lifestyle and culture

Have you been feeling unmotivated at work lately? Because I know I have. The tasks that you used to fly through feel like they take three times as long. Your previously undivided attention is now pulled in five different directions. You’re feeling burned out and checked out.
It’s common to hit slumps like this throughout your career. Sometimes they last a day, sometimes a week, and sometimes even longer. No matter why or how long you’ve felt unmotivated, one thing is for sure: You eventually have to find a way to get your job done. So the next time you find yourself struggling to cross anything off your to-do list, try these quick wins.

Send That Email
You know the email I’m talking about—the one you’ve been putting off for days. Often, tasks tend to feel bigger and more difficult the longer we put them off. But chances are, if you dedicate the time to focus and craft a reply, it’ll be easier than you think. I promise you’ll feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of your shoulders once you hit send, and it’ll probably take less time than you think. You might even feel motivated to knock out a few more emails while you’re at it.
To get started, set a timer for five minutes. Commit to no distractions and 100% focus on the email at hand for those five minutes. If you don’t complete the email when your timer goes off, feel free to move on—no need to be hard on yourself. But if you are able to hit send, take a moment to celebrate! Get up and grab a cup of coffee, text a friend, or hit “add to cart” on that item you’ve been eyeing. After all, you sent that email. You deserve it!

Set a Bite-Sized Goal
When you’re working on a big project that’s scheduled to take weeks or months to complete, it might feel like you’re barely making progress. But you don’t execute on a big, lofty goal all at once. You take small baby steps to get there. Instead of focusing on the large task at hand, pick one task you can complete today that will move the project forward.
Take a moment to write down all the tasks you need to complete for your current project. By getting everything out of your head and onto paper, you can then decide which bite-sized task you want to tackle first. Once you check that item off your list, give yourself a five-minute break, then come back and pick another item to knock out next. Before you know it, you’ll have worked your way through your to-do list.

Move Your Body
Feeling unmotivated can drag you down both mentally and physically. So in order to shake up your routine and add some motivation back into your day, sometimes you literally have to shake it up. Get up and move your body. Go for a walk without any distractions like your phone or a podcast. Let your mind wander and see what it finds. If you only have a few minutes in between meetings, stand up and do a few squats. Movement helps get your blood and creativity flowing, so you can reignite your motivation.

Treat Yourself
Some work tasks simply suck. Since they’re not fun on their own, you need to find a way to make it fun. That’s when it’s time to treat yourself. Tell yourself that if you work on a presentation for an hour, you can take a break to check social media or that once you get through a meeting, you’ll reward yourself with your favorite coffee. Because sometimes work is just that: work. And you have to find the light at the end of the tunnel to keep you going.

Get Ready
If you’re working from home, this tip is especially for you. If you find yourself rolling out of bed and getting straight to work, it’s understandable that you don’t feel motivated for the day. You haven’t taken the time to get ready, whatever that means to you. Take five minutes at the start of your day to get yourself ready to work. Do your makeup, make yourself a cup of coffee, write in your journal, or change out of your sweatpants. When you feel the part, you perform the part.

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Catch Up with a Coworker or a Friend
We’re social creatures. Even if we enjoy being alone, we still need human interaction to thrive. Take five minutes and schedule a time to catch up with a coworker, give your work bestie a quick call, or make plans for after work. Spending a few minutes to connect with a colleague gives you a much-needed brain break. Even if you’re not talking to the person now, you’ll have something to look forward to later.

Create a “Done” List
We all have to-do lists, but do you have a “done” list? When you’re feeling unmotivated, it could be because you don’t feel like you’re accomplishing anything. But if you take stock of all of the things you did that day, I bet you’d be surprised. Start a “done” list of all the work you complete to help you visualize where your efforts and time are spent. It can help give you the boost of motivation you need to tackle your to-do list tomorrow.

Quick wins at work, no matter how small, lead to big wins later. So the next time you’re feeling stuck in a motivation rut, remember that you’re armed with these tips to help you go from unmotivated to inspired.

20 Productivity Hacks To Make Your Day Easier More

For many of us, career progression means taking on more responsibility and eventually leading a team. Becoming a manager for the first time can be intimidating. Suddenly, you’re responsible for your own work and success—but that success is achieved through the contributions and talents of a number of other people! Whether your team is big or small, there’s one thing you should do the second you take on your new title: start a listening tour.
While it may be your first instinct to jump into the role and start to put your mark on things, the best leaders know that shaping a team takes time. And your own management style truly can not be best developed until you deeply understand what your team’s goals, objectives, and needs are.
It can be easy to dismiss the idea of a listening tour, especially if you are promoted from your same team into a leadership position. You may think that you have a great understanding of the work, team culture, and exactly how your peers operate. However, your new role has completely changed the team dynamic, and many of your relationships will now need a recalibration as you operate from a new place of leadership on the team. 
If you’re completely new to a business or group, then the listening tour is even more important. Starting out with a blank slate and engaging with people individually and in groups become the foundation for your leadership agenda and set the expectations for how your team culture will evolve. 

