One strong goal of being self-employed is to find more happiness in your daily work life. It’s common sense that if you have positive work habits, you’ll have a happier, more productive work life. These habits can help you create a strong sense of fulfillment in your career choice. Nevertheless, with the demands of the self-employed lifestyle, sometimes with the stress of bills, family life, and even work demands, good work habits can be lost. In some cases, they may never even have been learned.
AS A SELF-EMPLOYED INDIVIDUAL, SOMETIMES WE THINK WE CAN DO IT ALL…
Positive Work Habits
Most people know the basics – get your work done, show up on time and have a great attitude. These certainly will get start you in the right direction. To make a real difference, however, keep these tips in mind when you’re in work mode:
Do what you intend to do.
One of the largest demoralizers is lack of productivity at work. Combat this by sticking to your guns and getting done what you know needs to get done. As a self-employed individual, sometimes we think we can do it all. However, you may need to reassess the amount of work you’re taking on or evaluate the amount of time it actually takes to complete a task. Being organized and clear about what you need to do and comparing that to what you’re capable of handling will go a long way toward making you feel more productive. This in turn will make you feel more satisfied and positive about your work experience.
Make sure you fully understand what a person is saying before you respond.
Miscommunication is probably the number one time sucker and cause for aggravation in the workplace. Considering the amount of emails, phone calls, social media posts and other various forms of communication one is required to absorb and comprehend each day, it’s not a big surprise. It’s easy to see how a habit of quickly skimming incoming communication has been developed. However, this has decreased the quality of our communication as well.
If you don’t take the time to really read what someone has written, in many cases you’re not in a position to respond properly. The time you believe you’ve saved with the quick perusal has actually been doubled or tripled by misunderstandings instead. Save yourself (and everyone else) a lot of time and always be working on bettering your communication skills.
Don’t partake in office/social gossip.
Besides being a needless distraction, office gossip (or any type of gossip for that matter) can make you feel just plain bad about yourself afterwards. If the subject of the gossip is a co-worker, it can also make things feel awkward between the two of you, and you may even find yourself avoiding the person altogether. Even if morals aren’t enough of a reason, the waste of time and energy spent on gossip should be. Keep your mind focused and inspired by steering clear of these types of conversations.
Don’t make it stressful for other people.
For most people, work involves dealing with other people. Our relationships with those we work with are what makes things go smoothly or not. If you don’t finish work on time, you can cause missed deadlines by other co-workers. If you don’t answer questions fully, or respond to things in a timely manner, you make it inconvenient for your co-workers and cause unneeded stress as well. You can keep things positive at work by making sure you’re doing what you can to constantly improve your relationships with your fellow co-workers.
Make sure your basic needs are handled.
Often the workday may take over and you forget that you haven’t had anything to eat or drink in hours. By the time your lack of sustenance catches up to you, you’re hungry, dehydrated, and there’s a pretty good chance you’re just plain exhausted. These factors weigh heavily on your ability to perform well. Not only do they contribute to mood swings all day, but they also ensure that you literally have less energy to focus and complete tasks. Make your overall health a huge priority and you’ll notice a significant boost in energy and wellbeing that can translate over to your performance at work.
Positive Habits for Everyday Living
- Live within your means.
- Read every day. Stuff that adds to your knowledge.
- Control your emotions, especially fear.
- Network and volunteer regularly.
- Set goals, not wishes.
- Avoid procrastination. Be proactive.
- Talk less and listen more.
- Avoid toxic people.
- Don’t give up. Focus, persistence, and patience pay off big time.
- Get a mentor or coach.
- Eliminate bad luck from your inner dialogue.
