Just Another Day at the Office: A Simple Daily Structure
“Just another day at the office.” Wouldn’t that be a nice answer if someone asked you how work workday went? And is that currently what you would say? Or would your answer be closer to something like: “Don’t ask.”, “Absolute chaos.” or “It feels like I was only answering emails all day and got nothing done.”
What a Bad Day at the Office May Look Like
A bad day in the office may have many reasons. For you, it may mean that the people around you were not in a great mood. Maybe you didn’t get the help or information you needed. Maybe you missed meetings or forgot to call someone back. Your computer crashed or an essential program stopped working at the worst possible time. Sometimes is just the task itself.
A bad day at the office happens to everyone. Usually, it’s a one-time thing and you can rely on tomorrow being better.
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When Consecutive Bad Days Turn Into a Road to Burnout
If your stress at work becomes regular, you should be concerned. While most jobs have more intense and less intense seasons within the year, those should even out.
If not, your work-life balance may be tipping in the wrong direction. Unaddressed, continuous stress at work can lead to burnout and ultimately to unhappiness.
You start dreading driving into work. The job you once loved turns into something you just try to get through until you go home for the day.
You stay later into the evening to get your work done and answer emails. Because you work longer hours, you get more done, but your workflow also keeps coming.
Eventually, you may lose your purpose in your work, stop engaging and even start looking for something else.
This, my friend, does not have to be the case. Even a high-pace job in a busy leadership office can be structured in a way that you go home and think “Just another day in the office – no biggy”.
Try the 9 step structure below.
Try This Daily Structure
#1 Keep Your Emails Closed and Make a Plan
This may be hard, but keeping your emails and other communication tools closed is essential for you to create a clear structure for your day.
For more tips on starting your day without email, read How to be Less Stressed at the Office with This Easy Email Habit.
Come into your workspace, hang up your jacket and bag. Put your food in the fridge. Get some coffee. Say “hi” to your favorite co-worker or your boss. Then take a moment to make a plan.
I love this quote and can’t cite it enough:
“Everything in your inbox is someone else’s agenda.”
In order for you to set your own agenda for your day, you need to keep your messages closed.
#2 Set an Intention
Now, you may not be the type of person who likes intentions. If that’s so, you could call it “goal” or “Something you would like to do differently today.”
An office is busy and things move fast. You probably often feel like you are just spinning in circles. So, choose one thing that you are going to focus on today.
Here are a few examples I like:
Today I will check every email I send for subject line, attachments and clear writing before I hit send.
Today I will do one thing at a time and not switch-task.
Today I will take my 30-minute lunch break.
#3 Define When You Are Going to Leave [For Your Dentist Appointment]
You may think: Well, I haven’t even started my day yet and you want me to determine when I am going to head out? Yes. It is easy to stay “just a little bit longer”. Work is endless and will always be there. How often have you told yourself, “I will leave in 10.” and 40 minutes later you are still there?
You have a beautiful life outside of work. When are you going back to it today?
Defining when you will leave for the day may be hard if you don’t have an appointment or obligation. I encourage you though. Try to set that end time and treat it like a hard-to-get dentist appointment you need to get to.
You can start by setting a more “realistic” end time, given your current office day intensity. An any case, make sure you stick to that time.
For example, let’s take 4:30 p.m. This is the time you are leaving the building and going home.
#4 Backwards Plan When You Need to Start Closing Out
Now that you have scheduled the time you are leaving the office, you need to backwards plan.
If you want to leave at a certain time, you need enough time before that to close out your day.
I recommend planning for 30 minutes. Some things you need to do so you can leave at 4:30 p.m. may be:
- Finishing a project
- Getting back to someone
- Organizing digital files
- Checking in on your tasks
- Updating your calendar
- Going to the bathroom
- Getting your leftover food from the fridge
- Cleaning your coffee mug
- Cleaning up your physical space
- Getting your stuff from a storage location
- Dropping something off while you are heading out
All of these little things take time. And if you add them up, they may take at least a half hour.
So, schedule your closeout based on when you are going to leave.
Your closeout time is also when you stop checking and answering emails and chats.
When you actually make time for your close-out time for the day, you are more likely to leave at the time you planned on leaving.
#5 Schedule Your Break
Do you take a lunch break? Or go for a walk? Or have a coffee break? Your day may be too busy to do that and I understand. I have often worked through lunch because I was “in the flow” or felt like I could not leave my desk because people needed me there.
