Afsha
Cross your heart and admit it: at some point in our lives, you’ve come across someone whom you’ve admired for their effective work routines.
But what distinguishes these people from the rest at work?
It is that their efficient work-life habits make them not only incredible at work but also tremendously productive and efficient. And what do you do? You look at them with starry eyes and wonder… Are these people for real?
So, if you want to escape this vicious cycle of mediocrity and instability, learn the ways of the wise, and build healthy work habits, you’ve stumbled upon the right rock!
In this blog, we look over ten effective work habits that most efficient people swear by and that make them stand out at their workplaces and drive them to success.
So, strap on your belts, and let’s nosedive into this journey and explore the world of good habits, adopt a few of them, and carve your path towards a successful career and life!
10 Effective Work Habits That You Can Incorporate in Your Work-Life
It’s a thing that’s been said for ages: inculcating healthy work habits will put you on a path to success.
Good or bad, we are all, after all, defined by our habits, and sometimes the bad habits can get blown out of proportion in professional settings. In fact, you could be the most adored person or the most avoided person at your workplace, all just based on your working habits.
Good work habits, such as behavioral patterns, heavily contribute to an employee’s job performance. These small traits are success drivers that help enhance productivity, teamwork, efficiency, and overall job satisfaction.
So, to help you out, we have curated ten effective work habits for simplifying work-life and building successful work-life balance habits.
1. Be on time
To start off, the one habit that always stands out is punctuality. No matter your position, being on time for work is imperative. Being constantly late for work would portray you as someone with no accountability or work ethic.
Also, if you are working on time every day, you will be able to complete your assigned tasks on time. This is a work-life harmony practice that will prevent you from putting in extra hours to complete your work.
If you are punctual, you’ll be better able to manage your work-life balance. Being punctual is essential for developing effective work routines.
Punctuality and commitment to your work are two things that greatly reflect your professionalism. The best way to practice this habit is to plan your office hours or day beforehand so you are never late to an event.
2. Eliminate All Distractions
Distractions come in all forms and shapes and can greatly affect your productivity and focus. For some, it can be scrolling endlessly through reels or browsing memes; some might take part in entertaining office gossip; and for others, it might involve taking a stroll or two.
Believe it or not, these little pastimes are considered distractions since you are spending time elsewhere instead of being productive.
You can waste a lot of time unconsciously, and towards the end of the day, you are left with nothing but a pocketful of unfinished tasks.
Productivity Tip: Set timelines for your tasks and do not let external factors affect your schedule.Also, surround yourself with positive and productive people who concentrate on their work.
You could also eliminate distractions by reducing the number of times you check your phone or involve yourself in other non-productive activities.
3. Manage Your Time
Time management is one of the many efficient work habits that you should include in your work routines.
Avoid taking longer breaks, discussing personal lives at work, or indulging in other non-productive activities during office hours.
Spend time planning your days so you have a clear idea of your responsibilities to meet your goals. Make it a habit and do this either at the beginning of each working day or at the end to prepare for the next.
Practicing effective time management strategies means that you avoid spending time delaying or postponing your tasks. Achieving your daily or weekly goals helps you build better work values for long-term work discipline.
To inculcate this work habit, you should:
- Avoid multitasking
- Prioritize your tasks
- Reduce distractions around yourself
Productive Tip: Cultivate effective time management by minimizing distractions, prioritizing tasks, and planning your days to enhance work discipline and productivity.4. Respect and Meet Your Deadlines
A lot of benefits come along if you strictly adhere to your deadlines. Completing your tasks before their respective deadlines also accounts for one of the many stress reduction techniques.
When you achieve your deadlines, you will also have time to support your managers as and when needed. This way, you will not only display your professionalism and work ethic but also come across as a dependable individual contributing to an efficient workplace.
Trying to stick to your deadlines is an efficient work habit that you should adopt to simplify your work life. Also, completing your work on time highlights that you can get your tasks done efficiently and are accountable.
Productivity Tip: If you struggle to follow through on your deadlines, you could break them into short-term goals for yourselves.This can serve as an action plan to help you better focus on the task at hand. In addition to this, you should also communicate with your higher-ups about your workload in order to set realistic deadlines.
Having a to-do list for all your daily or weekly tasks could also help you deal with your deadlines.
5. Communicate Effectively
Communication is the key.
No matter whether you work in the office or remotely, make it a point to communicate clearly with your coworkers. Whether you’re communicating in person or through emails, be sure to clearly explain yourself courteously.
Report on your work progress regularly to your managers in order to keep them in the loop. Build the ability to communicate with different employees within your organization, be they coworkers, managers, or executives.
Nonetheless, along with being good at communicating, make it a point to be a good listener as well. It is not only an efficient work habit but also an excellent skill to possess.
