Do you ever catch yourself thinking, if it could only be that simple? If I could only stress a little less, feel a little freedom, a little more… what if it were actually possible to live out each day the way our hearts truly desired, whether that’s a day fully spent doing the things you love, serving in your passion field, or snuggled up with the family at home, each day can be possible of great things, and today, I taking this conversation and this hope of encouragement and bringing it to the workplace – yes – you CAN own your workday and I am going to give you a step-by-step guide on how to achieve a successful day of work. Sharing with you TEN workday tips in order to completely own your workday and have a successful day of work! 

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How to Own Your Workday and Have a More Successful Day at Work 

I believe it is absolutely possible to own your workday and take complete control of your environment and mindset in order to be your best version of yourself while you work to get things done throughout the day! Therefore, I am sharing with you 10 tips to a better day of work, 10 things. You step-by-step guide to achieve that happier, more successful, more productive workday. A workday where you are totally dominating from a happy, positive, healthy state of mind, specific and easy ways to make your workday.

 

10 Workday Tips to a Better Day in the Office 

10 specific and easy ways to make your workday GREAT! Yes, even if you aren’t completely and totally crazy about your job – it is possible to have an amazing workday!

Now, here’s the deal. Even if you aren’t completely and totally crazy about your job, it is possible to have an amazing workday. Honestly, I love my job. I love being a teacher, but that doesn’t mean that there are some days that are hard. That doesn’t mean that there are some days that feel un-motivating or some days that you just need a little extra pep in your step to remind you why you love what.

 

Tips to Encourage You in the Workplace

I am bringing this list to you with the intention and the purpose of providing you with a little bit of encouragement to allow you to feel more fulfilled during the day. If you are already fulfilled in a job that you love, tips to help make that joy even more abundant, and if you are struggling in a job you hate – encouragement and tips to find on a little bit of goodness despite all the things that may stand in your way!

So whether your workday is out in an office, in a classroom, in your make-shift home office between all the kids & snacks, or your workday looks like you as a momma doing literally ALL the things – regardless of what your actual workday looks like and how it is spent – these workday tips are for you!

 

Workday Tip #1 – Wear your favorite outfit 

The very first workday tip in order to have a successful day of work is to wear your favorite outfit!  Now, if you are in the office, out of the house, in the classroom, or if you are in the home, take time during your day to actually get dressed and to put on a tiny bit of makeup. I’m not saying completely, doll yourself up. However, do something to give yourself the feeling that, hey, today is gonna be a good day, because I feel confident in where I stand and who I am, and I truly believe that when you can dress yourself in attire that makes you feel good, that makes you feel confident, it is just going to propel you even further.

It’s crazy, the actual effect that your outfit can have on you. Usually on days where I’m either lecturing five classes straight or maybe I’m lecturing content that is more challenging to teach, I go for my confident teacher outfit (usually a blazer) to truly feel like my best self.

Whenever I have those days, I purposely plan on wearing something that completely boosts my confidence, and I want you to do that too. So your first workday tip to a successful day of work is plan out a favorite outfit. The next time you find yourself a meeting that you’re dreading or something that you’re really anxious about, go ahead and make sure on that day you wear one of your favorite outfits. And see the difference that it makes. 

 

 

Workday Tip #2 – Have a plan

The second workday tip to be able to have a successful day of work is have a plan. Have an actual plan in order to be successful at your day of work! How many of us just go through the motions without an actual plan? You need to know exactly what you are going to do, as well as know the things you can look forward to!

As a teacher, a lot of planning happens at the very beginning of each semester. Therefore, I usually go into each workday knowing what I teach or what’s gonna happen in each class period for the day. However, I could totally take that to the next step forward by planning out exactly what I am gonna be doing in my planning period. Or establishing the tasks that I am going to achieve during my before school or after school work sessions.  Establishing a very clear plan on knowing exactly what needs to be done and when it is going to happen!

 

Start Your Workday Off With A Plan

Wherever you work, even if you are working from the house, even if your job is a full-time mom, which is so incredibly important. Whatever your day looks like, start off with a plan. I would love to hear how that changes things for you, even if it’s just a short little list of your top three things, that these are the top three things that I want to do each day.

