confidence in your abilities. And remember – even if a project doesn’t turn out exactly as you planned, it’s still a success if you learned from it.
  • Having critical coworkers – Try not to let critical coworkers bring you down. Do your best to be civil so you can continue to work together. Always be fair, polite, respectful, and professional. It’s OK if you don’t have (or want) a close relationship with certain coworkers. But don’t waste your energy being angry, and don’t let negative coworkers chip away at your confidence. Try not to take their comments personally.

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Caramela, S. (2018, June 26). 5 workplace confidence killers and how to beat them. Business News Daily. Retrieved from: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7828-women-career-confidence.html

Why Compassion Is Better Than Competition

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Happy successful multiracial business team giving a high fives gesture as they laugh and cheer their success.

Many organizations encourage their employees to be cut-throat and competitive with each other in order to succeed. These organizations believe that a cut-throat, high-pressure work environment is necessary to get employees to be productive and do their best work.

However, research has shown that a competitive environment is actually damaging and ultimately detrimental to an organization. That’s because cut-throat environments don’t lead to greater productivity. Rather, they encourage the following:

  1. Illness – Employees working under these types of conditions are at a much greater risk of getting sick and staying sick longer than employees working in a supportive environment. They’re more likely to have accidents at work, suffer from debilitating stress, and experience long-term health problems, including cardiovascular disease.
  2. Disengagement – Although a competitive, high-stress work environment can make employees feel engaged in the short-term, it doesn’t last long. Research has shown that employees working in this type of environment quickly start to feel detached and unhappy.
  3. Lack of loyalty – When employees don’t feel engaged or happy, they don’t tend to feel a lot of loyalty towards their organization. Thus, turnover is often very high. No amount of employee perks (such as free food, an office gym, or a liberal work-from-home policy) has been found to make any difference.

So what works better than competitiveness? Researchers have found that the most productive employees are those who work in a compassionate environment. This is the type of environment in which employees feel supported by their managers, are kind to one another, are accepting of other peoples’ mistakes, and treat each other with respect. Employees working in this type of environment are healthier, happier, more creative, and more effective in their work. And organizations with supportive environments are the most likely to succeed.

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Seppälä, E., & Cameron, K. (2015, December 1). Proof that positive work cultures are more productive. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2015/12/proof-that-positive-work-cultures-are-more-productive

Use Your Vacation Time

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Two beach chairs and colorful umbrella

Working Americans don’t tend to use all of their vacation days. A recent study indicated that more than half of Americans don’t use all of their time off.

These employees often report feeling stressed about the notion of taking time away from the office. They claim that they’re too busy with projects, things would fall apart at the office without them, or their bosses might think less of them.

In truth, however, research has shown that vacations generally have an extremely beneficial effect. People who use their vacation days tend to be more productive and successful – not less.

  • Vacations make you more energetic and motivated – Having time away from the office can help you to feel more energetic, enthusiastic, and motivated when you return. Having the opportunity to rest and relax will help you to be a more creative and productive employee.
  • Vacations help you to gain perspective – If you’re always bogged down in your everyday tasks and worries, you’ll never have the opportunity to reflect on your career and where it’s headed. Gaining a little perspective can help you to adjust your course, if needed.
  • Vacations help you to get ahead – When you return to the office after a vacation feeling relaxed, motivated, and energized, your boss will take notice. And that could make all the difference if you’re working towards a promotion.

So go ahead and use your vacation time! Not only will you get a much-needed break from the office, you’ll also be more productive, motivated, creative, and successful.

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Lastoe, S. (n.d.). Why taking all of your vacation days gets you ahead, according to career coaches. The Muse. Retrieved from: https://www.themuse.com/advice/why-taking-all-of-your-vacation-days-gets-you-ahead-according-to-career-coaches

The Importance of Respect

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Guys fist bumping congratulating each other with success at work

It’s so important for employees to feel like they’re respected at work. People who feel respected are more engaged, creative, productive, and loyal to their organization. Respect makes people feel more willing and able to communicate their ideas. It alleviates stress, and it reduces interpersonal conflict.

So how can leaders make their employees feel respected? They must ensure that they’re providing two distinct kinds of respect:

  1. Owed respect – This is the basic type of respect that every employee should receive, no matter what their position in the organization. It involves civility, inclusion, and making sure that all voices are heard.
  2. Earned respect – This is the type of respect that employees get after they complete a challenging task or project. It’s recognition for employees who have achieved something great or have gone above and beyond what was expected of them.

