Is their constant check on the time, waiting for the moment that they can go home from work? It is a fact that at work, specifically in the office, there are days when the clock seems to tick very slowly. A day stretches to a week, you lose the desire to work, and every time, your mind drifts off, wishing you were somewhere else but at work.
Negotiating work time can be quite crucial for anyone who wishes to grind through the workday and have it feel like it was just a few minutes; there are practical things that one can do to modify the perception of time at work.
Follow these 7 easy tips and strategies to make your time at work go faster:
1. Set Mini-Deadlines
Lack of urgency means that minutes and hours may become indistinguishable, and there is no motivation to wake up early the next morning and get to work. There is no harm in setting mini-deadlines for oneself, it brings focus throughout the day and smoothes out monotonous work. Set yourself restrictions in respect to chunks of work and you may use a countdown timer to advance you. Treat each of these as accomplishable goals and rejoice when you achieve each one to prevent the feeling of being overwhelmed by the next thing on the to-do list.
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2. Mix Up Your Tasks
Who hasn’t sat down to work on a large assignment or a few large tasks and then abruptly look up at the clock only to discover it is past midday? Such a type of work allows one to avoid ‘getting lost’ in a certain task because it is a switch between tasks with different mental demands. Go from one creative task to another, from replying to an email to analyzing data, etc It is very helpful to switch between tasks that require different mental modes to help make time go by faster thanks to the change of environment.
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3. Schedule Breaks
Staying at work for prolonged periods leads to increased fatigue and carelessness as well as passiveness which makes one wait for the clock to strike the correct hour. Schedule mini-breaks throughout the day to allow yourself to get up and move around, grab some food or water, and interact with co-workers. Interrupting the workflow refreshes the mind and gets rid of the focus blazers that help to enhance concentration. Treat breaks as small rewards for working hard to accomplish tasks and finish up assignments.
4. Listen to Upbeat Music
Music is the most powerful form of art that often significantly influences our perception of time. Cheerful melodies and energetic staccato music lists engender active work rhythms. I find it hard to believe that time flies when you are in a constant beat and have lively songs. Make playlists that can help you to stay awake and engrossed. If you are unable to set up speakers in your working environment, you should best use headphones. Having a chuckle with some enjoyable songs in the background it will make you lose track of time.
5. Avoid Clock Watching
Looking at the time every few minutes is a way to distract your mind from the idea of time and the more one focuses on time, the longer it takes. If needed, cover clocks in visible areas and use alarms for important meetings or time-sensitive events. Schedule times when one can look at the clock no more than every 2 hours on average. The more one avoids glancing at the clock the quicker it moves, therefore being a time waster. It is also important to take off wristwatches and if using phones, unlock them and change the time displayed on the lock screens for a more vintage feel.
6. Perform Time-Consuming Tasks First
Devote your most involved, and time-demanding tasks to the early morning when energy and focus rates are typically at their peak. Time is perceived to pass faster when one is actively seeking to achieve targets and goals with exclusive focus. Concentrate on heavy work that needs your intense concentration in the morning when your energy is still high and save light activities that may cause your brain to get idle for the afternoon when traffic is usually low. This is because performing high-effort tasks first would leave one or more low-effort tasks to do later when they are waiting for the harder tasks to finish, thus leaving them glued to the clock.
7. Make the task a game:
Introduce elements of play into the daily tasks and routine, particularly in the common and monotonous administrative tasks. This is especially important to consider how quickly you can transcribe the interview while still being accurate. Tease your fellow employees into engaging in a speed-filing competition. Count how many times you get involved in data entry for the next 5 minutes. The strategies of competing against yourself or others help add the fun element to tasks and shift focus from the clock. Step it up by offering incentives that can encourage goal achievement.
The Key; is the exact word that needs to be focused on; engagement.
Something you will see as a recurring idea in some of the time distortion techniques is keeping your mind away from bored and distracted modes. If the tasks that have been set do not include one’s mind focus, time moves like a snail. When one is fully engaged in an activity, much focus is not placed on the notion of time. That way, time will not feel like it takes ages to pass and you will be encouraged to stay active and awake throughout the process.
Try out some of these strategic breaks to change the way you feel about that ticking workday clock. In a while, you will be taken aback by the levels of productivity and speed that are evident in your daily life. Additional free minutes secured is a chance to complete work in advance or take a sanity break midday knowing that it helped to make the morning pass by quickly.
Eliminate work by changing the perspective of tasks as viewed through a time-conquering mindset. One can control the experience if ready to eschew factors that lead to dullness and boredom but these are traps that people are likely to fall into. Take time flying to new heights, rather than watching the hands slowly revolve around the clock from the assignments that are progressive in the advancement of your career.