Now, when you create your plan, be realistic. Don’t let perfection be the expectation. You want to feel good about what you can hopefully accomplish. So have a plan to know exactly what you’re going to do, and then also plan something to look forward to find a way in your day to incorporate something that’s going to bring you joy!

Whether that’s going on a walk outside, whether that’s stopping for a quick errand on the way home to walk through Target, find something that you know you can look forward to.

 

 

Workday Tip #3 – A happy commute 

The third workday tip for a successful day at work is to have a happy commute. I am very passionate about this. I believe in really pouring into your commute, the specific time where you are moving towards your job. Now, for most people, you would think of an actual commute to be your physical car ride into your place of work. While for others who work in the home, I really wanna challenge you to find some part of your morning routine that serves as a commute.

Now let’s talk to those actually driving into an office. There is so much power in claiming total victory over your ride into work. For me, I live about 30 minutes without traffic. From where I teach, it’s closer to 50 minutes with traffic. This time in the car is where I can think. This time in the car allows me to reconnect with who I am. It’s the time where I can either listen to podcast episodes that I love, that encourage me, that inspire me, that build me up, that teach me something. Or, I can listen to my favorite playlist that empowers me.

 

Power and Purpose in a Happy Commute 

Additionally, it’s time where I can pray. It’s time where I can meditate. The time spent in the car driving to and from work is a time where I can connect, where I can talk to family or friends on the phone. I usually save that for the afternoon commute, not in the morning, because I don’t think anyone wants to talk to me on the phone before 7:00 AM . But there’s so much power and purpose to a happy commute.

It’s a part of getting your mind right. And for me, sometimes, that also means being quiet. There are some moments where I just need quiet and stillness, and that’s what takes me to the place I need to be before I go and serve my heart out in the classroom. Now, quick note for those working in the home. If you are working in the home, I really believe in having some part of your morning routine serve as this.

Refresh your mind clear your headspace. If you are working in the home, maybe this is going on a walk in the morning, taking your baby in the stroller, going on a walk with the dogs. Doing something to physically clear your head, reset your space, and give you this true, fresh connection of, okay, I’m moving from my wake up time to now I am in the zone ready to conquer all the things.

 

4. The right kind of sustenance 

The fourth tip for your workday is to nourish yourself with the right kind of sustenance. I’m grouping all of these things together, how to fuel your body correctly in order to thrive! The key to a successful workday means proper hydration. You need to be hydrated.

Have a water bottle that you bring with you, that you have on your desk, on your workspace at all times. A water bottle that you can refill easily, something that brings you joy. Truly believe in having a water bottle that is reusable, that excites you, that makes you totally excited. Yes, that Stanley Cup is totally worth it. 

 

Proper hydration and proper snacks 

Proper hydration and proper snacks are essential to your workday. How many times during your day do you realize your mood is totally changed because you’re hungry and there’s nothing you can do about it? Pack a lunch, a nutritious, healthy lunch.  Something that fills you up and you feel good about. These are things you can plan ahead of time knowing, okay, I’m gonna be sure that I have the right things at home when I go grocery shopping for my week, to be sure that I can fuel myself the right way.

Because if you are not fueling yourself the right way, and I am talking to myself, I’ve been there so many times, it makes everything more difficult, more distracting, and more irritable. Also, I have to include my coffee here. For me. My cup of iced coffee is key to every single start of my day. Have the things that you know you need to sustain you the right way while you work. All to be able to have the right energy and the fuel to knock out the things and get what you need done!

 

5. Conversation, Community & Camaraderie?? 

The fifth workday tip to ensure a positive and encouraging workday is to have conversation, community, and camaraderie. When I think of this workday tip, I personally think of the amazing people that I work with and how quick they are to check in to ask if they can help you with anything, to really seek you out and say, Hey, how are you doing? Are things okay?

And no matter where you work, you have to be able to find the right conversation, the right community, and the right camaraderie to support you and to make sure you know that you are not doing this alone. Whether that is an online community that you connect with over social media or your own personal groups that you reach out with. Or even maybe a morning mom’s group out, a church group, or the people that work within your department in your actual office.

