My 5 Rules to Conquering the Day at Work

Everyone has their own manual when it comes to beginning your day on a motivational note. Especially when it’s a Monday morning, the weather is particularly gloomy and you can hear work calling you from the office…..literally! Each person on this planet has their own way of functioning; their own way of operating to help them get by with the daily tasks. Motivation is something that comes from within and also contributes to your surroundings. If you are positively motivated from within, your environment picks up on your positivity. When you are happy, everyone becomes happy and everything is done happily. And even if everyone still isn’t happy, your workflow is not affected since you positive mindset is intact. But, you have to be positive first. And this is my daily guideline of how to achieve work motivation.

Leave the past, in the past.

What happened yesterday happened yesterday. Leave it there. Today is a brand new day, full of new opportunities and second chances. Replaying things that went wrong at work previously, can affect how your day begins. A negative start to the day yields negative results at work. Unless it is in terms of finding solutions so that what went wrong yesterday is not repeated, it’s better to leave it alone.

People who hold grudges at the workplace and dwell in the past have a tendency of living there – in the past. The harsh truth is, the world keeps on moving regardless of what’s going on. For a lovely positive start to your day, keep moving with the world.

Good rest

You cannot be productive at work if you didn’t get enough rest. A tired mind works like a broken clock – it’s only right twice a day. A well rested mind is more productive. There will even be a tendency to exceed your targets because you are rested. Ideally, 8-12hours of sleep is ample rest for you to be efficient at work.

There is a wise man in the bible called Solomon who wrote an interesting chapter in the book of Ecclesiastes. In that chapter, Solomon says this, “….To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven…” Everything has its time and place. There is a time to rest, and there is a time to work. So when the time comes to rest, rest. Such that when the time comes to work, you will be able to work well.

Kick start your body

For me it’s breakfast. I cannot live without breakfast. For others its coffee, or a good morning run or exercise. Whatever it may be, it helps your gears running and functioning. It sets a good tone for your body to start working well after awaking from a deep slumber. For me, foods like bananas, cereal, arrow roots, sweet potatoes or eggs for breakfast provide the right nutrients for my body to get the energy it needs to start the day.

The trick here is, get an energy fix that works for you. Feed your body whatever it needs to get going, it will thank you for the rest of the day.

Manage your thoughts

I try to give myself 20 minutes of complete silence before I start my day to work. This helps me organise my thoughts. Like I said, positivity comes from within and that starts by you having your thoughts aligned in a positive manner. Thoughts are very sensitive and dangerous because they can easily become actions.

Be mindful of your thoughts, because they translate into actions. It’s quite hard to be productive at work with your mind wandering into the past and future. Life is happening now. You have to be present at every moment. Once you’ve taken care of your body, take care of your mind too.

To-do List

After all is said and done, make a mental note on what you intend to achieve that day. Even if it’s one thing, just make the decision to get something done that day. It might seem like a silly idea, but it’s a good way of beginning a motivated day at work. You will find throughout the day that you’ve naturally become motivated because you have achieved a few tasks that you set out to do from the beginning.

I tend to think it’s a useful tactic that reminds me to not let life go by without seizing the day. To conquer your day at work, means participating at work through action. Action starts by making a decision on what you want to accomplish.