Mindfully Going Through Your Work Day

My colleague, Dr. Leah Weiss, from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, published this thought-provoking article in the Harvard Business Review:

https://hbr.org/2017/03/stop-mindlessly-going-through-your-work-day

In it, Leah discusses how all of us frequently go through a work day without actually noticing where the time goes or how precisely we are spending our time. That can lead to dissatisfaction at work, driven by inefficiency, disengagement, and potentially health problems. The antidote, as you can imagine, is to add both a sense of purpose and mindful action to our days. It is obviously not easy to do at all times, but it is possible with some deliberate intention. Here are her suggestions: 

• Act on purpose - focus on how your personal goals connect with the goals of the organization in which you are inserted;
  
• Map a plan - understand which tasks, and in what order, will get you closer to your finish line;
  
• Avoid distractions - don't fall into the trap of the "mindless accept syndrome." Name your distractions, remember your goals, and gauge where each request for your time falls.