 

Don’t Do It Alone

Make sure each day you don’t do it alone, that you don’t fall into the isolation trap. Which for me, anytime I’m overwhelmed or anxious, I just step into my hole and I feel safe. Life is meant to be done with people and community, and there’s so many elements of joy that can be made and be possible when we just dive on in and let ourselves live amongst the relationships and the people around us.

So definitely a tip to a successful workday. Have conversation, you know, take that extra two minutes. All before you dive into your responsibilities, to sit and connect and to chat and ask somebody else how they are and to focus that conversation on somebody else, right? Anytime we can flip the script and focus on, Hey, how are you doing? There’s a lot of power that comes there. 

 

 

6. Create Your Own Work Environment 

The next workday tip to ensure you have a successful and productive day of work is to create your own, ideal, work environment. Truly establish the place that you are working. Create a place that is comforting and refreshing. A workspace free of clutter. Completely organized, to allow you to think and see things clearly.

Utilize music. I love to use my Spotify playlists to help set the appropriate tone for the work that needs to get done. Create the actual environment that you need to work. Whether that’s at your home, in your home office, with your favorite candle. For me, I always light a candle every single time I record a podcast episode because it refreshes me and calms me and I love it.

 

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Furthermore, create and establish your own work environment. Are you doing a task that’s challenging? Play that one song that you need that you instantly allows you to feel like you can conquer the world. Refresh your desk, get rid of the clutter. If you need to physically like take a stack of papers that are messy and disorganized and move them to another section, then do it. Allow yourself a fresh space to work that’s clean and clear and can allow your senses to feel fully alive and connected in order to get more things done! 

 

7. Killer Morning Routine 

The seventh workday tip in order to have a successful day at work is to have a killer morning routine. A successful day of work starts in the very beginning with your morning routine. Get out of bed with the intention and the purpose that today is going to be GREAT. Figure out what you need to do in your morning to fill you up and to fill you with JOY. What do you need to do in the morning to get in the right mind space, head space, mental space, and heart space?

What can you do in your morning to establish your routine for greatness? Do you need time spent in your morning with your planner or your. Making that quick little to-do list of the things that have to get done or your top three for the day, or do you need time with your journal to reflect and to let your stresses and your anxieties out, or your devotional?

 

Establish Your Ideal Morning Time 

What is it that you need to really center yourself and pour into you first as part of your morning routine before then you go out into the world, into your life and pour into everybody else. A killer morning routine is critical to having a successful day of. Now a quick little strategy here because nothing’s perfect.

Have a super quick, super easy morning routine that can be done in like less than 10 or 15 minutes to still give you that sense of peace and purpose. So even if you wake up crazy and things are already chaotic from the beginning, it doesn’t have to continue on that way you can stop, you can refresh, you can still do a few things that you know you need to be able to move on and still stay strong.

 

8. Take advantage of the night before 

Okay, number eight. The eighth workday tip for a successful and productive day at work. You’ve got to do things the night before to set yourself up for success. Focus on doing the things that need to get done the day before your actual next day of work. That way you can actually start that next day off super strong. What bags need to be packed? What lunches or snacks needed to be prepped?

Is there anything you can do ahead of time to save you more time in the morning?  What about laying out your outfit for the day or helping lay out what the kids are gonna wear? Additionally, what are tasks that you do in the morning that take a little bit of time, however, they can be easily done at night. All to give you a few minutes back of your day? By having a plan and knowing what needs to get done the night before, you are already doing yourself a huge service.

Get rid of the stress and get rid of the anxiety because you now can go wake up with purpose and peace because you don’t have to worry about all these little things. You know what you’re wearing. Lunches are packed. Bags are ready to go! And this allows you to sleep in a more peaceful and a more less stressed place, which has all the freedom in the world.

