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What To Do At The End Of A Day's Work

Whether you are employed or self-employed - at the end of the working day, it is decided how the next day begins. Take a few minutes before you leave your desk and enjoy the end of the day and save yourself the stress and hectic of the following day.

By René JungePublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash

After eight or more hours of work, all you want to do is get up from your desk and forget about work. This is understandable.

But there are good reasons to sit for a few more minutes and think about the next day.

Think back to the beginning of that day. You came to work and did not know what to expect today. You have too much to do anyway, so you can only hope to survive the day somehow.

But it doesn't have to be that way. There is a way to start the morning rested and confident. Learn in this article how you can do that.

Know beforehand what to do

Writing an article is always the hardest for me when I sit in front of the computer without an idea. I want to start working, but I don't know yet what my work will be.

But if I have written down two or three ideas the evening before, I don't need inspiration in the morning. I can just start working on the concept. If I have a start, everything goes much smoother.

Even as an office employee, you should keep planning and execution separated. Planning and execution are two completely different activities that your brain cannot pursue at the same time.

If you actually want to get started immediately because the day is short, but first have to think about where to start, you quickly get under stress. Stress, in turn, reduces our mental performance, makes us tired, and ultimately sick.

In the end, those who put themselves under stress and try to be particularly fast, perform less.

Knowing beforehand what you want to do is a simple trick to start the day quickly and calmly. If you're going to do that, you have to lay the foundation the night before.

Before you leave, reserve the last ten minutes of the day to plan for the next day. Please write down the tasks you have to do tomorrow and prioritize them.

Then ask yourself briefly what information and tools you need for your most important tasks. Write down where and from whom you get this information and tools.

Then estimate the time your most important task will take and add twenty percent as a time buffer. Write the result behind the job.

Repeat this step for your three most important tasks of the next day.

If you see that the day will already be filled with two tasks, schedule the remaining work for one of the days after that.

It is always possible that we will not accomplish everything we set out to do in one day. But if you know the evening before that you will not be able to do some things, you can consciously postpone them.

This way, you avoid frustration when you find out at the end of the day that you have only managed two things instead of three. You already knew before that it would happen.

The point of it is to be at peace with yourself tomorrow and not to have the feeling in the evening that you have failed.

When you come back to work the next day, you know right away what is most important today, and you start with that.

You know who to call, what documents you need, and where to find them. Get yourself a cup of coffee and get to work.

Leave work at the office

If you plan your next working day at the end of the day, you will notice another significant advantage: You won't think so much about work at home.

Surely you know the situation: You sit in front of the TV and stare at the screen absently, without really understanding what it's all about. You've got that meeting in your head that's coming up in the office tomorrow.

You're wondering what issues to raise, what topics to discuss, and a few more things. But your head is already at the end of the day and refuses to answer these questions. Instead, the same thoughts go through your mind over and over again, and you don't conclude.

If you had thought about it for another ten minutes in the office and made notes, you would have cleared your head now and could enjoy the film.

Dedicating the last part of the working day to planning for the next day sends a signal that it's over for today. You have already thought of everything and don't have to think about it until tomorrow morning.

When we talk about work-life balance, we mean precisely that: the strict separation of work and private life.

To achieve this, it is essential to develop rituals that mark this separation.

Make the last ten minutes in the office into this signal.

It's only ten minutes of your time, but they will save you many an hour of stress and trouble the next day.

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About the Creator

René Junge

Thriller-author from Hamburg, Germany. Sold over 200.000 E-Books. get informed about new articles: http://bit.ly/ReneJunge

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