Source: Color Joy Stock

OK, So What is a Listening Tour? 
A listening tour is as simple as it sounds—but it takes a lot of active planning to effectively execute. Within the first 30 days of settling into your new management role, you will want to set up some individual one-on-one time with all of your direct reports. This effort is essential, even if you feel like you know these colleagues as peers. Take this time as an opportunity to open a new chapter of communication, setting new boundaries and objectives in your work relationship. 
These one-on-one meetings can be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour (more than that, and the energy will start to wane). You also want them to have some structure because they’re serving the dual purpose of creating a first impression for your team on how you will perform in the role while also giving people a chance to communicate their needs to you.
Spend some time thinking about a few key questions you would like to ask to get people talking. What was the most impactful project they worked on last year? How would they change the business in the next 90 days if they were in your shoes? What are the things about the team that should definitely continue? What motivates them? How do they like to receive feedback? While you don’t want this conversation to be an interrogation, you will want to have thought through enough decision pathways to carry the discussion in a few different directions.

Source: Karolina Grabowska | Pexels

Your end goal for these meetings should be to have both extracted some great insight about the colleague as an individual contributor and also to be gathering ideas about how you could start to support your team in reaching new goals. This early focus on receiving people’s ideas and being attuned to listening will pay enormous dividends as you begin to settle into this role.
It’s also OK to start to socialize ideas you may be forming—you have great instincts for management; it’s why you got the job! What you want to avoid, however, is using these meetings as a platform to present a pre-structured plan. The best way to begin to present these is through open-ended questions that invite good commentary and consideration. “I’ve been thinking about some ways we can modernize the data and visualizations we use for client reporting. What are your thoughts on how our client reports work today?” You may even be surprised to get feedback that is highly aligned with your ideas, or, even better—you may start to get a deeper view that better shapes your plan. 

Source: Color Joy Stock

What To Do With What You Learn
Listening tours are effective for new managers if they’re prepared to do all of the follow-up work that results. Oftentimes, these one-on-one meetings will be a forum where your colleagues feel comfortable now sharing with you challenges they’ve faced or things that they’re hoping you can solve. It is important to start to build trust with your team by letting them know what you’ll do to act on what they share. That doesn’t mean you need to have an immediate solution for everything that is brought up, but you should be taking copious notes and ensuring that you wrap up these meetings restating any expectations or deliverables that may result. 
The next step of leveraging these meetings is going over all of your notes and ideas that surfaced and reframing them into some shared team issues. Did everyone raise the need to rethink the weekly meeting structure? Tackle that first! Some quick wins that are meaningful to a large share of the team can make a big difference in getting buy-in for other ideas.
Now, you’ll also be more prepared to engage your new boss, being able to appropriately represent the voice of your team. While you’ll want to be thoughtful and have discretion around what you share, nothing is more credible than pointing to the conversations you’ve had with your colleagues about priorities, goals, and challenges. You’ve now set yourself up to have a strong start in your new management role.

8 Virtual Interview Tips to Help You Land the Job, According to the Experts More

Your boss: Like it or not, they play an important role in your professional life. Why? Well, if you want to continue to climb the career ladder and make forward progress in your career, your boss’s favorable opinion is (very) important. Plus, when you spend so much time working with someone, it’s only natural to crave at least a decent rapport between the two of you. However, you don’t need me to tell you that establishing and fostering a positive relationship with your superior isn’t always so easy. It can be tough to walk that line between overly professional and a little too comfortable.
Yes, striking that balance can be a challenge, but it’s definitely still doable—as long as you take the right steps! Use these six tips to improve, grow, and strengthen your relationship with your boss.

1. Be a great employee
Let’s start with the obvious, shall we? You can be the friendliest, most outgoing person in the entire office, but if your work is sub-par and you refuse to offer any sort of contributions to your team? Well, getting your boss (and your coworkers, for that matter!) to think highly of you is going to be pretty much impossible. Your first step is to ensure you’re an awesome employee that’s truly adding value to your organization. Do your best work. Chime in with constructive ideas in team meetings. Stay far away from office gossip. Your attitude and high-quality work will be a constant reminder to your boss of why exactly they hired you in the first place.
It seems basic, but a positive reputation will lay the groundwork for a better relationship with your colleagues—especially your boss!

2. Ask for feedback
All bosses are different, but one rule holds true across the board: All managers love an employee willing to take initiative. Proactively asking for feedback from your supervisor is a great way to demonstrate that you’re constantly looking for ways to grow and improve. Of course, you don’t want to take this concept to the extreme. Your boss will likely only grow annoyed if you check in for constructive criticism after every single email you send. However, setting up a time to discuss your performance every few months—or after the completion of a large project or presentation—should be enough to show that you’re interested in evolving without being a pest.