 

Workday Tip #9 – Prepare purposefully for your workday 

Okay, number nine, the ninth workday tip to a successful day of work, prepare purposefully for your workday! Create actual preparations for your work day. This starts the day before. On the day before, as you are closing up the shop.  Think about this before you leave your classroom, before you leave your desk to head home, or before you leave your home office. This can also be applied towards work done within the home as a stay at home mama. As you head out of the laundry room or the kitchen. All the other home tasks that you might be constantly absorbed with when you are fully in the home all day.

Think about the things you can do to help yourself for the next day. How can things be ready, charged and set up, so you don’t even have to do that preparation the morning of? Therefore, once you wake up and your day begins, you can go ahead and dive head on first into all the things that you need to do as the person you need to be.

 

Preparing for the next day of work as a teacher 

For me, this is making sure copies are done ahead of time and I know what the plan is and I know how I’m gonna execute the plan. My whiteboard is reset with the new date and the new assignments written for my students, and my desk is set up in the student’s. Students’ desks are set up the way they need to be. My entire classroom is set up for success ahead of time! 

So whatever you can do to help yourself by maybe re setting up your work office and your desk to have everything ready for the next day, making sure all your things are charged. Right. I was looking at the vacuum cleaner earlier today and I was like, well, I really need a vacuum. The stairs and the upstairs, but the vacuum cleaner is, Hmm dead.

What are things that I can do ahead of time to set myself up for success? What are the preparations you can do ahead of time to help yourself by propelling you further to really, truly make that next day super, super successful? Can you prep the snacks? Fill up your water? Plan ahead by charging all the things or having the tasks that you know you’re gonna do ready to be? Prepare the actual things in your workspace to allow yourself to thrive the next day. 

 

10. Your Perspective Matters 

Finally, the tenth workday tip in order to own your day at work is to focus on your perspective. You have to have the right perspective. You have to have the right mindset. And if you don’t, and if you can’t, then fake it till you make it.

There are lots of moments in my career where seasons are harder and things are more frustrating, and that joy for teaching and that joy and that passion isn’t necessarily the first thing in my heart or the first thing off of my mouth. And in those seasons, you have to fight for it.

And in those seasons, I fake it. Believe it or not, if I’m teaching a lesson that isn’t my favorite lesson to teach, I will do everything I can to find as much joy as possible. If I do that, the joy will come. It will get there. I will find it. By faking out that enthusiasm and faking out the excitement, it will show up, and then everything becomes so much more alive! 

 

Focus on Your Perspective 

Focus on your perspective. We as humans have such an amazing ability to really, truly focus on where our mind is and focus on where our heart is. And it takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of practice and it takes a lot of diligence. But we can position our mind in the right place and we can focus on gratitude, and we can focus on thankfulness.

Even when it’s hard, we can force ourselves to truly just focus on the one little glimmer of hope, the one thing that can bring a smile. And if we can do that, if we can hold onto that right perspective, even if it’s for a few moments, right? You don’t need it for the whole day. That can be too hard for sometimes in some moments and some seasons. But, just for a moment to practice that perspective and to focus on gratitude and to focus on the things that are going right and the things that are going well, and to cherish those moments and hold onto them. There is tremendous power in that. 

And if you can’t, you just gotta fake it until you make it. And I’m a strong believer in that because I’ve done it before and it does work.

 

 

Have the best workday!

So those are the 10 things. 10 workday tips to allow you to have a great and productive day at work. Your complete, step by step guide to how to have a successful workday. Starting with that favorite outfit. Followed by a plan, a happy commute, the right kind of sustenance. Through healthy and positive conversation and community and camaraderie this workday is possible. By creating your own work environment, having that killer morning routine, focusing on establishing preparations the night before as well as preparations for your actual workspace, you can have a successful day of work.

And finally, number 10, having the right perspective. Guys, you got this. I’m so excited for you to implement these workday tips into your workday. Go into the week in order to truly live in a more closer version to who you want to be. Yes, it is absolutely possible and you got this. No matter what hardship or challenge or obstacle is thrown your way, you can do this.

I believe in you and I believe these great moments are possible for you. Through implementing these workday tips you can have a great day at work and more. I am cheering you on to get there. Believing in you and supporting you every single step of the way!