Success involves a commitment to activities and individuals who inspire you to jump into the grind and continuously evolve. Though working in the office provides opportunities to learn, showcase your skills, and collaborate, it’s essential to find creative and personal outlets outside of work to further enhance your aptitude.
Here are five practices you can execute at home that will also strengthen your performance at work.
1. Learn Other Skills
It’s easy to come home after a long week from work and hit the couch. Though relaxation is important to restoring your mind, it’s important to pursue creative activities as well. These activities provide productive and effective recovery that can be applied in the workplace.
Research findings have indicated that creative activities outside of work can have a “direct effect on factors such as creative problem solving and helping others while on the job.”
Great leaders and employees strive to continually grow and learn. Whether these are professional skills in Adobe Creative Suite or HTML that pertain to your dream job, or leisurely skills such as pottery or painting, engaging in such pursuits provides opportunities to step outside your comfort zone. Undergoing discomfort is challenging. But it will help you stretch and grow.
2. Lead a Healthy Lifestyle
Your health is a priority. Without good health, we cannot perform to the best of our abilities and be present at work when we need to be. According to research conducted by Gallup, engaged employees eat healthier and exercise more. Commit yourself to regular exercise, a healthy diet, and a consistent sleep routine to nourish your endurance and focus.
Carve out time to work out at least three times a week. It does not need to be a full-on intense cardio session such as HIGH Fitness or CrossFit. Simply choose something that you enjoy doing (yoga, walking, jogging, swimming). If you incorporate activities that fit your lifestyle, you will be more likely to stick with an exercise plan. Accompany your workout routine with a well-balanced diet that includes a good mix of vegetables, fruits, and healthy proteins and carbs.
3. Stay in Touch with Your Role Models
Do you have someone you admire and respect professionally and personally? Reach out to them and seek advice. If you’re going through a difficult time at work, they can help you see your situation in a different light and keep your anxieties at bay. Moreover, they can offer suggestions on how to navigate through the issues you are facing.
And even if you don’t have anything in particular that you are struggling with, you should still keep in touch with them to nurture that connection. Connections are vital pieces that help us grow and find new opportunities wherever we are in our careers. People can help us find the resources we need to continually learn and advance.
4. Monitor Your Goals
It’s easy to get so swept up by mounting responsibilities and meetings that we end up losing focus on our personal and professional goals. It’s easy to listen to the negative voices in our minds as we handle tough projects.
Set an intention each day or week, and write it down. This can be noted in the kind of week you would like to see yourself having or the kind of mindset you want to have (“I’d like to stay away from feelings of self-doubt” or “I’d like to take a more proactive role in this project by collaborating with the client services team more.”). Read your intentions daily.
Refreshing these goals in your mind will help you realign and stay focused throughout the week. It’s important to incorporate mindfulness into our daily lives to stay grounded.
5. Read Every Day
Reading has been shown to enhance mental health and interpersonal relationships. It boosts empathy, mental flexibility, rationality and creativity, and brain connectivity and function. Regular readers “sleep better, have lower stress levels, higher self-esteem, and lower rates of depression than non-readers.”
Relaxing and stimulating reading will help you make sound decisions and enhance your communication skills at work.
Managing conflicts, workloads, and responsibilities can get stressful. Reading can provide the exercise your mind needs to recuperate and tackle the next day.
If you’re not an avid reader, start by carving out time to read 30 minutes a week. People “who read at least 30 minutes a week are 20 percent more likely to report greater life satisfaction and 11 percent more likely to feel creative.”
Constant Learning
It’s important that we find activities that help us grow and benefit both our personal and professional lives. Focusing on building productive and healthy habits should not only happen at the office. We should take that focus outside to further hone our skills and evolve into the well-rounded individuals we are meant to be.
Remember, success requires constant learning. We must continually surround ourselves with the right practices at home that translate into the workplace.
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