3. Communicate effectively
Communication is key in any relationship, but it’s definitely crucial when it comes to relationships between superiors and subordinates. Your boss needs to be in the know about what’s happening! At the same time, though, you don’t want to overwhelm them with constant updates and unnecessary information.
It’s for this very reason that it’s a great idea to get a handle on how exactly your boss prefers to communicate. Do they like to have weekly or monthly meetings when you can update them on your progress and any roadblocks? Are they someone who relies heavily on email because they’re frequently out of the office—meaning they prefer you send sporadic notes when you complete something or need more information?
I know that this can be a little challenging to discern, particularly if you’re somewhat new in the office. However, pay close attention to how your boss interacts with you. It’s human nature to communicate with others in the same way we’d prefer to be communicated with, so this can be a revealing clue you can utilize to bolster your communication skills with your boss.
If nothing else, don’t be afraid to set up a quick meeting to talk it out with your manager. Getting on the same page about preferred communication right from the get-go will only make both of your lives easier and your relationship even stronger!

Source: Colorjoy Stock

4. Make small talk
There’s no official handbook that dictates what exactly the relationship with your boss should look like. Some people have very formal and professional relationships with their superiors, whereas others are much closer and more casual. Some never see each other outside of the office, while others follow coworkers on Instagram and frequently hang out at work happy hours.
Regardless of your current relationship, there’s never harm in making small talk with your boss. Whether it’s about weekend plans or a half marathon you know they’re training for, chit-chatting about personal tidbits can help strengthen the relationship with your boss by making things a little more friendly and a little less rigid. No, you don’t want to waste precious work hours jabbering on and on about the latest episode of Yellowstone, but a few minutes of friendly conversation in the break room won’t hurt!

5. Offer to help
Your boss might seem like they’re always on top of everything—they never make a mistake and never lose their cool. However, we all find ourselves in situations when we could use a little bit of help, so it’s important to note that your boss may not always be willing to admit it.
If your supervisor seems stressed and overwhelmed, go ahead and step up to the plate and offer to help. Perhaps they mentioned a client report that they’re trying to get out the door even though they’re pressed for time. If you have the know-how to take care of it, explain that you’re happy to handle a portion for them so they don’t have so much on their plate. Even if they end up turning you down, the fact that you were willing to reach out and offer help will carry a lot of weight.

6. Practice empathy
Often, it’s all too easy to jump to conclusions and assume your boss is just out to get you. That daunting project, tight deadline, or dreadfully boring conference call—they’re all your boss’s attempts to punish you. But that’s not always true. 
It’s important to take a deep breath and always give your supervisor the benefit of the doubt, even when things get tough. Remember, your boss isn’t only responsible for their own pieces of the puzzle—they’re also in charge of ensuring the quality of work produced by you and your coworkers. Having to manage others can be a tough job—remind yourself that your boss is only human. That sense of understanding alone is enough to shift perspective and drastically improve your relationship with your manager.
All in all, we want great relationships with our bosses. It certainly helps in making those 40+ hours you spend in the office each week that much better! But sometimes, fostering a positive bond with your boss can involve navigating murky waters. Put these six tips to use, and you’re sure to notice improvements right away!

9 Productivity Hacks That Will Help You Impress Your Boss While Working From Home More

We are all looking for that one golden nugget of wisdom that will make our days run effortlessly and smoothly. Between navigating through all of our various roles in life working and as daughters, mothers, friends, partners—and just our own individual contributions—there is always a long list of things to do. While the truth is that there is no one single path to being productive, there are a lot of productivity hacks we can build into our lives to advance our journey.

1. Use Your Commute Productively
Commutes may still be a little unpredictable as we move between remote and in-office work. But for most of us, there are still a few minutes in many days where we’re in that “in between” space of not at home but not quite settled into the days’ business. How can this time work for you? Is it a quick call to check in on a parent? Or 5 minutes of listening to a new podcast and some deep breathing? Even if this time is short, using it intentionally is a satisfying way to start and end the day.

Mark & Graham
Tech Commute Clutch
Keep your laptop and tech essentials organized with this functional (and highly stylish) carrying case.

2. Clean Out Your Email
Yes, clean it out. All the way! Get rid of half-done replies, drafts that won’t go anywhere, and holiday sales notifications you didn’t happen to shop your way through. Even just 30 dedicated minutes on a Friday morning of filing, unsubscribing, and getting responses off your plate in both your personal and work emails will send you into a weekend feeling refreshed.

3. Prioritize Your Tasks
Prioritization sounds easy, but it isn’t always simple. To really prioritize, don’t just make a list of tasks that need to be done and pluck off the “biggest,” “hardest,” or even “easiest.” Instead, think of your day as a set of building blocks that all need to fit together. Where’s the causality? What needs to be done first to make the rest of the day or week move better? Using this more connected method of prioritizing also helps us overcome some of the resistance we have around tough tasks.

