Resetting at Work
This blog post is going to be a little bit different. I am going to walk you through a day of work and how you can reset throughout the workday.
Pre-Work
Stop me if you have heard this before. You wake up, hit the snooze button a couple of times, roll out of bed, rush to get ready, and run out the door with only coffee for breakfast. I am sure I do not have to tell you that this is not the ideal way to start the day. A reset on your morning routine would be wonderful.
Resetting your morning routine starts the night before. Having a solid go-to-bed routine can help your morning routine go smoothly. Start by winding down at the end of the day and follow other good sleep hygiene rules that will get you in bed and asleep at a reasonable time. This way, you will wake up refreshed and ready to tackle the morning. (For my advice on sleep, click here.) Then, when you wake up in the morning, do not hit the snooze button. Get up, and start with a healthy breakfast. Be sure your breakfast is packed with protein. Then, ease into your day by taking your time getting ready. You can even include some morning prayer and/or meditation to help reset your mindset for the day. Once you are ready, leave your house with plenty of time to get to work on time.
Starting Your Workday
By resetting your morning routine, you set yourself up for a great workday. Unfortunately, most people start their workday with a lot of stress. This can be avoided using a reset.
To reset the start of your workday, first take some time for a few deep breaths. This will relax you, lower the level of the stress hormone cortisol, lower overall stress, and a few other benefits. Next, accomplish two things right away – check your email and plan out your day. To avoid email overwhelm, I have developed a three-step system:
Start by deleting junk emails. This will drastically reduce the number of emails you have to sort through.
Quickly scan the rest of your emails, and answer the ones that can be answered quickly.
Plan when you will address the ones that need a longer response. (BONUS TIP: Mark all unaddressed emails as unread until you deal with them)
Number three in that three-step process leads us to the next thing you should do, planning your day. Decide in what order you will tackle your tasks for the day. Be sure to schedule things according to what your peak operating time is. This will be different for everyone. For morning people, peak hours will be early in the morning. For night owls, peak hours will most likely be in the afternoon. For everyone else, peak hours are going to be around the middle of the day. Also, check the calendar to see if anything important is coming up that you need to attend to that day, like a meeting or a deadline for a project.
Middle of the Day
By utilizing that morning reset, you set yourself up for a great middle of the day. You will avoid typical stumbling blocks like not knowing what to do when, procrastination, forgetting important meetings or deadlines, feeling tired, etc.
Let’s say hypothetically speaking, you need a reset midday. What should you do? A good reset in the middle of the day might involve some more deep breathing, but it will involve a good lunch break. When it is time for lunch, get away from your desk. This gets your mind out of work mode and alerts it that it is time for a nice break. If you have time, walk around a bit and get some exercise. Make sure you are eating a healthy lunch and are not just filling yourself with junk. A good lunch break will refresh you and give you the energy to tackle the afternoon.
Ending the Day
The end day can be tricky with ADHD. Some stay late to catch up on work that they could not finish during regular hours, or they stay late because they are hyperfocusing on something. They could also be affected by a late-day energy crash.
Staying late can be stopped with a late-day reset. To avoid the trap of staying late, set an alarm for quitting time. Actually, set two. The first one should be set a few minutes before quitting time, so you can start to transition out of work. If an alarm does not work for you, try utilizing a co-worker to help you know when it is time to leave. Also, having a good morning and midday will prevent staying late to catch up on work.
Hopefully, having a good morning and midday will prevent the late-day crash, but if it doesn’t or you did not utilize resets throughout the day, it will take an additional reset. To do this, stand up, stretch a bit, and do some more deep breathing. This will wake you up and give you plenty of brainpower to make it through the rest of the day.
BONUS TIP: Leave yourself a trail of breadcrumbs for the next day. Instead of just dropping everything at the end of the day and struggling to remember where you were the next morning, leave a note for yourself about what you were doing, what needs to be done next, and anything else you need to know to pick up right where you left off.
Transition out of Work Mode
Some people cannot leave work at work and take it home with them. Their body has gone home, but their mind is still at the office. This situation, too, calls for a reset.
To reset the transition from home to work, utilize your commute. On the way home, jam out to some music or do something that gets your mind off of work. More deep breaths could be useful as well. But, what if you work from home? I know this struggle all too well, for I work from home. The first thing I do is leave my dedicated office. Yes, I have a room in my house that is just for the office. I’m there during work hours, and I leave when work is over. I also take my dogs outside right away when the workday ends. The fresh air and sunshine helps reset my brain.
One last thing you want to do to close out your workday is congratulate yourself for all the good you did today. Taking time to celebrate all of the resets and productivity of the day will help you feel at peace with the workday and ready to move on.