To boost your performance or to better handle busy times, it’s important to know how to pace yourself at work. If you feel every day should be pedal to the metal, then you may find yourself burning out. Some discover their performance drops unexpectedly, when they need to be at their best.
While you’re a good employee, you may need to approach your workload in a more strategic fashion. Remember the story of The Hare and the Tortoise, where a slow animal beats a fast animal in a race? At the start of the story, you probably give the tortoise no chance to win but a strategic approach produced a victory.
For many, it’s a mindset makeover that can boost your career. Consider these actionable tips to better pace yourself at work:
Understand Time and Task
Think about the tasks you have to do throughout your day. Some require more concentration than others.
Once you’ve identified them, think about when you’re at your best or just okay in terms of your focus. For instance, by late Friday afternoon, you may not be as sharp. Other examples could be first thing on Monday or right after lunch.
With these things in mind, try to schedule lower concentration activities during those times when you’re not as sharp. The work still gets done and it’s performed well. But these are things that don’t need your “A” Game.
At the same time, you’re making sure your most productive hours are spent on things where focus and concentration are most needed.
Meetings and other group activities may disrupt this tactic but just try to get back on your schedule when you can.
Recognize Hot Streaks to Pace Yourself at Work
Like a basketball player, you may find yourself enjoying a performance hot streak. For the athlete, it’s when you can’t miss a shot and are playing at your highest level.
When you’re in this state of mind, you’ll be able to get a lot of work done. Things will seem easy.
But you need to understand that your hot streak will eventually cool down. This can be frustrating but you shouldn’t beat yourself up for coming down from 100%.
Enjoy your hot streaks, make the most of them with your projects, but know they don’t last.
Reward High Performance Moments
Let’s say a report typically takes you an hour to complete. One day you finish it in 45 minutes and your work is good. You now have 15 minutes to spare. What do you do with them?
Some rush to their next project but that might not be your best move. I think it’s good to reward yourself for your efficiency and invest that time in something else.
Maybe there’s a project you always want to research but you never have the time. Guess what? You’ve now got 15 minutes.
You could also use the time to recharge and stretch your legs around the office. Cleaning your desk, for that time, might be equally rewarding.
Invest the time, you saved, in yourself. Some make the mistake of banking those extra minutes but then things get busy and they never have time to use them. Take the time to reward yourself for performing well.
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