4. Use the Pomodoro Method
These little tomato timers and their “work then break” method are a fan favorite for a reason! It’s proven that our brain feels more refreshed and focused when we can work in bursts. Set a timer, pick a mini project or a task, and then shamelessly give yourself the built-in breaks to recharge and come back strong.

Amazon
Time Management Cube
2022 can be the year you finally embrace block scheduling with this handy desktop timer.

5. Ignore Your Email in the Morning
If this one feels uncomfortable, try it boldly for just one week and see what it does for your productivity. It’s a natural inclination to want to respond and jump on tasks when we see an email. Starting your day diving right into the piles of emails you have means that your inbox becomes your prioritization list—in control of you instead of the other way around. Consider blocking an hour to check emails a little later in the morning, and instead, start your day with your priorities.

Source: Boris Jovanovic | Stocksy

6. Understand Your Work Zones
Matching the type of work that needs to be done with where you do it is a huge productivity hack. Do you do your best number crunching at a structured desk or the kitchen table? Or maybe your best creative ideas come to you when you’re on a walk and can let your mind reset. Either way, knowing when and where you are at your best for all of your various tasks can be a real productivity boost and help with your work-life balance.

7. Strategically Leverage Your “OOO” Message
Who says the Out Of Office email is just for vacation? Get creative with this autoresponder and use it for targeted projects. “I’m on a special project right now, and my mornings this week (9-12) will be dedicated to that effort. Please contact me outside of those hours for the most timely response.” Push the boundaries by setting some of your own.

8. Scope Your Day the Night Before
“Scoping” your day is different from planning. When you’re scoping your day, you’re mentally preparing yourself for the various waves of energy and effort you’ll need throughout the day. Can you shift an important call to the morning when you’re feeling a little more fresh? Should you see if a friend can help with after-school pick up if your meeting runs over? Being able to do this assessment the night before a full schedule gives you more options to manage and rearrange the day.

9. Reduce Small Distractions
Every little ping, buzz, and blink takes us away from our full mental focus. Get in tune with what nudges kick you out of your zone each day. Is it a blinking instant message? Set a few hours of Do Not Disturb. Does the buzz of the office floor catch your ear? Headphones, please! You may even find that a dimmed-out room (and some blue light glasses!) helps you zone in on a key project or task, without other visual distractions.

Amazon
Blue Light Glasses
An editor favorite, these blue light blocking glasses are chic and will help keep headaches and eye strain away.

10. Set Up a Social Media Blocker
There are all kinds of useful apps and sites to help us control our social media consumption. Almost more important than helping corral its use is to figure out when and why you turn to it during the day. Do you find yourself reaching for a “scroll” when you’ve hit a tough part of a task? When you’re lacking some motivation? Or when you’re burned out and need a break? Understanding your “why” will do an even bigger job of helping you reorient to productive mode.

Source: Social Squares

11. Book Time for Self-Care
While a daily massage would be just the self-care that a lot of us would love, there are many other mini ways to fit this into a day. This could look like treating yourself to a whole tea ritual in the break room, complete with a fancy teapot you keep at the office, or a full walk around the block doing a walking meditation. The point is to identify new hobbies or the thing for you that yields maximum good feelings for the highest value cost and effort to help ensure you keep it up.

12. Find Ways to Set Up “Habit Stacking”
Habit stacking was made popular by the book Atomic Habits, which helps you link new things you want to accomplish to existing habits to up the chances of getting them done. You’ll start to view your new habit goals in a whole new way when you think about the small ways you can link them together to be more productive.

Amazon
Mini Elliptical Machine
With eight different resistance levels, this mini under-the-desk elliptical machine will help you burn calories while you’re in endless Zoom meetings.

13. Know Your Personal Bandwidth Triggers
We all know what our personal “running on empty” looks like. The hack is to know how to recognize it before it completely sneaks up on you and rewire. Do you start rubbing your eyes a little more? Do you get distracted and start poking through your old photo reel? Whatever your personal trigger is, that means you’ve hit top capacity on your bandwidth—become friends with her, and watch out for her more regularly.

14. Make “No” Your First Response
This may be another counterintuitive approach to productivity, but starting with “no” means that you get to say “yes” to a whole host of other things that are your personal priorities. When someone comes to you with a new project or need, start to think through the lens of putting the burden of effort on them to explain why it is worth your time and should be tackled before the long list of other priorities you have in train.

15. Trust Your Own Natural Rhythms
Some of us are morning people. Some of us are not. No matter how many mini vlogs we watch with a fresh-faced gal bouncing out of bed for her green juice and jaunting off to yoga, we may just never be the person who is their best self in the morning. Know your own rhythm for when your tasks best match your energy throughout the day and hack accordingly.

Amazon
Mug Warmer
Place any hot beverage on this mug warmer and it will automatically keep your beverage nice and warm.