Leaders need to convey both types of respect – and they need to be balanced. If a leader conveys owed respect but very little earned respect, employees will feel like their extra efforts aren’t appreciated. If a leader conveys earned respect but very little owed respect, this will create an ultra-competitive environment in which employees will be unwilling to help each other out or work together.

Owed respect can be conveyed by listening to employees, appreciating what they have to say, being present, being open to their advice, backing-up employees in challenging situations, and reminding employees that they’re important to the organization. Earned respect can be conveyed by publically or privately acknowledging (and possibly rewarding) employees who have put in that extra effort.

And leaders should remember that respect is infinite. It’s not something that has to be carefully divvied out because there’s a limited amount. Any employee who achieves something great should be given earned respect. And all employees should be given owed respect, regardless of their role on the company org chart.

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Rogers, K. (2018, July-August). Do your employees feel respected? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2018/07/do-your-employees-feel-respected

What Your Daily Schedule Should Look Like

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Portrait of Happy Young Asian Businessman in Office Meeting Room

We all have an internal body clock that influences our ability to think and concentrate over the course of a day. As time passes, our energy levels and mood tend to rise and fall. Our cognitive abilities rise and fall as well.

There is some variation among people. Around 80% of the population consider themselves to be “morning people,” with the remaining 20% feeling more alert at night. But despite these differences, scientists have found that the majority of people follow a certain pattern of cognition. And based on that, author Daniel Pink has determined the best daily schedule for you to follow for optimal results.

So according to research, if you’d like to be happy and productive, this is what your daily schedule should look like:

  • Early morning – Develop an early morning routine, and stick to it. This might involve having some breakfast, exercising, and/or cuddling with your cat. Figure out what makes you feel happy and awake, and then do those things when you get up every morning.
  • Morning – This is the time when the majority of people feel the most alert and mentally sharp. Up until lunchtime, most people tend to be focused, efficient, accurate, and productive. This is when people are best able to tackle complex problems and make good decisions. So this is the time when you should schedule important meetings and work on your most challenging tasks.
  • Afternoon – The “post-lunch slump” is a real thing! People’s energy levels tend to drop in the afternoon (with the most tiring time of day being between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.). So this is a good time to do routine tasks, like checking your emails, returning phone calls, or running errands. This is also a good time to do creative work that doesn’t have a concrete deadline. But what if it’s not possible for you to work on routine or creative tasks, and you have to continue working on a challenging project? If you find yourself in this situation, try to wake yourself up by taking a short break (or two). Go for a walk outside and get some fresh air, or chat with a coworker about anything other than work.
  • End of the workday – Before you leave the office, take a few minutes to appreciate everything that you’ve accomplished during the day, and put together a list of things that you intend to do the following day. This will help you to feel good about what you’ve done and prepare you for what’s to come.

Brueck, H. (2018, August 13). The best time of day to do everything at work, according to science. Business Insider. Retrieved from: https://www.businessinsider.com/best-time-day-work-according-to-science-2018-5

The Surprising Truth About Multitasking

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Cartoon Man Multitasking with Sticky Notes

I think a lot of us believe that multitasking is a good thing. When we multitask at work, we feel like we’re being really productive. We can be on a conference call and respond to an email at the same time! We can answer a coworker’s questions while editing a document! We can work on a project while simultaneously planning a weekend getaway! No problem!

But in reality, multitasking is not especially efficient or effective. When we multitask, we’re not actually working on multiple things at the same time. We’re just switching back and forth between tasks, instead of focusing on one thing at a time. And this can have negative consequences. Researchers have found that constantly shifting our focus can lead to the following:

  • A pronounced drop in productivity (as much as 40%)
  • Increased mistakes and a lack of quality control
  • Stress and exhaustion

And apparently, people who believe that they’re really good at multitasking tend to be the worst at it. Researchers have found that people who multitask heavily are less able to get things done effectively than people who only multitask a little bit. It seems that when it comes to multitasking, the more you do it, the worse off you are.

So what should you do if you’re devoted to multitasking? How can you stop? Author Peter Bregman suggests that you follow these steps:

  1. Get rid of distractions. Close your office door, put your cell phone in your desk drawer, and try to separate yourself from anything else that tends to divert your attention.    
  2. Establish some tight deadlines. Try giving yourself a tight deadline for a task that you need to complete. The self-imposed deadline will help you to focus on getting the task done. And focusing on a single task will help you to feel less stressed and more productive!
  3. Don’t panic if you have to multitask a little bit. Life can be crazy sometimes. So if you have to bounce back and forth between tasks once in a while, it’s not the end of the world. Don’t beat yourself up about it!

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Bregman, P. (2010, May 20). How (and why) to stop multitasking. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2010/05/how-and-why-to-stop-multitaski.html

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