Are you constantly zoning out at work?
Here are some things that you can try to keep yourself productive!
Previously, we shared a blog post on why exactly you get bored at work, and what you could do about it with broader objectives, such as job redesign, setting KPIs with your supervisor, and other broad actions to help resolve your boredom.
In this article, it’ll be a little different – we’ll teach you some everyday things you can do to avoid feeling bored!
Cleaning up your workspace
Remember when it was your first day on the job? You probably got a clean, empty desk, with only a monitor and laptop on it. Chances are, it’s probably filled with a whole in-tray of documents, trinkets you got from your colleagues, and a whole other lot of clutter which just takes up the space. And let’s not forget about your drawer if you have one – apart from office stationery, there are probably many other items in there that you can do without!
The next time you start feeling bored, take some time to get up and tidy your workspace. Try to sort out your desk items and only keep those you actually need. If you have many things to keep, just arranging them in a more orderly fashion would work as well. Make sure to throw away those half-opened stationery plastic wrappers too!
Keeping your desk clean and organised would help you to stay focused as there are now much fewer distractions from the clutter on your desk. This is even more important if you work from home as there would definitely be much more clutter around. Additionally, it’s an excellent daily task to shake off the boredom!
Sorting out your emails
It’s common to have an overflowing inbox of tasks waiting to be completed. Sometimes, you may even miss out on some tasks because there are simply too many!
To avoid such a situation, you can take the time to sort through your emails when you’re feeling bored. An easy way would be to sort your emails into different folders, for example, “Urgent”, “To-Do”, “Pending”, “Completed”, and so on. You can even use different colours for the folders if that helps you stay more organised.
On top of that, you can look through your “Completed” tasks and make a list of big projects that you have completed in the past. You can add these experiences to your portfolio and even update your LinkedIn profile if you have the time! This way, you can showcase your experience, which would come in handy for your next career move, or if you’re just looking to feel motivated in your current role.
This helps you to see how much you’ve achieved so far and can get you thinking about the next projects you want to work on. There’s nothing more exciting than a challenge to keep you energised at work and dispel feelings of boredom!
Bonding with your colleagues
It’s always good to take time to get to know your colleagues better. These are the people you see almost every single day, and you may have to work with them closely if your job requires you to do many team projects.
Sometimes, you could feel bored because you aren’t interacting enough with others. That’s why it’s important to stay connected with your colleagues, and it’s a great way to reduce boredom – you can set up online meetings with them if you’re all working from home, or catch them in the office for a casual coffee break!
Just having a short chat with someone can do wonders in getting them to open up a little, allowing you to get to know their personality and working style better. This is vital to teambuilding, and can even help to build a high-performance culture in your company!
All in all, being close with your colleagues can bring about a positive effect on both the working productivity and improve the overall atmosphere in the company. Who knows, you may start feeling happy to go to work just so you can see your colleagues and meet up with them during lunch breaks!
Improving your skills
If you’ve always wanted to pick up a new skill, you can try doing it during short periods of free time when you’re taking a break! For example, you can try to complete a module on LinkedIn’s free courses, or carry around a language workbook if you’re trying to learn a new language. Otherwise, you can search up YouTube video tutorials or read books relevant to the new skill as well.
Of course, do keep in mind that this new skill should only be supplementary to your current workload – meaning, your current job scope should be your priority at work. Another way to improve your skills and build your portfolio would be to ask your supervisor for more work, such as new projects that you can use to build your skills. Having such experience would be immensely helpful especially when you have to take on future similar projects.
Safeguarding your mental health
One thing that many people tend to overlook is the importance of mental health. If you often feel bored at work, here are some activities you can try to clear your mind and take care of your mental health at the same time.
- Journalling: Noting down your achievements, future plans, as well as the struggles you face in your daily life can be a great way to destress and give you a sense of direction. It is also a good way of helping you see how much progress you’ve made and can help to motivate you further.
- Planning your schedule: Allocating time to complete your tasks would help make you more productive. You can also use digital tools such as Tessaract’s planner or Google Calendar to build a weekly work plan template in seven simple steps!
- Going for walks, taking breaks: Sometimes, a breath of fresh air is all you need to shake off that feeling of boredom. Take some time to unwind by going for walks, and grabbing a coffee for yourself during breaks. You can even scroll on social media to relax your mind, or check out our collection of Work-From-Home (WFH) memes to have a good laugh!
- Meditating: With the increase in WFH days, you can try to spare some time to meditate in a relaxing environment. It is said that meditation can help to reduce stress and negative emotions, and even increase your imagination and creativity.
- Counselling: If necessary, don’t be afraid to reach out to a professional counsellor or therapist for help. Sometimes, we may be facing more stress than we think and frequent feelings of boredom could indicate a poor mental state. In such cases, do consider consulting a professional for the sake of your mental health.
Solving boredom with Tessaract
Apart from the suggestions we’ve shared above, learn more easy tips and tricks from Tessaract to keep you productive throughout your day! You could try workplace automation techniques to be more efficient in your work, and learn the secret ways to improve work performance. You can also explore different corporate tools to manage your business, such as Tessaract’s all-in-one business management software. Click the button below to find out more!