But remember that breaks are important and you are legally required to take a break if you work a certain number of hours.
Your break can be flexible depending on when you feel like you need one, when you get hungry or when you are in the flow of getting things done. However, try not to take a break once you are brain-fried already. Instead, take a break intentionally, for example, between tasks.
For our example, let’s start with a 30-minute lunch break at noon.
#6 Define 1-3 Tasks to Complete from a Prior Day
Now that we have your end time, close-out time and breaks scheduled, let’s define a few tasks you need to complete.
Start with something that you know is on your plate from a prior day. Remember, at this point, you have not checked your email yet.
I know you may be thinking: “Well, I have about 10 things I need to get done today from prior days.” And that’s most likley true. But try to just write down a maximum of 3things from a prior day. Writing down only a few things ensures that you are really committing to these tasks. If you can, write down only 1.
#7 Schedule Time For Checking and Answering Email
At this point, you already have a couple of things on your to-do list for the day. And we all know that most of the work that fills our day, does not come from planned work, but from our email inbox.
To not get overwhelmed by the email inbox, schedule intentional time, when you are going to check your email and when you are going to reply and act on the things in your email.
For example, if you arrive at work at 8 a.m., schedule time to check your emails at 9 a.m. to make sure you are not missing anything that needs to get done today.
Then schedule time to attend to the requests in your inbox. For example from 10:30a.m. -noon.
Here an article on the importance of not checking your email right away in the morning. How to be Less Stressed at the Office with This Easy Email Habit
By scheduling time for checking responding to email, you take control of your day instead of your email controlling you.
#8 Schedule Focus Time
This is another hard one. Especially if you are sitting in an open space and people constantly come up to you.
However, remember the 1-3 tasks you committed to completing for today? How are you going to complete those?
Schedule yourself focus time without interruptions! Even if it’s just 20 minutes. Put on headphones. Set up a sign or book yourself a conference room. If necessary, ask a colleague to cover for you. Close your email and chats and focus on this one thing.
Doing your focus work right away in the morning, before the official core work hours may be most effective. If your work environment is very early, focus time may be easier to find in the middle of the day. Either way! Find your time to focus and your work will move forward.
#9 Make a Plan for Unresolved Tasks
You may end your day and there is still work left. Now what? Have a plan for what to do with that work. You committed to leaving at a certain time. You will not complete the tasks today. So make a plan.
You have a few options:
- Complete the tasks tomorrow.
- Complete the task at another time if the due date is negotiable.
- Ask for help.
- Address your overall workload with your supervisor and mention the unresolved task.
Once you have finished the plan for your remaining tasks, voila! Your day in the office is structured.
Want More Tips For An Easier Office Life? Consider these Articles:
How to Set up Rules for Outlook for Guaranteed Inbox Clarity
How to be Less Stressed at the Office with This Easy Email Habit
Email Back and Forth: The Best Way to End It For Good
Just Another Day at the Office – A Simple Daily Structure
How to Write a Professional Email Out of Office Notice
3 Proven Tips for Email Management Best Practices Outlook
How to Save an Email as a Template in Outlook
Rule for Gmail Inbox? 7 Easy Clicks to Set Them Up
How to Get Back Your Focus in the Workplace
Renaming Multiple Files at Once in 7 Surprisingly Easy Steps
How to Share and Email Template in Outlook and Why You Should Do It
How to Set Up a Mail Merge on Word
The Ultimate Guide to Email Subject Line Examples for Meeting Request
How to Organize Files Mac Step by Step Guide
How to Organize Files on Mac Computers
3 Easy Steps to Saving Templates in Outlook Desktop Mac
I Did It: My Overwhelming Job Turned into “Just Another Day at the Office”
When I started structuring my day, my entire work life positively changed. Yes, there is often more than I can chew. Even with my high productivity mindset and daily structure, I still have uncompleted work at the end of my day. But…I now have more calm in me because I have a plan, including for leftover tasks. I sleep better. My fitness watch does not ask me if I “Want to complete a breathing exercise?” anymore. My brain is not fried anymore. I come home and still have energy. I even started to get into a routine where I now bike to work once in a while.
Create Even More Calm
If you are convinced to give the day structure a try, go ahead! Start tomorrow. Maybe only pick a couple of the steps to start with and go from there.
Additionally, I have another little tip for you on your way to “Just another day at the office.” ➡️ Let’s reduce the amount of email you receive.
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