2020 was a busy year filled with topsy-turvy work schedules and locales. While I’m sure happy to close the chapter on 2020, making 2021 better has more to do with our actions than it does the day on the calendar. If we want to have a better year, it starts with what we spend a lot of our time doing: work!
Whether you plan to be back in the office or are working from home for the foreseeable future, we can all benefit from infusing some calm into our 9-to-5.
Now you may say, “Chris, how can I possibly make work a calm experience? There’s too much to do!”
So much of having a calm and collected workflow is not about what you have to do, but how you go about doing it.
6 Ways to Cultivate a Calm Workflow in 2021
1) Take Care of Yourself
If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know how much physical fitness and wellness means to me. Prioritizing my health has made all the difference in the world not only in how I feel and function but in how I work.
When we’re well-rested and hydrated, get regular exercise, and focus on good nutrition, our bodies manage stress and cognitive tasks better: period. You have to start with this foundation of self-care, regardless of what kind of work you do. It sets the stage for how well you’re able to perform and handle the curveballs thrown your way.
2) Communicate with Clarity
I find that proper communication avoids a lot of undue stress. That communication can be between team members, bosses and employees, departments, or individuals. Clear communication is at the heart of efficient work that is goal-driven and purposeful. It’s how we know what we are to do and why we are doing it. It is how we gain clarity, ask for help, and navigate obstacles.
Prioritize clear communication in your work life — it will instill confidence not only in yourself but in those working with and around you.
3) Adopt a Growth Mindset
What’s more stressful than the fear of failure? In the working world...not much! However, we need to pull ourselves away from this idea of either win or fail in our work. We so easily see “failure” as the end of a venture, or worse: a moral, intellectual, or personal failure on our part. It doesn’t have to be that way.
A growth mindset is one in which we approach failure as an opportunity: opportunities to learn better strategies, to grow our skills, and to bounce back with a wider, greater foundation for future success. When we recognize that both good and bad, both wins and fails, shape our future, we can more readily adapt. Failure becomes a learning and growing experience rather than a definitive bad outcome.
4) Assess Your Values
I recently wrote about attention management (versus time management). Part of what will keep you calm at work is having a handle on what you value. These are the things that truly demand and deserve your attention. Our work lives are often filled with noise and distractions. When we’re able to cut out these unnecessary things, we’re more able to accomplish that which is truly important to us. In turn, working on what matters allows you to feel purposeful, driven, and calm. So ask yourself...what do you value?
5) Practice Flexibility
Nothing is more stressful and less calm than having a wrench thrown into your plans. This is particularly true if said plan was the only one you had! Flexibility is key in workplace calm. We have to be able to bounce back from the unexpected, to pivot without reeling. Flexibility is difficult to master, but each time we adapt to a new, unexpected situation, the better it gets. Roll the punches, friend. It’s easy to get flustered by the sudden developments, but don’t let what you expected become so important that you can’t deal with anything less.
6) Delegate
Delegating can be hard. Most of us, if we’re honest, see asking for help or delegation as a sign of weakness. After all, we should be able to do it all ourselves! We so often want to do it all to prove our worth. That said, it takes a stronger person to know when to delegate. These are the people who recognize their strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of others, and play them well. Delegation not only removes some of the stress and burden from your shoulders, but it allows everyone to shine.
Delegate before you’re overwhelmed. You will find that doing the work that best suits your skillset is far less stressful than trying to tackle it all on your own.
What keeps you feeling calm and in control in a chaotic work environment? Share your tips in the comments.