16. Find A Planning System That Works For You
Productive never happened without a system. That doesn’t mean that you have to string together some ultra high-tech collection of apps, trackers, and planners. It does mean that you need a consistent way to organize your life tasks so you can get to the goals that matter to you. Whether that’s through a gorgeous paper planner that feels more like a journal or a minimal but comprehensive app to tackle your to-do list, find your sport.

The Everygirl x Day Designer
30-Day Challenge Planner
Our 30-Day Challenge Planner will help you prioritize your goals and take the leap into becoming the best version of yourself.

Source: Social Squares

17. Tie Your Long-Term Goals to the Everyday
Goals aren’t happening unless they’re broken down into mini-objectives and addressed in small pieces. Think about the ways you can take your longer-term hopes and move toward them even in tiny ways every day. Running a marathon for your next birthday? Great. Even a quick 10-minute jog today puts you on the path to achieving that goal.

18. Communicate Your Productivity Objectives
We all do better achieving our productivity goals when we’ve shared them with someone else. This can be formal, as in telling your boss or colleagues what you’re up to this week, or it can just be chatting with a loved one about what’s on your plate lately. Externalizing what we’re doing and what we need to get a job done is a huge part of productively working through our task list.

19. Slow Down
Quality almost always wins over quantity. Whenever you find yourself moving speedily through a task and buzzing on to the next thing, think of that as your trigger to slow down. Not only are we likely to make mistakes that will just take more time to correct in the long run, but we’re also training ourselves to overpack our days and often times not communicating that timelines may be unreasonable or that we need more resources. What do you need to get a great job done, not just a quick one?

20. Define Your Own Personal Productivity Metrics
On that note, productivity isn’t about doing more, faster. We could define productivity with a little more nuance and say that it’s about doing the best job, at the right time, with the right resources, and for the right objectives to get to the best outcome. When that’s the case, “how much” we checked off our list doesn’t matter as much as how productively we used our energy in a day, matching it with the things that matter the most.

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With so many job openings on the market right now, it is a great time to start your job hunt or just get a fresh perspective on what new opportunities might be out there. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are about 10 million job openings on the market. But when it comes to figuring out exactly how to find jobs, it can feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack. But searching for the perfect new job doesn’t have to be a daunting task; there are all kinds of creative places for everyone on the hunt for a new job.
For many professions, it may feel easiest to start with LinkedIn, in part because social media does some of our heavy lifting and tees up jobs from our network and their own jobs page. But that doesn’t have to be the only place you start scouting. Whether you have a niche expertise, are just getting started in your career, or are ready to level up to a bigger role, there’s a platform and place for you to start exploring.

Particularly useful for tech experts and design aficionados, Upwork can be a great place to build your portfolio and snag interesting freelance opportunities. On this site, your profile and your portfolio presentation are key. You’ll want to spend some time building out work samples or a compelling bio and resume that give you the edge to create a polished proposal. Finding your niche here is also important. Focus on a few key skills or specific audience to up your chance of getting the right work matches.

Ladders is known for its high-paying roles—jobs listed here offer salaries of at least $100,000. Jobs posted are from high-paying firms that also have to pay to list their jobs on the site. That generally means that you’re getting a better set of quality opportunities. Ladders also boasts a rich set of content, with a lot of tips to help you advance your job search and put your best self forward.

A really rich search interface with a number of useful filters make Indeed a great jumping-off point to start your job search. A wide variety of industries, job titles, ranks, and roles post on Indeed, giving you the opportunity to quickly scope and rescope your initial interests. Search by salary, industry, or even experience level to get a sense of what may be interesting to you.

Glassdoor is a great tool to make you a well-informed job seeker. It’s known for its company reviews, interview reviews, and salary information posted for certain roles, and you can use all of this information to get a very clear picture of your job possibilities at a company. Creating a profile on the site is a great place to start—it streamlines the application process, and after that, you can apply for roles with just a few clicks.

Scouted couples talent and technology through an AI algorithm and platform that helps early to mid-career candidates match with the right job. Their methods de-emphasize traditional methods like where you went to school or your GPA and consider a number of different aspects of your personal interests and professional profile to find you the right fit. Scouted is best for non-technical business roles.

Source: Social Squares

One of the original job hunting platforms, Monster has come a long way in building out its career resources as well as its tools and opportunities. Most notably, its slick app is easy to navigate, meaning you’re more likely to frequently hop on and search around for new roles that are a fit for you. Years of being in the market with job hunters means that Monster has a wealth of insight on how people land new roles. Check out their sections of popular job titles, locations, and searches to get inspired for your own search.

FlexJobs manages to centralize what almost all of us are looking for this year–more location flexibility and interesting remote or freelance opportunities. FlexJobs does have a paid option that is worth considering if you’re really focused on the hunt. And since remote is their speciality, their content section is especially useful even if you’re just looking for ways to make your existing job a little more WFH-friendly.