Here are some things you could do to be a good listener:
- Don’t interrupt others as they speak
- Ask relevant questions when necessary
- Reiterate the ideas in your own words to ensure you understand them correctly
- Observe the speaker’s body language and take hints from non-verbal cues
6. Welcome Constructive Criticism
Being able to accept criticism is perhaps one of the most healthy work habits. Giving or receiving negative feedback is an important aspect of growth and something that is needed from time to time.
You should learn to depersonalize a message and understand that constructive criticism from colleagues or your manager can help you grow and become a better version of yourself. So welcome it whenever it is offered.
Be self-aware, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and spend time on them to appropriately and successfully achieve your goals.
Productivity Tip: Some easy ways to initially deal with criticism include holding back your first reaction, asking questions so you understand the situation better, and lastly, showing appreciation. If you keep a positive attitude toward constructive criticism, you'll eventually become more gracious about it.7. Take Initiative and Keep Learning
You can’t just sit around and admire productive people and hope the same for yourself. For success, you need to take action!
Take initiative by volunteering to take the lead on a project or perform a task before you are asked. Ask for new projects proactively and try to do more work even if it’s not in your job description.
If you work remotely, try starting your tasks without waiting to delegate them to your manager.
But remember not to burden yourself if you already have too much to tend to. Nothing good comes from taking up a task and then leaving it unfinished later.
And amidst all this, don’t forget to continue learning and upskilling yourself.
Identify the skills you lack and attend workshops or take courses for professional certification to bridge those knowledge gaps.
8. Ask Questions
No matter how much experience you possess in your field of work, there’s always a possibility that you might get stuck at some point.
So learn to ask for help when you need it. It is a healthy work habit that could help you a lot in the long run.
Also, sometimes when you ask questions, you could also end up facilitating discussions that could further benefit both parties. By asking questions, you can learn more about your company or the field you are working in, and it also conveys the interest and curiosity you have in your work to your managers.
For simplifying work-life balance, asking questions is an effective habit to pick up!
However, there’s always a line that you should avoid crossing: the line between curiosity and annoyance. Make note of the answers you receive so you don’t end up asking too many questions, especially repeated ones because it might end up becoming a bad work habit that you definitely do not need.
Productive Tip: Embrace asking questions to expand your knowledge and foster discussions while avoiding overdoing it to maintain a positive balance.9. Stay Organized
Being organized doesn’t mean you have to possess mage-level organizational skills at your job.
You definitely don’t want to be in the limelight for having a cluttered desk or being known for your messed-up work schedule at your workplace.
But if you lack organizational skills, you could always use a task management tool to make your life a tad easier by letting it organize your work, track deadlines, and even visualize your tasks.
Being organized and decluttering your environment is a critical aspect of good workplace habits because it has a major impact on your focus, creativity, and overall productivity.
You could start small by doing things like:
- Creating checklists
- Taking short and relevant notes
- Using color-coding on your calendar
- Have a filing system.
- Taking short, regular breaks during work to avoid being overwhelmed
Try inculcating these little habits, and then continue going wayward.
10. Avoid Stress or Burnout
Getting stressed due to work is as common as it gets. And since humans still lack the ability to look into the future, it is important to stay calm.
With the prime reasons that induce stress are the fear of losing a job, pressure to perform, work overload, or long working hours, it becomes imperative to include stress reduction strategies in the workplace.
Failing to manage stress may have an adverse effect on your productivity, which could in turn increase your burden and affect your mood. You need to be able to manage your stress levels to function efficiently at your workplace.
Identify the reasons for your stress. Once you accept that you are prone to stress, you take the first step toward overcoming it.
Productive Tip: Recognize and address workplace stressors early, as managing stress is crucial for maintaining productivity and well-being.How do Flexible Workspaces Improve Your Work-life Balance?
After all the tips and tricks we’ve discussed above, one question that still looms over our heads is how to achieve work-life balance now that everyone has come to terms with hybrid and remote work models.
The answer? Flexible workspaces. Yes, if you are part of the hybrid or remote workforce, flexible workspaces or shared office spaces are your answers to maintaining the correct equilibrium between your personal and work lives while also being productive at the same time!
For starters, when you work out of flex office spaces, you get to enjoy increased work flexibility, meaning that you get to decide when and where you work. Also, having the freedom to choose your work schedule allows you to divide your time between your professional and personal lives as you like.
Hence, when you have more flexibility in choosing your work location and schedule, you adapt to numerous work-life balance habits and experience an improved work-life balance, which not only boosts your productivity and efficiency but also prevents you from having work-related stress and burnout.
Carve Out Your Success by Building Good Work-Life Habits
If you have made up your mind to improve your work habits, wait no longer and get to work this instant!
Though developing these habits won’t happen overnight, you’ll eventually have all these healthy work habits inculcated in your work life sooner rather than later.
So, be patient, because once you put your mind to it, you can most certainly master the craft of efficient work habits and become the person everyone looks up to!