Stress-Reducing Resolutions for Work

I’m not so keen on diet or fitness resolutions this year–I am doing pretty well on those fronts–but I am been thinking about resolutions that could make my life at work less stressful and more productive.

• Stop multi-tasking.  With my dual monitors, it can be hard to ignore new emails while I am working on something else. I knows those “three second” distractions add up, sap my efficiency, and make me feel fragmented. If I have both monitors showing screens relevant to what I am working on, I will finish my project more quickly and then can give my email my full attention. If my project will take more than a few hours, I can take designated email breaks.
• Complete one project before starting the next one. My days can be full of interruptions, and I am tempted to handle new requests right away if I think I can complete them quickly (reviewing a draft, signing a letter, etc.). This often means that I will have several files open and in-progress at once, and several interrupted projects that I will have to re-orient myself to when I return to them later. If I take a few minutes to assess the relevant urgency of projects and decide if a new item can wait one more hour while I finish the one at hand, I will feel less scattered and may even get more done.
• Deal with emails right away. Recently I realized that I spend too much time every day scrolling through my emails to find the one(s) that I need to read again or respond to. Since then, I have been trying to deal with emails right away. If I don’t need to respond, I read and delete. If I need to respond later, I set a reminder/flag which moves the email out of my regular in-box stream. If I will need to refer to the email later, I will move it to a folder. At the end of the day/week/month, I review the emails that remain in my in-box, and see if they can be deleted, flagged, moved, etc. This is saving me time every day and reducing the chances that an important email will be buried in my in-box.
• Take notes. I need to get into a habit of taking notes during all telephone calls. When I am on a conference call, I process the information and understand the next steps, but if the matter isn’t urgent or if I get interrupted before I take care of it, I can lose track of details. If I take notes–even if I don’t think I need to (and this is key)–then I won’t have to spend time wracking my brain to remember those details.
• Heed biological needs. This may sound ridiculous, but I have days when I am thirsty and feel like I am “too busy” to refill my water bottle, and often test the limits of my bladder because of the time it takes to walk to the restroom. We all have days when we eat lunch late or skip it, but with my mild hypoglycemia waiting even an extra hour for a meal or snack can wreak havoc. I won’t say that I’ve never been under such a tight deadline that these 5 minute breaks would have made a difference, but it certainly doesn’t happen very often. Unless its one of those days, I need to get water when I’m thirsty, eat when I’m hungry and go when I need to go!