8. Alumni Associations
Whether you’ve just escaped campus life or it’s farther in the rearview mirror, our alma maters have a lot to offer on the job front that is often overlooked. You can play either the short or long game here on the job front. First, check if your school keeps a career portal or hosts any hiring events for alumni. Second, be sure you’re signed up for any local mixers—even if you’ve since relocated—and stay on top of online communities or networking events to connect with future employers.

9. A Search Firm
Working with recruiters may seem like something that’s just available to the most senior among us. But the help of new technologies and a hot job market has increasingly opened up this avenue for talent of all types to consider leveraging a recruiting resource. Recruiters or search firms work best, however, when you are at least at a mid-career level, have a good number of years under your belt, or have a highly specialized technical talent. Be prepared to go through some research and meet and greets to find the right fit. Most recruiters are paid by the company that hires you, so it just costs you your time and effort to explore this path.

10. Your Network
You know a lot more people who can help in your job hunt than you may think. The most useful networks are those that span a lot of industries, demographics, and interests because that diverse set of expertise and capabilities gives you the widest range for exploring new possibilities. And remember, your network doesn’t live on a specific platform—it is the collection of your connections, past managers, people in your community, church, and friend group that may be positioned to help you think about a new role. It’s also best practice to deeply build your network long before you want to hit people up for help regarding a new job, so it’s also worth considering what you can give to your contacts (even a new introduction!) as you make the rounds.

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When it comes to maximizing our productivity, showing up as our best selves, and crushing our career goals, we’re willing to do just about anything. But what happens when exactly what we need to do isn’t necessarily more but, instead, less? It might seem counterproductive to spend less time at work, ditch perfectionist tendencies, take on fewer projects, or even give yourself space from the grind. But when it comes to achieving a healthy work-life balance and being your best self so that you can perform at your highest capacity, setting boundaries and reevaluating your workload to help you manage your time both at and away from work is absolutely essential.
While work-life balance may look a little bit different for everyone, finding a healthy separation between work and life is key to feeling rejuvenated, fresh, productive, and ready to solve complex problems. We’ve partnered with La Marca Prosecco, our bubbly of choice and a brand that stands to empower women to make every day sparkle and overcome the challenges that come with work and life. Together, we’ve made it our mission to help you find success in the workplace and in your life. If you’re looking to finally find it or you want to rediscover it, look no further—these 10 tips will help you reinvigorate your work-life balance.

1. (Actually) take your PTO
Whether it be workplace culture or your own perspective toward work, it can be common to feel guilty when actually taking your paid time off. Switching out of this mindset is key to invigorating your work-life balance. PTO is part of your paycheck, and if you don’t use it, you’re essentially overworking for free. Time off is crucial to rest, recharge, connect with friends and family, and invest in hobbies that bring you joy. Working more hours than you should doesn’t always equate to higher productivity or being better at your job. In fact, taking time away from work can give you the space to return with better energy, mood, and focus.

2. Learn to strategically and respectfully say “no”
We’ve all been there: In an effort to do it all, be a team player, or avoid being perceived as “lazy,” we’ve said “yes,” and we’ve paid the price. In this case, that price is less time spent on other, higher-priority tasks, not being able to complete the task well, staying late at work, working when you’re not being compensated to work—the list goes on. Having healthy boundaries at work and declining tasks that would make any attainable workload unmanageable is not only acceptable, but it’s also crucial to your output and your mental health. If you don’t have the capacity to make an ask happen, say so.

3. Respect your coworkers’ work boundaries
If you want others to respect your work boundaries, start at home and give your coworkers the same courtesy. Not everyone works in the same capacity, and learning how your coworkers best work can help turn (or reinvent) the wheel and have a positive effect on your workplace culture. If your coworker doesn’t text you after hours, don’t text them. If they prefer not to be met with spontaneous, no-context meetings, be mindful and offer them other methods of connecting when priority communication needs to happen. If you’re on a friend level with your coworker (shoutout to all of the work wives out there!), practice professionalism and keep “work first and friendship afterward” in mind.

4. Schedule in self-care and personal time as you would a meeting
We wouldn’t skip a meeting if a coworker or your boss scheduled one with us ahead of time, so why is it so easy for us to cancel “meetings” with ourselves? When we’re busy, it can be commonplace that seemingly non-urgent, non-work blocks of time are the first to take a backseat in an effort to maximize our time, which is a quick path to burnout. Commit to yourself by carving out time for yourself to journal, meditate, exercise, connect with a friend, or pour a glass of La Marca to celebrate a work win.
In the short term, nixing your “me” time can seem like a quick solution to a busy day. But in the long term, neglecting personal care can be a one-way ticket to anxiety, distractibility, and fatigue. When you invest time into yourself or into hobbies that ignite your passions away from work, you’re investing time into being your best self so that you can show up refreshed and ready to better take on whatever challenges come your way.

5. Take care of your health
Don’t let an overpacked schedule or stress stand in the way of your health or happiness. Skipping a doctor’s appointment, opting for non-nutrient dense meals out of convenience, foregoing physical activity, or staying up past your bedtime in the effort to do it all at work can be detrimental to your well-being and can lead to decreased productivity, poor emotional health, and even physical illness in both the short term and the long term. Inversely, investing time in your mental and physical health by living a healthy lifestyle is crucial to maintaining stress, preventing burnout, and gaining and maintaining a work-life balance.

6. Batch tasks to increase productivity
Begin to tackle a task, get a notification for another task, start the new task, return to the first task, jump to a second task, repeat. If this endless distractibility cycle sounds familiar, you’re not alone. In a world of constant communication in the form of emails, Slack messages, texts, and phone calls, taking on a project without getting diverted to another can seem like an impossible feat that ends up draining our time and energy in the long run.
For focusing and making our work time as efficient as possible, we turn to task batching: breaking projects into certain steps and sorting them by similarity. By focusing on similar tasks and creating blocks of time to do them, you’ll waste less time switching gears, which will help improve your concentration and attention to detail. Some examples include batch responding to emails, attending or leading meetings, brainstorming, or more mindless tasks. Then, schedule them based on times that you find yourself more or less productive.

7. Let go of a perfectionist mindset
As much as we’d love to produce perfect outcomes all of the time, the reality is that we’re human. Performing perfectly and at the highest level at all times isn’t only unrealistic—it can bog you down and be a deterrent in your workday that can make moving on from tasks and letting go of work after hours difficult. Quiet your inner perfectionist, shift your mindset to the bigger picture, reevaluate if spending more time on certain tasks will actually create a better product, readjust your standards, and remember that you can be a high achiever without performing flawlessly at all times.

8. Reinforce the end of your workday and set expectations for other team members
In a world of remote work, the line between work life and home life may be more blurred than ever. If you’re still working from home (which undoubtedly can feel like “living at work” at times), it can be difficult to disconnect at the end of your workday. Having a set, after-work routine and establishing healthy boundaries is key to making a distinction between work and non-work and achieving the work-life balance that you deserve.
As you near the end of your workday, be realistic about what you’ll be able to accomplish before you sign off. Communicate this to the appropriate parties and pick up where you left off tomorrow. Set expectations with your bosses and coworkers ahead of time to protect your after-work time. One example includes saying something along the lines of, “feel free to leave me a message while I’m away, but please note that I will respond when I return to work tomorrow.” Just because we live in a world where we can be accessed at all times doesn’t mean that we should be. And if you find yourself having difficulty peeling yourself away from work tasks, it might be helpful to schedule after-work plans or activities to help you physically sign off from your day.

9. Communicate workload issues with your manager
If, time and time again, you find your workload spilling into your after-work hours or are having difficulty meeting certain deadlines, consider setting up a meeting with your manager to discuss workload so that you can spend your evenings, early mornings, and weekends resting, recharging, and refueling. Give your manager an overview of what your workload looks like at the moment, insight on how long certain tasks take, and solutions such as delegating tasks to other employees, rescheduling lower priority tasks, or changing a particular process (such as turning a solo project into a group effort). Speaking up when you’re feeling overwhelmed gives your manager the opportunity to support you so that you can be your best self.

10. Take breaks to leave your work area for small periods of time throughout the day
When you’re working on a complex issue or find yourself with a full plate of work, it can be easy to convince yourself that you don’t have time for a break. In reality, research shows that taking a break (even a small one), can restore motivation, increase creativity, boost productivity, and have a positive effect on your well-being. Taking a quick break or your full lunch break is a very necessary way to help loosen the grip of work stress and gain balance in your life.

La Marca Prosecco is an elegant sparkling wine grown in the heart of Italy’s Prosecco region. La Marca Prosecco believes in celebrating the joy in everyday moments, including the tireless work that so many women go through to make their dreams come true. A focus on career empowerment has always been part of The Everygirl’s mission, and our partnership with La Marca Prosecco has helped us take that mission into the real world with live and virtual events, small business grants, and more. Let’s raise a glass to that!

This post is sponsored by La Marca Prosecco, but all of the opinions within are those of The Everygirl Media Group editorial board. More

You’ve probably already set your fitness goals and made plans to eat healthier. Maybe you’ve even set an intention for the new year and decided how you want to improve your love life. But what about your career? Feeling in control of your work life and finances is self-care too, and we can (and should) always be improving our professions for a more fulfilling life. If you need some inspo for your 2022 career goals, here are 10 career commitments I’m making to myself that I intend to tackle before 2023.

1. I will acquire a skill outside of my comfort zone
We often gravitate toward things we’re good at. Year after year, we can rack up learning experiences in skills we actually love, leaving the trickier stuff for another day. But this year, let’s commit to start learning and building skills around the things a little outside of our comfort zone. I’ll be scanning Edx, Udemy, and Skillshare for free and low-cost classes on data science, design, programming, or any topic that feels more difficult to me (Pssst. We’ve got some pretty fun learning ideas here too).

2. I will join an office networking program
It’s time to expand the circle: Finding a mentor, like-minded people on your level, or even inspiring employees at different stages can help you move through your career more efficiently, working as a sounding board or source of support and inspiration. Many offices have some sort of affinity group or networking organization that can expand your connections at the office and hook you up with some new 9-5 friends. Remote employee? This is even more important, and making connections with others at your place of employment doesn’t have to rely on in-person coffee meetings. Nothing like this available to you? Start the next generation leadership networking forum or simply connect with a group of like-minded people in your industry to build a networking group. 

3. I will ask for that raise
Some time in the next 12 months, we’re all likely to be in the mix for a performance review of some sort. Polish off that brag sheet that itemizes all the impact you’ve created in your role this year (or start keeping those notes now!). Asking for the raise is about documenting your success and regularly communicating your value to management. Make sure to get specific about what you want, and ask for a raise based on numbers, not just because a higher number sounds better (i.e. Are you doing more responsibilities than your last pay increase? Are you bringing in more revenue to the company recently?). Yes, you can do it. And if a pay raise isn’t possible (because your request likely won’t be accepted every time), there are other things to negotiate as well. 

4. I will plot out my next career chapter
12 months out is the perfect amount of time to start charting some actual action items for a new role you’d like to explore. If you’re ready to move on to a new company, start scoping LinkedIn and networking with recruiters or HR representatives in your field. Ready for the next step inside your company? Meet with your manager about action steps, see if you can meet up with a new department on a joint project, or set up informational interviews with employees whose positions you’re interested in. A new role doesn’t have to be immediately on the horizon to make these moves. In fact, the small steps over time are the very things that position you for all kinds of unexpected opportunities.

5. I will learn to have hard conversations with coworkers
We all have that one coworker we avoid or hate working with. Maybe they’re not pulling their weight on a team project or perhaps they’re just generally difficult to deal with. Over the next year, try to use more of your emotional intelligence toolkit at work and pick up some skills for how to have hard conversations. Overall, strive to feel more comfortable providing feedback (including to managers or employees on your level), and always come from a place of how to better workflow, productivity, or the goal of the company (rather than offering critiques without solutions). 

6. I will understand my personal brand
Whether we think we’re creating one or not, we’re all actively developing a personal brand, even at the office. So why not lean in and foster what you want your personal brand to be? First, think about your foundational skills, which are qualities that help get the job done. Where does your boss see you excelling? Do you need to work on your technical know-how or presentation skills over the next year? Second, be sure your network is growing with the right kind of people and that you are actively connecting and returning the favors of people who have helped you. Lastly, make sure your brand materials (like LinkedIn and resume) are up to date.

7. I will find low-stakes and high-stakes audiences to practice tough stuff
I’ll be honest: I really need to improve my presentation skills. But it’s hard to practice presenting in company-wide meetings or in front of my boss. Instead, I need lower-stakes places to practice public speaking where I’m feeling less stressed about the material and where I know that I’ll have a friendly audience (like organizing a game for my friend group, speaking up during book club, etc.). Experiences like these help boost your confidence for the tough stuff when you do have a huge presentation in front of the board or really need to nail the meeting with your boss. Finding other forums that are “high stakes” or have harder material to convey helps build those skills for the next stage of our work journey.

8. I will max out my work benefits based on my lifestyle
The start of a new year is a great time to review the benefits you have and make sure you’re taking advantage of all the things that your company offers. Start looking at how you might be able to increase your retirement savings through employer contributions and make sure you’re taking full advantage of PTO, flexible office hours, or sick days. Alternatively, hunt down those lesser-known perks like gym discounts or commuter benefits that you might be leaving on the table.

9. I will give back to someone earlier in their career journey
It can be easy for us to feel pretty internally focused when we think about our career journey, but nothing is more fulfilling than sharing what you have learned along the way with someone who is a little earlier along. Being a mentor can happen in small moments, so don’t get hung up on feeling like you need to take a junior employee under your wing for the rest of the year. A few well-timed, encouraging words before a client meeting or a coffee pregame before a big project can go a long way. Plus, you’ll have a fresh perspective for your own career trajectory and what you want to accomplish.

10. I will fit my career into my life, not the other way around
And last but arguably most importantly, let’s promise not to make our work world our whole world. While our jobs should be exciting enough to get us out of bed every day, our lives are made of so much more. In 2022, I’m recommitting to the mindset that my job is just one of the many pieces of my life that add up to who I am and prioritizing a healthy work-life balance, which means cutting off work at closing time (no exceptions!) and actively pursuing a healthy life outside of work.

Want To Reinvent Your Career?
2022 is the year to do it. Here’s how More